A 7:30 wake
up. An 8 AM breakfast. A 5 minute car ride.
And then it was time.
Time for the final exam.
Apparently, our PhDs
had arrived in the mail that morning, because Guil kept repeating that "WE
were the geologists". He and Lydia removed their scientific hats for the
day, softly placing them on our unassuming undergraduate heads.
Our task was simple.
Describe the entire many-million-year formation process of the geological
features of a 200-meter section along the Torres coast. Straightforward enough,
right?
We arrived at Parque da
Guarita on the Southern coast of the state at about 9:20 in the
morning. Three vast expanses of outcrop stood before us. How on Earth are we
supposed to interpret all of this? "You have 5
hours," Guil said forebodingly.
Oh. Well upon first
examination, 5 hours seems like enough time. But many of us worked up until the
last second, some even skipping lunch, in an attempt to flesh out a logical
prediction. Examining, feeling, and even tasting the rock, we filled our field
journals with observations and hypotheses as to what was happening back in the
Ol' Cretaceous period.
After a rainy and
overcast afternoon (foreshadowing for our grades), we returned from the park to
the hotel where we shed our wet clothes and tidied up before the formal part of
the exam.
What ensued next was
undoubtedly the quietest 4 hours of the Maymester thus far. In an SAT-like
setup, each student claimed a desk to themselves where we slaved away until
the 7pm deadline: drawing sketches, balancing theories, and stressing
out.
Finally, as the clock
tolled 7, we handed in our papers with our fingers tightly crossed. Guil and
Lydia gathered us around for the reveal. With their geologist hats back on,
they explained to us their interpretation of the history.
These unusual outcrops
were filled with surprises! Basalt/sandstone breccias, sandstone dikes, and
dunes just to name a few. Guil and Lydia revealed the likely succession as
follows: a sandstone or breccia layer, covered by a basalt flow, followed by more breccias in some places, and finally another basalt flow on top. Groans and
celebrations sprinkled the crowd with each explanation as Guil revealed the
likely origins of the features.
It'll be a few days
until we all get our grades back. But until then, we'll be crossing state lines
back to sunny Floripa to enjoy another calm, peaceful free day of absolutely no
shenanigans nor mishaps.
On the lookout for
good Wifi for GoT,
Carsen Targaryen and Grant Snow
PS: We will be away from internet for a few days, but we will update the blog as soon as we can!
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