We are a group of geologists from the University of Washington studying the soils and rocks of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica.  This is our second season in Antarctica.  We arrived at the main U.S. base, McMurdo Station, on December 3, 2005 and now we are getting ready to go camping in the Dry Valleys for six weeks to collect rock and soil samples.  We will then go back to Seattle, WA in February, 2006 to analyze the samples. 

You can use the links on the left side of the page to navigate our webpage.  There is a People page where you can learn more about us.

We want to understand the history of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica.  The climate in the Dry Valleys is called a polar desert because it is very dry there and it is very cold.  It is believed that the valleys have been very cold and dry for over 10 million years and that the rocks and soil there are not moving at all because it is so cold and dry.  That means that if we could go back in time 10 million years, every rock would be in the exact same place that we find it in today!  We want to learn how the valleys formed, when they formed, and if the rocks reallly aren't moving at all. 

If you want to read the official abstract for the project, click here.

Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, highest, and driest continent and it is roughly centered about the south pole.  It has an area of 14 million square kilometers, which is about 1.5 times the size of the entire United States.  98% of Antarctica is covered by a thick, continental ice sheet.  Here is a map of the entire continent of Antarctica.    

McMurdo station is located on Ross Island, which is near the "s" in "Ross Sea" in the map above.  Our field area is one of the few ice-free areas of Antarctica, called the McMurdo Dry Valleys.  The McMurdo Dry Valleys are located in the Transantarctic Mountains.  This is a great place for geologists to work because there are so many rocks there.  It is so cold and dry in there that very few things can survive.  Only algae and bacteria grow there, so there are no trees or grasses to cover up the rocks, and there are no animals knocking the rocks over.  The map below shows the Dry Valleys.  The black dots mark the field camp locations from the 2004-05 season.

This is our second trip to Antarctica.  To learn about our trip last year, go to the 2004-05 Field Season page.  If you want to see what we have done so far this year, check out the 2005-06 Field Season page.