Rockin\' the quarries

Permanently rust-colored, water-stained walls tower above Bloomington's Crown Quarry, displaying a rock surface made jagged by time and, more particularly, dynamite. The bottom of the quarry houses the only smooth limestone surfaces in sight. It's play time for six of the geology students in IU's graduate Carbonate Research class. \nArmed with jumbo chalk, hard hats and rubber boots, they stood at the bottom of the quarry, drawing graffiti on the wall. Mother Nature retaliates by whipping up an unbearably cold wind that nips at any and all exposed fragments of skin. Making a valiant effort to ignore the elements, the students continue with the matter at hand.\nThe purpose of the trip is to graph the wall, mark abnormalities with chalk, take digital photos of their work and merge them together into a three-dimensional map of the quarry. Quick documentation of their work is crucial because all the markings could melt away if it rains. \nAssociate Professor of Geological Sciences Brian Keith explained that over 300 million years ago, Bloomington was at the bottom of a sea. The importance of mapping ancient structures such as this one is so geologists can better understand how liquid moves through rocks, and how they can develop more sophisticated recovery strategies for petroleum and other sources of energy. \nKeith's partner, Associate Scientist to the Indiana Geological Society Todd Thompson, said students are required to go through an eight-hour Mine Safety and Hazard Administration seminar before they can work on site. \n"Geology's a dangerous job; you have to learn how to do things that'll make sure you're not a casualty," Thompson said. \nWhile the dangers of underground mines in quarries are considerable, the most hazardous part of this particular above-ground quarry seemed to be the pasty gray substance murking about the students' work station. Escaping with one's boot still intact became a job in itself.\nPulling a close second was the unstable wooden ladder that led up to the top of the quarry. Going up was easy, going back down was another matter entirely. The students had to pray that if they fell, the mystery goop below would cushion the impact.\nEvery seven feet or so the students would encounter cuts in the work surface, created by a massive, 15-foot saw blade. The quarry toy slices at the break-neck speed of four inches per minute -- which is quite impressive for solid rock, Thompson said.\nNone of these obstacles deterred the students, who were constantly discovering and marking new rock features. \n"Geology can seem boring, but once you start to understand is when it gets really interesting," graduate student Will Tackaberry said.\nExclamations of each additional find echoed throughout the quarry, and everyone would gather around to discuss and debate what the find was and what it meant. Terms like gastropod and stromatolite were thrown around, along with other difficult-to-pronounce words. \nGraduate student Tom Partin has been working for an energy company for most of his life, so actually witnessing the inner workings of the earth fascinated him.\n"It's fun for me to take all my life's knowledge and apply it. What we're doing is very interesting," Partin said.\nTo an average person, the quarry might just be a tall, featureless stone wall. To a geologist, it's a treasure trove of history. \n"Everybody is affected by geology wherever they are in the world," John Johnston said. "Geology affects everything we do; understanding how certain rocks formed and how they were preserved might give insight into what is going to happen in the future"