Lake Hoare Day 1 For our first full day at Lake Hoare we made the most of it and set out to begin a new experiment. We are attempting to answer the question of how soil microbial communities vary in proximity to rocks in the Dry Valley. It is hypothesized that we will find very different communities established beneath, at the edge of, and surrounding the rocks in our study area. We will test this by extracting samples from these three locations, enclosing the samples in small tubes, adding heavy water, and placing these tubes back in their respective locations for a period of approximately one month. When these samples are collected and analyzed we hope to find that the active microbes are labeled with the heavy water and then we will compare the three locations and our control soils.
In order to get to our work site we had to hike up and over the Canada glacier to Lake Fryxell. This hike took us approximately three hours at a moderate pace and required the use of a spiked sole that attached with velcro straps to the bottom of our boots. These were essential for the many off camber and steep sections of the glacier and approach.
Setting off from Lake Hoare
Follow the path
Seals are found great distances from water. This one was about 50K away from the sea. Mostly young males they are believed to be on the hunt for females when they finally exhaust and die.
Glacial till
On the glacier
Sample prep
Cold work
Addition of heavy water
With the sampling and site setup complete after three and a half hours we turned around to head back to camp. It had taken us three hours to travel to our field site and we were able to make it back to camp in two hours with the motivation of a hot meal to push us forward.