The Ground is Quicksand! (aka Liquefaction)

One of my favorite childhood games was called The Ground is Quicksand. I would leap around my backyard from rock to stump to patch of grass avoiding any sandy patch of ground. If I lingered on a patch of sand for more than just a few milliseconds, the ground would swallow me whole! As I…

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Turning Field Work into Field Play

As anyone who has spent a lot of time working outside knows, field work is long and hard. I’ve been on my fair share of research trips as an observational geologist working in the tropics and learned first-hand that field work is basically made from these ingredients: stressful planning, packing hassles, long flights, inevitable food…

How to Renourish a Beach with a Forgotten Past: Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

A lot of beaches are eroding, basically washing away, because they aren’t getting enough natural sediment to replenish themselves. One reason for this is that we have built hard structures along beaches (like jetties, ports, harbors, and factories) that block sand from being naturally pushed along by waves; sand gets stuck behind these structures and…

Ship Island Restoration: Decisions Before the Storm

Barrier islands are vital buffers between mainlands and the ocean’s harsh wind and waves. “Mississippi barrier islands are the first line of defense between the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi mainland, and are an important habitat for threatened Gulf Sturgeon, endangered and threatened sea turtles species, and threatened shorebirds” (Dalyander et al., 2016). In…

Coastal Wetlands vs. Climate Change – How We (and Sand) Can Decide the Victor

Coastal wetlands, like this tidal marsh, are not only beautiful, they are also home to diverse ecosystems and act as protective buffers between coastal communities and the sometimes stormy and destructive ocean. Worryingly, sea-level rise and bigger storms threaten to flood and erode these vital environments as climate change worsens. One method that has been…