Geological Science on
Hawaii's Mauna Loa
Mauna Loa, which means Long Mountain
in Hawaiian, is the world's largest mountain. The rim
of the volcano's crater is 4,170 metes (13,681 feet)
above sea level.
Because Mauna Loa is an active volcano,
there is great interest in the composition of its multi-hued
lava flows. During May, two geologists spent several
weeks high on the slopes of the volcano collecting specimens
for laboratory study.
The geologists were Julie Herrick,
a graduate of Smith College, and Erika Ronchin, a student
at Universita degli Studi di Trieste, Italy.
Very few people visit the remote Mauna
Loa Observatory on the slope of the huge mountain. And,
because of it's high altitude, only a hand full of people
have spent the night there. The hard working Herrick
and Ronchin chose to stay at the observatory to provide
more collecting time during their daily excursions.
Each morning around 9:00 AM, the two
loaded their supplies into an old Marine vehicle and
headed up the mountain. They returned each evening at
sunset with boxes loaded with samples of lava.
What makes this story of interest to
The Citizen Scientist is that Julie Herrick
volunteered her time to guide and assist Erika Ronchin
during their field work on Mauna Loa. Thus, she was
serving in the capacity of both a professional geologist
and a citizen scientist.
The project was coordinated by the
US Geological Survey.
Forrest M. Mims III 
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