UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH IN ENVIRONMENTAL GEOPHYSICS AT THE CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK IN MANHATTAN

Manhattan, located in the middle of New York City, is not usually seen as a prime field site for research in the earth sciences. Yet even here there are many opportunities for student research projects. Projects in the local area are ideal for demonstrating the relevance of earth science to the concerns of our urban and mostly minority student body. They also acquaint the students with some of the geological and environmental problems in the New York City area and teach them some of the techniques for attacking these problems. The skills learned have also aided some of those students hoping to go directly into environmental employment in obtaining jobs. The Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department at the City College of New York requires that an undergraduate complete a research project in order to graduate, and a number of these projects have been done. The topics for the student research projects have varied, depending on the specialty of the student’s advisor, but have included GIS studies, collection and identification of aerosol particles, and geochemical measurements on local rocks, as well as mapping in nearby field areas. This poster will concentrate on shallow geophysical studies that have been carried out in Manhattan itself and in nearby New Jersey. These studies include shallow seismic refraction work on the Palisades Cliffs, located across the river from Manhattan; resistivity profiles over an urban archeological site in Central Park, in the middle of Manhattan; and most recently, resistivity imaging of tidally driven fluctuations in the water table in Inwood Park, on Manhattan’s north side. The way in which the Department’s project requirement is organized will be discussed, and results from the geophysical projects listed above will be presented.