WEARING MANY HATS IN YOUR CAREER AS A GEOLOGIST

In a career that will often span more than 40 years it is not unusual to practice more than one specialty of geology. Changing jobs or your company will move into new markets and need people to meet those needs. In a career that has spanned working as a mudlogger, an engineering geologist, a hydrogeologist doing remediation work for hazardous waste, a hydrologist doing wetland mitigation and then stream restoration. The ability to adapt was crucial

Mudlogging is a challenging career requiring a good command of mineralogy and crystallography and aids in our quest for energy independence. To be a good engineering geologist one must not only understand mineralogy but rock mechanics soils classification, including particle size analysis and attaberg limits. These will allow the calculation of bearing capacities and stability of the material. This will allow participation in rebuilding our infrastructure. As a hydrogeologist it is required to master Darcy’s equation, and calculating hydraulic conductivity, transmissivity, and storativity. The ability to classify soils is key in key in identifying aquifers from aquitards. The hydrogeologist must also master fracture trace analysis in order to model fractured rock aquifers. The ability to calculate contaminant transport and fate is also essential. Be a part of the solution to hazardous waste. America’s wetlands are precious resource and one that has been decimated, wetland restoration requires that a mastery of soil morphology, chemistry, oxidation-reduction reactions, and wetland hydrology. Our wetlands serve to filter runoff, recharge our aquifers, and serve as nurseries for our seafood. Doing stream restoration the hydrogeologist learns about bankfull, return interval, sediment transport, channel stability, scour and the importance of floodplains. America’s rivers are waiting.

There are many ways the geologist can serve society in a career as a geologist and most geologists will do so in more than one way, the list above is just one geologist’s experience. Ask any experienced geologist and most likely they will have a similar story.