Latera, Italy [EN]

October 2006,

For a European project involving research on the monitoring of CO₂ in the subsurface (JRAP) we were sent to the village Latera, Italy. This small village in the mountains is situated approximately 80 km above Rome. All kinds of geopyhsical techniques were used to monitor a CO₂ , like electromagnetics, resisticity, groundradar, HRS and magnetometry. Unfortunately, not only CO₂ was coming out of the vent, als H₂S, which sometimes gave a terrible smell. Usually, the weather is cold and rainy during this time of year. But hey, it's us, the lucky bastards: not one cloud, during the two-field survey, except the last day when we left. In short, a report of two weeks driving and measuring on a cross-road in the Italian Appenines.

Driving is so much better than going by plane! This is on our way to the Gotthard pass.

On a beautiful day we drove over the Gotthart. Beautiful blue skies make wonderful photos.

The city of Latera as seen from above.

This farmer went to work undisturbed by the European geophysical invasion and made sure we had a dusty stage...

Me and my colleague doing electromagnetic EM34 measurements in the centre of the gas vent. Because of the high concentration CO2 and H2S, nothing grew here. On the other end, at the sides of the round vents grass was growing more rapidly than elsewhere, creating weird 'halos' in the landscape.

Performing resistivity is a tough job. But someone's got to do it….

Having one day off, we immediately went on a … yes, geological excursion. The city of Civita di Bagnoregio. It teeters atop a pinnacle in a vast canyon ruled by wind and erosion. But, while its population has dropped to 14, the town survives (and even has a website: www.civitadibagnoregio.it).

n Perugia, the town famous for chocolat, there is a feat every year called Eurochocolat. In this year's event, there were all kinds of sculptures made by artists. The chocolat that was cut away, was thrown to the people.

In the series 'promotional pictures for geosciences' the number 1: Go study Geosciences, it's fun!

The surveying people from TNO (NL) and La Sapienza - Università di Roma (IT) on a group photo.

And the domestic cat of course...

Poland [EN]

March 2007,

For a EU project we are doing a geophysical, seismic, survey near Psczczyna in Poland. This small city is in between Katowice and the Czech and Slovakian border. The measurements are done in a gravel quarry with seismic measuring equipment from TNO (NL) and a huge vibro-truck from DMT (Germany).

At arrival we immediately started working. The weather is miraculously ok (for March), about 15 degrees Celsius, with sun and a blue sky; generally, the weather at this time of year is about minus 10 with loads of snow.

The background shows a pump (it is an old Dutch one!).

The surveylocation, the gravel pit, as seen from the top. You cannot see the area of research, but the reflection from the sun is beautiful.

My colleage Chris is always grumpy

And colleague Vincent is always cheerful!

View on the bottom of the gravel pit.

Colleague Oene makes lunch: pigfat-sandwich. In Holland 'not done', in Poland a delicatesse.

The Vibrotruck on its transporter. The size of this thing is incredible!

Suriname 2 [EN]

December 2006,

Suriname rocks! The people are just too relaxed here, something that you will not find in Europe. One example: yesterday I went running with the 'Hash House Harriers', an international running-club with teams in many countries, that try to combine running with drinking beer; first running, then drinking. Every week someone has to set a route, which 'tricks'you into taking the wrong way. Becasue of this, the fastest runners have to return to the original route much more often and thus no matter how fast you go, you arrive at the same time as the slower runners or walkers. A beautiful run through (ahem burning) woods, jungle and lakes. At the cafe we drank a couple of 'djogos' (litre bottles of Surinam beer) together. Fantastic! Of course I did not bring along the camera while running, a pity...
Furthermore, today we have made a fieldtrip to areas where geology and geophysics were combined for exploration of drinking-water. I bought the students some lunch, for which the were disproportionaly happy. They like me now, but what after their test-exams ;-)

A waterpump is instelled in an borehole for drinking water purposes.

Of course, my students are extremely interested in the water pumping tests. Hey of course, I taught them!

At the next location, teachers and students from the VU (Amsterdam,NL) showed how they could find fresh drinking water at approximately 80 m depth.

On the way to Tamaredjo (East of Paramaribo) they sold all types and sizes of woks (or 'wadjans'). The smallest student had the honour of posing in front of the biggest wok.

A piece of wok-art in Tamaredjo...

Suriname [EN]

December 2006,

I am in Suriname to teach Geophysical Exploration to students from the Anton de Kom Universiteit in Paramaribo. We (me and my colleague Poppe de Boer from the University Utrecht) have already given some classes and also had a fieldtrip. And of course we also enjoyed our free time! Some nice pictures are the result, here they are:

The view from the University Guesthouse.

This is the building where most of the classes were given. One of the few with airco....

I took a picture of some students. I teach a total of 20 students, which is two times more than last year. Oh yeah, we did not have airco in this room. Hot!!!

Cows on the loose at the campus. Quite normal here.

Cows on the loose, while birds are kept in cages. This is done by most men here. Especially mentioning the price of their bird is their favorite hobby. This poor little creature is called a 'piccolet' and worth about 500-800 SRD (130-250 EUR).

In the back of the bus on a geological excursion, led by Poppe de Boer. For a few hours excursion, we had a trip of a couple of hours in this small bus with bad roads. The students stayed happy and so did we!

Finally, a geological viewing point with some nice sediments (for a geologist)! Being a geophysicist, I liked the different patterns of saturation here, but especially the birds...

This is the oil-monument of Staatsolie in Saramacca. At a small depth, less than 100 m, they found oil here by coincidence, when they were drilling for water. The shallow oil has migrated southwards from deeper formations North of Suriname.

One of the main attractions for me this day: 'the last of the mangroves'. Mudbanks slowly migrating along the coast. Mangroves can grow and settle here in large numbers for years, but as the mudbans move, they slowly dispappeat. At this area there was only one left.