How knowing Block Island’s past can protect its future.
In early June, rocks tumbled down Block Island’s 150 foot tall Mohegan Bluffs, forcing the Rhode Island Department Of Environmental Management to announce closure of a stairway for accessing the popular beach below. For years, people have admired the Mohegan Bluffs for its scenic outlook and secluded beach access, but just how long have these bluffs been around for?
This summer, Silvy Zhou, a rising senior studying film, animation, and video at Rhode Island School of Design, sought to answer this question. Guided by Dr. Blake Hodgin, a geochronologist and assistant professor at Brown University, she left no rock unturned in the search to reconstruct the timeline of Block Island’s past which may unlock solutions to its future.
“I feel like Block Island is the Rosetta Stone of glacial geology of this region,” says Hodgin. “From a geological standpoint, [Block Island] showcases the regional history better and provides this comprehensive insight.”
This piece was originally published in the portfolios of SURF undergraduates Ellen Fritz and Sydney Barnett on July 17, 2024. Read the full story!
RI NSF EPSCoR is supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation under EPSCoR Cooperative Agreements #OIA-2433276 and in part by the RI Commerce Corporation via the Science and Technology Advisory Committee [STAC]. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. National Science Foundation, the RI Commerce Corporation, STAC, our partners or our collaborators.