• Question: Is it fun being a geologist or is it boring???

    Asked by anon-191209 to Kathryn, Graeme on 4 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Kathryn

      Kathryn answered on 4 Nov 2018:

      Hi 837ensp32,

      Being a geologist is a lot of fun.
      You spend a lot of time travelling and out in the field collecting data. Sometimes as a volcanologist you monitor active volcanos on site. I did for a few months after my degree. I spent time in the field analysing the gas emissions from the volcano. I also got the opportunity to fly in a light aircraft near the summit to take thermal images of the crater.

      The other half of the time is spent in the lab or desk analysing the data and this is also a lot of fun. Working out what the detail means for the geology of the area.

      Now I don’t spend very much time in the field but in the laboratory simulating impact events. This is a lot of fun.

      Just like other science disciplines, biology, physics etc. geology is a wide field from palaeontology to volcanology so there will always be things that individuals find more fun than others. Personally, I enjoyed field geology, structural and igneous petrology while some of my friends enjoyed palaeontology and sedimentology.

      Thanks for your questions

      Cheers

      Kathryn

    • Photo: Graeme Poole

      Graeme Poole answered on 5 Nov 2018: last edited 5 Nov 2018 10:00 am

      On the whole it is very fun because you get to do such cool things like visiting volcanoes and mountains and trying to work out how they formed millions or billions of years ago.

      Tbh there are some areas of geology that I find very boring (I won’t name them because some of my colleagues who work in those areas might read this…….). But I think that’s the same with any science or subject – some parts are fascinating to some people but not others. Geology, like other sciences, is such a broad subject that it’s so easy to be able to focus on the parts you enjoy, which makes it great 🙂

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