Geology Professor Mary Savina has been working and teaching for Carleton College for about 35 years, and virtually all of her classes have used the Arboretum. Hydrology examines groundwater well fields, braving the winter months to venture into the Arb, and both Geomorphology and Geology of Soils use the Arboretum for all but two or three of the labs. The proximity of the Arboretum allows students to get the most out of the four hours of lab; Savina says “It’s just a very, very interesting place with an interesting geologic history.”
For her own research, she explores how the Northfield floods in the past three years (2010-2012) have affected the sediment on the bottom of the Cannon River, and the impact on the mussel habitat. Additionally, she studies how the planform of the Cannon River has changed since it was surveyed in the 1850s. Finally, she also investigates sediment movement and deposition in order to ascertain what the effects of removing the Northfield dam would be on the Arboretum. Savina said “having a long continuous stretch of river that’s workable… is pretty incredible.” The Arboretum offers not only ample material for Professor Savina’s work, but provides a good place for students to learn geology, especially with its obvious changes in soil types. Every year at least one or two of the geology majors complete their comps based on research in the Arboretum. The Arboretum offers not only a convenient proximity, but genuinely interesting and varied geographic features allowing for diverse kinds of geologic study.