April 15, 2003
Down to Earth
Geology Professor Stays Grounded in His Studies
By Brian
Krause
The serene calmness of the Greenland fjord, a beautiful juxtaposition
of lush grasses and ancient icy glaciers, tucked between jutting cliffs,
is disturbed only by the hoarse hum of a motor cutting through the cold
glassy-still water.
George Stephens and his companion maneuver their small rubber boat closer
to a gigantic glacier that is luring the two geologists to explore the
cavernous ice tunnel at its base. Unable to resist, his partner begins
to motor towards it.
“Ed, let’s not do that,” Stephens recalls sternly warning
his friend, sensing danger and trying to counteract his comrade’s
tendency to leap without looking first.
As they turned the boat to leave, an avalanche crashed down and the
glacier collapsed, violently strewing thousand pound chunks of blue
ice splashing down where the mouth of the cave once was.
“If we had been inside, we would have been toast,” laughs
Stephens, professor of geology, while walking casually through the University
Yard. His bright red vest is not all that stands out from the would-be
politicians and law students sprinting to classes and Capitol Hill internships
at break-neck speeds. Geologic forces move slowly and steadily; and
Stephens is in no rush.
“The nice thing about geology is you deal in geologic time,”
he jokes. “Five minutes doesn’t make a lot of difference.”
The sun is shining, the weather is warm, and Stephens is happy to finally
break free of the office, even if only to go to Roosevelt Island. With
young children at home, the urge for travel and adventure has been staid
by the joy of fatherhood, and opportunities to go out in the field have
been few and far between lately.
“I’ve been really lucky. I’ve done some field work in
very remote places,” says Stephens. “When I was younger I
would disappear into the mountains for three months at a time. It sure
was fun at the time.”
Climbing into his car, he shifts into gear and nudges the nose out into
the accumulating rush hour traffic. The floor mats are caked in dried
mud from countless camping, hiking, and mountain climbing trips. An
expert in structural geology and the formation of mountain ranges, he
has trekked to North Africa and braved the Antarctic chill and 24-hour
sunlight of the South Pole. But his favorite area is the Andes Mountains
in Argentina
“The people are really friendly there, even when they disagree
with our country politically,” Stephens explains. “Geologically
I enjoy it because they’re not as far advanced in their understanding
as we are, so there is still so much to discover.”
Not just a GW professor, Stephens is also an alumnus. This remembers
before the Marvin Center was built, when the student center was on G
Street and Mt. Vernon was still a women’s liberal arts college.
“I really like the Mount Vernon Campus, it is such a neat place,”
he says. “It’s so different from the Foggy Bottom campus.
It’s green and peaceful, everything a college campus should be.
It’s so quiet and that appeals to me.”
Originally a chemistry major, Stephens became bored and saw no careers
that interested him in the field. Acting on a tip from a friend, he
tried a geology course. “I took the class and thought, ‘Wow,
this is for me, this is it,’” he says.
“There is probably more geology in Washington, DC, than anywhere
else in the country,” Stephens brags. “In the area within
50 miles of DC there is a wonderful diversity of geology to see.”
Taking advantage of the opportunities DC has to offer, field trips are
a cornerstone of Stephens’ geology classes. Excursions such as
this to Roosevelt Island or Great Falls are the highlights of the semester,
helping to reinforce lessons taught in the classroom.
“Field trips are really important because when you draw something
on the blackboard, it’s two dimensional and is a cartoon,”
says Stephens. “It’s not a real tangible feature. You can
learn and see so much more in the field.”
In Stephens’ class, “Washington: Land Before the City,”
students are amazed to learn how the nation’s capital is geologically
not even in the United States. “As you wander up and down the [Potomac]
River, you are not in North America, you are somewhere else,” he
says, balancing himself on a rock to get a view of Georgetown. “[The
East Coast] is really a piece of Africa that broke off when the Atlantic
opened.”
More than 1.1 billion years ago, the super-continent scientists call
Rodinea broke apart and the ancestral Atlantic Ocean opened, he explains.
The terrain then fused together again to form Pangaea. But when it split
again 700 million years ago to form the continents as we know them today,
a land mass was sutured onto the eastern portion of the United States
that was not originally there.
“Technically, it is probably not Africa,” he adds. “But
geologically it is not a part of North America either.”
Stephens shares his wealth of knowledge about the DC Metro area with
students. They are amazed to learn that in the 19th century, Montgomery
County was the gold mining capital of the country, with nearly 20 mines
in the area. However, after the California gold rush of 1849, the mines
began shutting down, with the last one closing in 1950.
“My favorite classes are the introductory geology. They are mostly
a population of non-science majors and I have the wonderful opportunity
to explain how the world works,” says Stephens. “I hope they
come away with an appreciation of how geology impacts our lives. Almost
everything we use in a material sense is an agricultural or geological
product.”
He also lends his expertise to help historians solve history’s
mysteries. Stephens assisted in a project to exhume the body of legendary
outlaw and bank robber Jesse James to help settle a dispute between
two families who claimed to be his rightful descendants. His next project
is to help relocate the graves of Civil War soldiers who were killed
in the Battle of Gettysburg. “Geology is like trying to put together
a jigsaw puzzle. It is a fun challenge,” he says.
Walking back through the University Quad in the fading afternoon sun,
he sighs at just the thought of having to sit behind a desk after spending
the afternoon on Roosevelt Island. “Geology is a wonderful excuse
to go out, and it looks perfectly respectable because you’re doing
science,” Stephens says.
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu
