A Student Thesis in Them Thar Hills

Less than three miles from Yellowstone National Park's northeast border, a mining company hopes to dig for $750 million worth of gold and silver. But the mine will also unearth 5.5 million tons of acidic, heavy-metal tailings. For environmentalists who are battling the proposal, the mine is a monstrous evil. But for Dartmouth earth science professor Page Chamberlain and his students, the controversy has provided a rich vein for undergraduate research.

Chamberlain began taking students to the proposed New World Mine site in 1987 to look at the impacts of mining on the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Using data collected from the soils and streams about past mining activity in the area, Chamberlain and his students are hoping to model how the new mine will affect the environment.

Chamberlain's thesis student Travis Horton '96 says the proposed mine and its proposed impoundment to hold the tailings "really doesn't make sense. The greater Yellowstone ecosystem is such a geologically active area." The forces that make Yellowstone's Old Faithful spout steam are the same ones that would eventually break the mine's tailings impoundment, he says.

Contributors:Tyler Stableford '96,Rebecca Bailey,Sheila Culbert,Jonathan Skurnick '86,and the DAM staff.