As summer winds down, so does the
fieldwork portion of my research in Pinedale, Wyoming. The past weeks have been
filled with long days in the sun, navigating sagebrush, and collecting soil
samples from gas fracking sites—but the lab work is just beginning. With field
sampling complete, I’m now turning to the lab phase at Yale, which I’m
genuinely looking forward to. Lab work, in my view, is more diverse and
meticulous, which makes the next steps particularly exciting.
Over the course of the summer, I sampled 18 wellpads, collecting a total of 432 soil samples. These sites span a development timeline from the late 1990s through 2019. To complement surface sampling, I also dug soil pits to examine subsurface horizons. The majority of the soils are of the Golphco-Chickenhill-Bronec complex (USGS classification: 1lh1h), which are notably low in visible humus and organic material.
A 70-cm soil profile of the studied undisturbed area. Photo credit: Myroslav Bur
Back in the lab, my first task will be
sieving the soil samples, since the USDA/NRCS defines soil as particles smaller
than 2 mm in diameter. This will help prepare the samples for further analysis.
I’ll then conduct bulk texture analysis to quantify clay, silt, and sand
content—components that not only define soil texture but are also essential for
understanding soil carbon dynamics.
Finally, I will use the Loss on Ignition (LOI) method—previously introduced in my last blog post—to estimate the total organic matter content in each sample. This will be crucial in evaluating how soil carbon recovers over time following disturbances from natural gas development.
Stay tuned for updates as I transition
into the lab phase and begin interpreting the data collected from this summer’s
fieldwork.
Myroslav Bur – Western Resource Fellow | Myroslav Bur is a Yale College undergraduate studying Chemistry, with a focus on soil chemistry and sustainable agriculture. He is particularly interested in agricultural systems that emulate natural ecosystems, and how soil dynamics shape plant communities in arid landscapes. Through studying the sagebrush ecosystem of the American West, he hopes to better understand plant-soil interactions in dry environments and apply this knowledge to both conservation and agricultural resilience. In his free time, Myroslav enjoys reading scientific literature while drinking home-brewed full-leaf tea. See what Myroslav has been up to.
