In The Field: Log 003
I spend a lot of time walking around job sites before drilling starts, trying to answer a simple question: what’s buried here that shouldn’t be hit?
Sometimes that means identifying voids or buried structures. Other times, it means stopping a drill rig from setting up directly on top of gas lines (BOOM) or electric lines (ZAP).
Here are a few recent “close calls” from the field:
Lodi, NJ: The white dots in the center mark where the client wanted to drill. Nope! Way too close to an electric line I found (ZAP). In the foreground, there’s an existing monitoring well. Was it there before the line, or after? If it came after, someone either got lucky… or knew it was there and decided to get a little too close for comfort.
Jamesburg, NJ: This one looked fine on paper until I poked my head into the storm grates and saw the sewer line running right beneath it. Not a dangerous utility to encounter, but would definitely be a headache to repair.
Philadelphia, PA: Another day, another drilling location, another electric line hiding underground. It happens more often than you’d think. We don’t catch everything (too many variables that affect the data), but we catch enough to prevent a lot of headaches and, sometimes, very bad days.
Newark, NJ: By now, you’ve probably spotted the white dot in the mulch near the curb. No surprises when I said, “let’s move it a bit.” The client was happy to dig elsewhere. Bonus: this site came with a nice view of NYC from the drone.
Not every work day involves close calls. Sometimes we just end up somewhere interesting… like a prop warehouse in upstate New York. This was such a fun site to work in with so many random, fascinating, and eerie items strewn about. It was also absolutely humongous! I could’ve spent all day wandering through it. But, of course, there was work to do.
Earlier this week I found myself on some farmland in Freehold, NJ looking for an old well. Didn’t find it. But it’s hard to complain when your workday is walking around outside with geophysical equipment in the fresh spring air. That’s a win in my book.
Last week was the annual LSRPA conference in New Brunswick. AGS had a table, and it was great connecting with new clients and catching up with familiar faces. If you need a koozie or a pen, we’ve got you covered.
Two days inside was enough though. Back to the field!
After wrapping up paternity leave last month, I spent my last day doing something special - taking my son out into the field on his first birding adventure. We drove around the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, stepped out for a walk through the reeds, and just soaked it all in. I even spotted a Northern Harrier to add to my life list, and managed to capture a pretty decent in-flight photo.
Meanwhile, my dog Bear has been enjoying his own version of fieldwork - keeping eyes on the backyard from the patio chair now that the weather’s breaking.
I’ll end this post on a proud geologist dad moment. I was helping my son explore our front yard and he went straight for the rocks. Atta boy.
