Lee Aeo
Measuring erosion rates of rocks to quantify their impact on carbon capture in Alaska
UAF Junior
B.S. Geoscience
Lee is a 2024-2025 Climate Change Project Award Recipient.
Research has shown that mafic and ultramafic rocks, which contain calcium and magnesium, have the ability to capture carbon by ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøing. During this process elements in rocks react to form carbonates which can permanently store carbon from the atmosphere. Alaska has an abundance of these rocks, but their contribution to carbon capture is not well-constrained.
This project aims to quantify erosion rates for Alaska and high latitude areas by measuring Helium-3 (3He) in magnetite crystals separated from river sediment. Through the 3He measurements we can derive long-term carbon capture rates in mafic and ultramafic rocks in high latitude environments and Alaska.
How is your project going so far this semester?
The project is going very well so far. I have been learning a lot of new skills and sometimes new ways of doing things I thought I already knew. I'm also learning how to think on my feet and improvise. Every step of the project has involved acquiring new skills. I've learned how to use ArcGIS, a web-based mapping software, as well as some other programing tools that will be useful into the future. I magnet fished for the first time while we were collecting our samples for the project and that was a lot of fun. Overall, it's been a really rewarding experience.
How did you find out about URSA and what encouraged you to submit an application for funding?
I had a few friends who had done an URSA project in the past. I knew I wanted to study mafic and ultramafic rocks in Alaska, so I brought this up with my advisor while working under him for other geology-related work in the lab setting. He happened to be working on a 3He method for magnetite which is a foundational component of these types of rocks. He suggested we look into measuring the erosion rates of these rocks using 3He in order to determine the carbon drawdown rate and that's what we ended up putting in the proposal. Getting the experience of writing a proposal and planning all the steps and budget of the project has been a really valuable learning experience.
How does your URSA project relate to your career or personal goals?
This URSA project aligns pretty closely with my career goals, as well as my personal goals. I want to eventually study geochronology in relation to climate change in Alaska and the Arctic. That's pretty much exactly what this project is, which is really cool. Working on this project with Dr. Hofmann has given me some hands on experience in what I would be doing in the future and I think that's really valuable. It also helped me develop some awesome planning, budgeting and organization tools that I can apply to many other areas of my life apart from science.
If you could share one piece of advice with students interested in pursuing URSA in the future, what would you say?
I would say if you're thinking about applying or asking someone to potentially be an advisor, but you are having hesitations for whatever reason- just go for it. The only guaranteed way to get a "no" for an answer is to not ask or apply in the first place. The URSA staff and researchers are really good people and genuinely want to see you succeed however that looks. Learning what its like to be taking classes while also working on your own research project I think is a really valuable skill set to have for anyone wanting to go into the research field and this is a perfect way to learn what that is like.