23 Undergraduate Research: Chris Jones Blogs from the Research Vessel, RV SONNE Hello, my name is Chris Jones and I am an undergraduate geology major at OSU. My home has always been Oklahoma, but, for the first 5 weeks of 2018, I resided on the German research vessel RV SONNE. I must say that the ship now has a permanent place in my heart, for being at sea was an awesome, inspiring experience. Aside from the incredible sunsets and delicious food, I was living in a microcosm of marine science. Every day I learned something new, whether it be how to cut open a gravity core or what a nepheloid layer is and how it relates to contouritic currents in the South Atlantic. Seeing the interaction of multiple fields of science further strengthened my passion and commitment to being not only an academic scientist, but an everyday one as well. My days at sea often started and ended rather similarly -‐ with the alarm on my watch ringing incessantly and a spectacular sunset and night sky. I would rise up, take a shower, and go to 7 am breakfast. Contrary to what may be expected, conversation in the early hours of the morning can in truth be stimulating. Topics ranging from preliminary results, favorite foods, and kicker (foosball) techniques were a staple at the table during meals throughout the day. Most of the time, however, was not spent eating but working diligently in the lab I was a member of the biogeochemistry group, the one that focused on the interaction and effect that microbial life has on chemical signals recorded in the geological record. The rest of the group consisted of Dr. Natascha Riedinger from OSU and Masters and Ph.D. students from German universities as well as a lab technician from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany. We took many measurements on board including dissolved sulfide and iron, alkalinity, phosphate, ammonium, silica, and other parameters for the pore water we extracted from the cores. I even got samples from two box corers all for myself! One of the best things about geology is how international the profession is. Consider the Boone Pickens School of Geology—we have students from across the world. It was the Chris Jones conducts geochemical research on the RV SONNE
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