The Dirty Work of Tracing a River’s History

By Jacquelyne Taurianen
VERMILLION, S.D.— The slow, slurping sound as she dislodges her sunken boot from the mud makes her realize she is far from home, standing in the middle of what used to be the Missouri River.

Twenty-year-old Amy Radakovich said spending her summer doing research isn’t as bad as it sounds.

“It’s one of those things you just don’t mind doing,” she said. “It’s really exciting.”

Radakovich is one of 14 students from the University of Texas-Arlington Research Project who will spend eight weeks mapping changes in nearly 40 miles of the Missouri River, from Sioux City to Yankton, S.D.

“We’re trying to teach the fundamentals of research and mapping soil and sediment of the Missouri River flood plane,” said John Holbrook, Radakovich’s instructor. “We are out here looking to see where it’s changed, how fast and why.”

Holbrook teaches a one-week class in Texas in which students learn to identify features that indicate past courses and channels of the river and other geology basics. The week is followed by a month of hands-on research in and around Vermillion.

Arrival on June 8 cut the summer months short for those participating, but one summer is nothing compared to the life lessons taught.

“The more stuff you learn, the more you know where you want to go in your career,” Radakovich said.

Selected because of its central location to the majority of research sites, Vermillion will be home to graduate and undergraduate students from various colleges and universities for the next two months. They will live at one of the town’s motels.

While the people are new every year, the program remains consistent. It has spent several summers mapping up- and down-river, following the same basic geological principles from year to year.

“They begin by looking at air photos and existing maps to try and identify old river deposits and channels,” Holbrook said. “Once they think they have a spot and the area has been cleared (for gas or electrical lines), they go out in the field with hand-drills to get a sample.”

The samples are used to determine the amount and number of changes in the Missouri River.

“It has undergone several major changes and wouldn’t be recognized as the river that Lewis and Clark had once traveled,” Holbrook said.

Radakovich and her research partner, Aaron Soultaire, 27, worked together to select points they hypothesize are old riverbed locations.

“It’s like a game,” Soultaire said. “We go out, poke a hole and hope we got it right. If not, we pick a new spot and do it all over again.”

Students will take samples drawn from each site to the University of Nebraska to confirm or refute their hypotheses.

“Ultimately, we want students to learn about research,” Holbrook said. “And this program gives them that opportunity.”