Pollen Analysis Project Headed by University of Nevada - Reno Researcher

Scott Mensing, Ph.D, and Chairman of the Department of Geography, University of  Nevada-Reno, was at the Sand Creek Massacre NHS the second week of August, 2005, conducting research as part of a pollen analysis project for the National Park Service.  Doctor Mensing was assisted by Park Rangers Karl Zimmermann and Craig Moore.

The crew used a Livingstone Piston Core as well as a variety of other equipment to take core samples from spring - fed marshes along the bed of Sand Creek.  The samples, believed to represent several thousand years of soil deposits, will be analyzed by staff and graduate students at Nevada-Reno. 

Carbon-14 and Lead-210 testing should help the researchers determine a timetable for soil stratigraphy along Sand Creek.  Inferences, based on pollen, can then be made about the amount, type, and extent of plants historically at the site.  Doctor Mensing's research is being sponsored through the Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (CESU), which partners federal agencies and universities in resource an ecosystem studies.