Adriana Ariza-Pardo at Bahía Balleneros, Deception Island.
Colombian geoscientist Adriana Ariza-Pardo is delving into the origins of a sunken, active volcano that also serves as a port for researchers visiting Antartica.
Ariza-Pardo, who is the Antarctica Project Lead for Colombian company GMAS SAS visited the frozen continent as part of the VIII Colombian Expedition to Antarctica in the 2021-2022 summer campaign.
“I am investigating a peculiar site in Antarctica and the world called Deception Island,” she says, referring to an island located in the middle of the Bransfield Strait, between the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula.
“My goal is to understand the beginnings of the volcano, from the type of crust from which it emerges, the tectonic plates involved in its formation process, and to determine its age by studying the oldest eruptions of the volcano,” Ariza-Pardo says, adding that it Deception Island has had very recent eruptions (the last one was in 1970).
She says to achieve the objective, petrographic and chemical studies of sediments and rock samples were carried out by the researchers from the site of the volcano, which is located on the cusp of a rift produced by the separation of tectonic plates.
“The most significant opportunity of the project was going, being there, and getting to know and living in Antarctica,”Ariza-Pardo says, “Having the opportunity to study Antarctica and visit it is a privilege that few have and in addition to doing scientific research, I am back in my country to bring the great white continent closer to the Colombian population, be a role model to support future generations of scientists, and contribute my experience to future Colombian expeditions to Antarctica.”
She says everything there is different from what she had experienced before is unique.
“The means of transportation to get to and from, the island along with its geology, metrology, and biology, the base that was our home and part of the laboratory, and finally, what the most I fell in love with was the peace and tranquility that you feel there,” Ariza-Pardo says.
Adriana Ariza-Pardo works to concentrate heavy sediments in Bahía Fumarolas in the company of a sea … [+]
Childhood Dream
Ariza-Pardo’s passion for the Antarctic started early on in her life.
“Since I was little, I have always dreamed of knowing places outside our planet, space, the Moon, or Mars, allowing us to understand our planet’s beginnings,” she says, “When I heard that it was possible to apply to be part of an expedition to Antarctica, I said, ‘I am going to Antarctica,’ without a doubt.”
In 2018, Ariza-Pardo received her bachelor’s degree in Geosciences from the Universidad de los Andes in the Colombian capital of Bogota and then went on to work on hydrocarbon projects in Colombia’s geochemical study of three sedimentary basins, making her childhood dream come true in 2021 when she arrived in Antarctica.
“Antarctica is a unique place on Earth, a great laboratory that generates data about the rest of the planet and even the universe,” she says, “The Global South has unique places in the world to get to know, understand and protect, such as the Amazon, Patagonia, and Antarctica, among others… These primordial sites will allow us to understand the past, present, and future of the Earth, nature, and humanity.”
Ariza-Pardo says that carrying out science from the Global South allows scientists there to recognize their environment from different disciplines, bringing science closer to communities and having a greater sense of belonging to protect ecosystems.
“I believe that Colombia as a country, as part of the Global South, we have many talents to contribute to science and international technological advances from different disciplines.”
View of Port Foster from Decepción Argentina base
Another Colombian researcher with hands-on experience with Antartica is Natalia Jaramillo
Thanks in part to her efforts, the last frontiers of the frozen continent are being mapped via drone.
