Ship to shore

University of Delaware graduate student Grace McEllistrem's out of office message presently begins, "I am currently in the field collecting cool rocks!"

McEllistrem, a master's student studying earth sciences, is in the Atlantic Ocean near the equator, conducting field research aboard the R/V Roger Revelle at the Chain transform fault. The fault sits about 1,200 miles from Cape Verde, a small island country off the coast of West Africa.

She is working with UD geologist Jessica Warren and researchers from several institutions, comparing parts of the 200-mile-long fault that have large earthquakes to parts that do not. A fault line is an area of the Earth's crust that has fractured, allowing the two sections of rock to slip past one another. In this case, the crack exists on the ocean floor, three miles below the water's surface.

On a recent ship-to-shore video call, McEllistrem toured sixth grade students from Wilmington Friends School in Wilmington, Delaware, around the ship. Students accompanied McEllistrem as she weaved her way from the ship's interior to the outer deck to the bridge, where the captain pilots the vessel.