The drought’s impact on reservoir water levels, while devastating for agriculture, is providing opportunities for maintenance and repairs on dams. The drought is also providing a Fresno State professor and graduate student a rare chance to map around Millerton Lake and research the history of the Sierras. Dr. Christopher J. Pluhar, associate professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, is studying rocks revealed for the first time in years in the bed of Millerton Lake that can reveal secrets about erosion and uplift of the Sierra Nevada. Geology student Wynter Erickson is mapping this area for her senior thesis by tracking the boundaries between rock layers and measuring how much they’ve tilted. Their story was reported this week by KQED at http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/12/21/drought-could-help-reveal-secrets-of-sierras-origins/.
