Ukstins Peate — along with Sam Saltzman, a Master of Science student in Geoscience focusing on geochemistry and paleoclimatology from Lake Forest, Illinois, and Brennan van Alderwerelt, a doctoral student in volcanology and
igneous petrology from Portland, Oregon — spent two weeks at Laguna Lejía in October 2014.
«A geologist with a background in
igneous petrology,» the study of rocks formed from solidified magma, «will be able to interpret a lot more from a rock than a physicist.