But on Miller's trip to Siberia, getting the information she needed was not easy. The geologists endured bumpy rides over unpaved roads and camped in mosquito-infested wilderness. They hiked and rafted to some of the most remote regions on the planet in search of geological samples. Studying the Earth's geology from the ground can be as challenging as a flea studying the surface of a dog. But for Miller and other geologists, fieldwork is essential.
Satellite pictures tell much about present geology, but little about the past.
Instead, geologists take trips to strategic places to gather the most information they can in a manageable amount of time. When the world is your laboratory When the plane set down on a grass landing strip outside the Russian town of Eldican, the truck the researchers had hired was nowhere to be seen. Miller soon would learn that Valodya's name suited his aggressive driving style. A Russian colleague stands in front of the geologists' home as they traveled through the Siberian wilderness. The next day the group set out eastward on the main dirt highway that connects the mining camps that dot the Verkhoyansk belt.