Yosemite’s Iconic El Capitan Mapped in High-Res 3-D
New geologic map helps scientists understand ancient volcano’s roots and contemporary rock falls.
While many graduate students spend days in a lab or in front of a computer, Roger Putnam, a master's candidate at the University of North Carolina, spent up to three days at a time on the sheer face of a cliff, suspended thousands of feet above the ground.
At night, he slept on a tiny platform. During the day, he climbed up the face of El Capitan, taking rock samples and detailed field notes along the way. (See "Climbing El Capitan.")
Putnam, a student of Allen Glazner, a professor of geology at the University of North Carolina, was gathering data for the first-ever high-resolution geologic map of El Capitan, one of America's most iconic natural landmarks and a jewel in the
