Fire and Ice:
Desert Landscapes of the American SouthWest and Antarctica
      At first glance, it would seem a difficult task to place together two more disparate regions than the American Southwest and Antarctica. Situated some 10,000 miles apart in different hemispheres, an immediate contrast is seen between the warm red rock of the Southwest and the cold blue ice of Antarctica. One landscape seems completely devoid of water, while the other appears smothered by it.
     And yet Antarctica, like the Southwest, is very much a desert. While it is true that 98% of the world's fresh water belongs to Antarctica, it is in the form of ice built up over millions of years. Much of Antarctica receives less than two inches of precipitation annually. Both the Southwest and Antarctica are biological deserts as well, supporting very few plant and animal species.
     A striking connection between the two landscapes is that they are both sculpted to a large degree by water, even though running water is scarce. The difference lies in the behavior of water as an erosional force. In the Southwest, torrential rains and flash floods may act quickly to shape the hoodoos of Bryce National Park, or the sculpted walls of Antelope Canyon. In Antarctica, the land is slowly ground down by the incredible weight of flowing glaciers and icecaps, some thousands of feet thick. It is this strange combination of similarities and contrasts that has drawn me to this photographic comparison of these compelling landscapes. I believe that exploring the geologic (and human) forces that shape these landscapes, and our compelling need to learn from these inhospitable environments, would make a powerful statement.
     To continue this photographic work, I would like to spend time in areas that illustrate how water, frozen and liquid, has acted to erode the landscape. The dry valleys of Antarctica are an area that clearly show erosional features, having been scoured by glaciers millions of years ago. In addition, examples there of ventifacts and cavernous weathering created by the grinding action of blowing snow and rock would be an analog to the actions of blowing sands in the Southwest. Some time spent on the polar plateau would be useful to document the perseverance of nunataks and mountains in spite of thousands of feet of ice. Fossils in the mountains, showing the origins of ancient seabeds, would tie in with evidence of an inland sea in the Southwest. Other features of interest include polygonal patterns caused by freeze/thaw cycles, sastrugi, and any other features that portray ice as an analog to rock.
    While biologic life is limited in both environments, there are some comparisons, such as the algaes and lichens of Antarctica and the "cryptobiotic soil" of the Southwest (lichens and cyanobacteria). Further, there are opportunistic species in both regions that take advantage of short-lived pools of water to carry out their life cycle. Documenting these species would illustrate both the fragility and tenacity of life in these harsh environments. Finally, a record of man's habitation in Antarctica, from Shackleton's hut to the dome at the South Pole, would compare dramatically with man's habitation of the Southwest, from early cliff dwellings of the Anasazi and cabins of the white frontiersmen, to the towering man-made monuments of the desert city, Las Vegas.