Walter Menapace is a post-doctoral researcher in Marine Geology. He focuses on mud volcanoes, which are gas- and mud-spewing structures similar to volcanoes that spew out lava. He also focuses on paleoseismology, the study of old, historic earthquakes. Specifically, he is studying the effect of extreme events, like earthquakes, on the sedimentary layers of the ocean seafloor.
During his free time, he likes to hike with friends, mountain bike, climbing, football, and all kinds of sports that put him outdoors in the mountains. A fun fact about him is that he trained on a football team of international students in Germany and played a European tournament in Athens, Greece!
Walter started as a land geologist when he was a university student because he loved the outdoors. Slowly, his studies and passions turned him to the field of marine geology. Marine geology is the science that studies the areas affected by our oceans, like the deep ocean sea floor or the slopes and shelves of our continents. He only started to truly understand marine geology as a field when he started his PhD. Now, he sails as the expert sedimentologist, alongside two other scientists on board, where they look for key features and data necessary for us to read the sediment layers in our cores.
When on board, Walter has multiple tasks to complete.
