Introduction

Introduction

I am Mark Nicholas Demitroff, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography, University of Delaware. My path to permafrost studies is rather unusual. After completing a B.S. in Agricultural Sciences at Rutgers University in 1982, I established horticulture/tree care firm. In 1998 I was approached to design a local nature trail system, which began a spirited adventure into Late Pleistocene dynamics of the Pine Barrens. My reporting on the occurrence of enigmatic enclosed depressions, known locally as “spungs,” piqued the curiosity of Dr. Hugh French. He was then Dean of Science at the University of Ottawa and an eminent authority on cold, nonglacial environments. So began a delightful working relationship and family friendship. I continue to receive abundant enlightenment and inspiration from Professor French, eagerly awaiting each return for field studies. Together we explore a provocative world without current analogs, the domain of nonglacial ice age environments.

Mark, Alexis, Patty Demitroff at Mt. Rainear