Laramie Potts facts for kids

Laramie Potts is an American scientist. He helped discover a huge, hidden area in Antarctica. This area is called the Wilkes Land mass concentration. He worked with another scientist named Ralph von Frese to find it. Dr. Potts was born in South Africa. Today, he teaches geomatics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). Geomatics is a field that uses technology to measure and map the Earth. It's like modern surveying.

Discovering Antarctica's Secrets

Dr. Laramie Potts is best known for his work in Antarctica. He and his colleague, Ralph von Frese, found something amazing. They discovered a very large, heavy area hidden deep under the ice. This area is about 200 miles (300 km) wide.

How They Found It

To find this hidden mass, the scientists used special tools. They used gravity measurements from NASA's GRACE satellites. These satellites orbit Earth and measure tiny changes in its gravity. By looking at these changes, scientists can figure out what's hidden beneath the surface. The heavy area they found is called a "mass concentration."

What It Might Be

This heavy area is located inside a larger, ring-shaped structure. This ring can be seen in radar images of the land under the ice. Because of its size and shape, Dr. Potts and von Frese think it might be from a huge impact event. This means a very large object, like a meteorite, could have crashed there a long, long time ago. It would have left a giant crater, which is now buried under the ice.

His Journey to Science

Dr. Potts studied for many years to become a scientist. He earned his first degree in Land Surveying in 1984. He got this degree from the University of Cape Town. Later, he continued his studies at The Ohio State University. There, he earned his Master's degree in 1993 and his Ph.D. in 2000. Both of these advanced degrees were in Geodetic Science and Surveying. In 2016, he also earned an M.B.A. from NJIT.