John Buchanan

Exploring the world's remote landscapes and encountering exotic wildlife is an adventurer's dream come true. All things geological excite me, and I enjoy sharing my life-long passion with other travelers.

Sam Ford Fjord on Baffin Island is a stunning glacially-carved fjord with sheer cliffs rising more than one thousand meters. This area contains some of the oldest rocks in the world, dating back three billion years.

Port Charcot is a richly historic bay on Booth Island along the Antarctic Peninsula. Jean-Baptiste Charcot overwintered here in 1904, constructing an enormous rock cairn to commemorate the French expedition.

Brown Bluff is an interesting geologic structure at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. A sub-glacial volcanic eruption occurred here less than one million years ago, creating this biscuit-shaped landform known as a "tuya."

Giant's Causeway in northern Ireland consists of thousands of interlinked polygonal basalt columns that were created during a volcanic eruption between 50 and 60 million years ago.

Expedition Leader John Buchanan

Dr. John Buchanan is a recently retired professor of geology and former director of the environmental science program at Eastern Washington University. He’s spent the past 34 years focusing his academic endeavors on sedimentology, hydrogeology and geomorphology—with a keen interest in all things geological. A recent participant in caving expeditions funded by the National Geographic Society, Dr. Buchanan mapped and studied the longest caves in Central America.

His proximity to the Pacific Rim and Hawaii makes him an expert on seismology and volcanology related to the Ring of Fire. He’s not only a registered professional geologist and hydrogeologist, but he also works as a consultant to both private companies and at the federal, state and local government levels.

As an experienced expedition guide since 2008 and qualified Zodiac driver, Dr. Buchanan enjoys sharing his passion for outdoor exploration, as well as his personal experiences as an avid landscape and wildlife photographer, mountaineer, private pilot and amateur astronomer.  He has worked on all seven continents, traveling nearly pole to pole, and points in between.

Any trip with John is way, way cool.
We learn so much more than we did in school.
Hurrah for John, and let rocks rule!

-Sally and Einar G.

John's Expeditions

Greenland & Baffin Island (July 22 – August 9, 2023) green arrow linking to Greenland & Baffin Island

Our full circuit of Baffin Bay includes majestic fjords, colorful cliffside villages, Polar Bears, Walrus, Narwhals, Bowhead Whales, and massive seabird colonies.

Ask John a question about his upcoming expeditions?

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Arctic and Antarctica ice coverage

The Arctic region is dominated by the smallest and shallowest ocean on Earth, but partly covered with drifting frozen sea ice that expands and contracts seasonally. Antarctica, however, is a continental landmass covered with thick glacial ice, where at the South Pole, is just under two miles thick (2,835 m; 9,301 ft).