Join us for a Public Lecture Presented by the Canadian Exploration Geophysical Society (KEGS)

Featuring KEGS Distinguished Lecturer, Bruce McMonnies, Lamontagne Geophysics

Talk Title: "UTEM - Its Origin, History, Development and Discoveries"

Date: Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Time: 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm

Location: Queen's University, Miller Hall, room 201

OR

Join us via Zoom: 

Please email braun@queensu.ca for the Zoom link. 

The event will feature three parts:

1. Presentation of the KEGS award to Queen's Students

2. A Tribute to Yves Lamontagne

3. Lecture

Abstract:

In my talk I will provide an overview of the UTEM (University of Toronto EM) system, comprising advanced geophysical instrumentation and related software operated by Lamontagne Geophysics in Kingston designed to explore for deep conductive orebodies or related targets via surface and borehole surveys, together with an appreciation of its inventor, the brilliant geophysicist Yves Lamontagne, who sadly left us last month, as distilled from my eight years working at Lamontagne. UTEM, originally developed by Yves as a PhD student at the UofT in the 1970s in collaboration with Dr. Gordon West, is unique among the diverse EM systems and devices in that it measures the step function of the earth generated by a specially designed transmitted EM waveform, rather than measuring the impulse response generated by a current square wave utilized by most time-domain EM systems.

Thanks to many improvements and innovations primarily developed by Yves in his constant quest to push the system’s capabilities,  the current version (UTEM-V) can readily detect conductive targets at depths exceeding 500m in surface surveys and obtain high signal-to-noise triaxial BHEM data to depths in excess of 2000m from three transmitter loops quasi-simultaneously.   

Parallel advances in software for data processing and modeling of observed EM responses now enable quantitative interpretation of complex features for both surface and borehole surveys UTEM surveys have been performed by dedicated Lamontagne crews around the world over the past 45 years, leading to many important deposit discoveries, notably at depth in the prolific Sudbury Cu-Ni camp, thereby sustaining the continuing operations of Vale, Glencore and KHGM and contributing to the economic vitality of Sudbury.   Several of these UTEM case histories will be presented and discussed, providing clear confirmation of the importance of Yves’ contributions to the geophysical arsenal needed to search for ever-deeper ore deposits,  as recognized by the Cecil Green award by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists and by designation as a KEGS Pioneer by the KEGS Foundation.   

Hopefully, students and younger researchers will be inspired by Yves’ career to pursue efforts to further improve geophysical and related technology that is critical  to the continued success of the Canadian resource sector.

Join us at PDAC to connect with your fellow alumni, as well as faculty, staff and students from the department!

Date: Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Time: 4:30 pm - 7:00 pm

Location: MTCC, North Building, Reception Hall 104A

Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering Distinguished Speaker Program presents Dr. Corliss Kin I Sio 

On Friday, March 24th, Corliss Kin I Sio, Dept. Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, will be giving a talk for the Queen's Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering.

Talk Title: "The role of iron isotopes in petrology: from volcanic eruptions to the origin of pallasites"

Date: Friday, March 24, 2023

Time: 1:30pm

Location: Miller Hall, Room 201

Coffee and treats will be served.

Bio: 

I am a geochemist working at the intersection of isotope geochemistry (80%) and experimental petrology (20%). I am interested in the formation and evolution of magmatic systems, on Earth and other planetary bodies. Following the completion of my PhD from the University of Chicago, I spent two years at Carnegie as a postdoctoral fellow. Then, I took on a second postdoc position at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA. There, I worked on constraining the age of the lunar crust using Apollo samples. Soon after being promoted to a staff scientist position, I took a position as an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, where I am building a mass spectrometry facility to continue my research in non-traditional stable isotopes.

Abstract:

Around the turn of the century, it was recognized that isotopes of the heavy elements (e.g., Mg, Fe) can display significant fractionations in igneous rocks, with both kinetic and equilibrium processes capable of producing measurable isotope fractionations. In this talk, I will demonstrate how stable isotopes can complement and improve upon existing petrologic tools that are based on chemical analyses alone. I will show how kinetic isotope fractionations can be used to identify chemical diffusion, which provides critical constraints on volcanic plumbing systems and the rates of magma transport. Equilibrium isotope fractionations, on the other hand, can be used to test assumptions of chemical equilibrium in mineral assemblages, illuminating their petrogenesis. I will show that olivine and metal in pallasites are not in isotopic equilibrium, thereby precluding their origin as core-mantle boundary materials. Rather, pallasites are impact samples that were emplaced at shallow depths within their parent body.

Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering Distinguished Speaker Program presents Dr. Christopher Beckett-Brown 

On Thursday, January 19, Dr. Christopher Beckett-Brown, Geological Survey of Canada, will be giving a talk for the Queen's Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering.

Talk Title: "Using Indicator Mineral Texture and Chemistry as a Vector to Porphyry Cu Deposits: An Example from the Casino Deposit, Yukon Territory"

Date: Thursday, January 19, 2023

Time: 11:30 am

Location: Miller Hall, Room 201

Coffee and treats will be served.

Abstract: 

Colour, texture, and chemistry were used to determine the source of tourmaline grains in local surficial stream sediments surrounding the Casino calc-alkaline porphyry Cu-Au-Mo deposit, which occurs in the unglaciated terrain of west-central Yukon Territory, Canada. Tourmaline from mineralized porphyry bedrock samples has been well characterized and shown to be unique from that forming in other geological environments. Porphyry tourmaline from bedrock is generally dark brown to black and is texturally distinct, forming as clusters of radiating prismatic aggregates and almost never as individual isolated grains. In terms of major-elements, porphyry tourmaline plot along the oxy-dravite – povondraite solid-solution. Tourmaline in porphyry systems has been previously shown to be chemically distinct in terms of its trace-element character. Detrital tourmaline collected from stream sediments surrounding the Casino deposit occurs as two morphological types; 1) sub- to euhedral individual grains, 2) sub- to euhedral grain aggregates of radiating prismatic grains. Its trace-element content shows grains of mineralized porphyry origin as well as grains from metamorphic and pegmatitic (background) environments. Consequently, those forming as radiating prismatic grains are the same grains that exhibit porphyry derived trace-element chemistries as well. In Canadian Creek, which directly drains from the Casino deposit, samples closest to the deposits contain >70% porphyry derived tourmaline, while other streams in the region from unprospective drainage basins contain no porphyry tourmaline. At the most distal sample site in Canadian Creek, ~20 km downstream from the deposit, nearly 30% of the recovered tourmaline in the stream sediments is classified as porphyry related. Overall, a combination of physical and chemical characteristics including 1) macro-color, 2) morphology, 3) inclusion populations, 4) X-site composition, and 5) trace-element compositions are useful in discriminating between porphyry- versus non-porphyry–derived (or related) tourmaline in surficial sediments. This highly accurate method provides an additional tool to regional stream sediment and indicator mineral surveys when exploring for porphyry Cu-Au-Mo systems in both unglaciated and glaciated terrains.

Bio: 

Christopher Beckett-Brown is an applied mineralogist and postdoctoral research person in the applied geochemistry unit of the Geological Survey of Canada. Chris completed his PhD in 2022 in Mineral Deposits and Precambrian Geology at Laurentian University. His PhD research focused on assessing the indicator mineral potential of tourmaline supergroup minerals in mineralized porphyry systems. His previous research focused on sulfide mineral intergrowths as well as the crystal chemistry of Ni-rich spinel group minerals. Chris has been the recipient of significant awards including: the NSERC-Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Doctoral Scholarship, the Mineralogical Association of Canada Foundation PhD Scholarship, the Society of Economic Geology Research Grant as well as SEG Graduate Student Fellowship-sponsored by Anglo American. Besides research, Chris has spent two summers with the Ontario Geological Survey bedrock mapping in the Swayze Greenstone belt and the West arm of Lake Nipissing. Outside of geology, he spends most of his time in the outdoors on white water canoe trips, backpacking adventures, and winter camping.

Save the Date! 

Join us in Vancouver for the RoundUp Alumni Reception. 

Date: Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Time: 5:00pm - 7:00pm

Location: The Head-frame Room at TECK Resources Ltd., Suite 3300, 550 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC

Please RSVP to geolalum@queensu.ca. Your name must be on the guest list in order to gain access to the building.

Please note that the building is currently undergoing renovations, and therefore those with mobility issues will have difficulty attending the event at this time. We do apologize for the inconvenience. 

We look forward to seeing you there!

Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering Distinguished Speaker Program presents Dr. Daniel S. Grégoire 

On Tuesday, February 7, Dr. Daniel S. Grégoire, Carleton University, Department of Chemistry, will be giving a talk for the Queen's Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering.

Biography: I have over 15 years of experience conducting research in the academic, private, and public sectors. My research focusses on the role microbes play in controlling the fate of contaminants in the environment. For my Ph.D. at the University of Ottawa, I worked with Dr. Alexandre Poulain and discovered new pathways for mercury cycling controlled by photosynthetic microbes. I translated these discoveries into bioremediation strategies for mining effluent through our company Microbright. After my Ph.D., I contributed to advancing open data policies with the International Development Research Centre before starting a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship with Dr. Laura Hug at the University of Waterloo. My work with Dr. Hug leveraged whole-community DNA approaches such as metagenomics alongside geochemical analyses to characterize microbes involved in contaminant cycling in landfills and mining sites. Since then, I’ve started the Environmental Biogeochemistry and Biotechnology research group at Carleton. My lab focusses on using metagenomics and enrichment culturing to develop sustainable waste reclamation strategies for one of Earth’s fastest growing waste streams: e-waste.

Abstract: Landfills generate outsized environmental footprints due to microbial degradation of organic matter in municipal solid waste, which produces the potent greenhouse gas methane. With global solid waste production predicted to increase 69% by the year 2050, there is a pressing need to better understand the biogeochemical processes that control microbial methane cycling in landfills. In this study, we had the rare opportunity to characterize the microbial community responsible for methane cycling in landfill waste covering a 39-year timeframe. We coupled long term geochemical analyses to whole-community DNA (i.e., metagenomic) sequencing and identified key features that shape methane cycling communities over the course of a landfill’s lifecycle. Anaerobic methanogenic microbes are more abundant, diverse, and metabolically versatile in newer waste, fueling rapid methane production early in a landfill’s lifecycle. Aerobic methanotrophs were repeatedly found in leachate where low levels of oxygen were present and exhibited adaptations that aid survival under steep redox gradients in landfills. The potential for anaerobic methane oxidation, which has historically been overlooked despite anoxic habitats dominating landfills, was prevalent in a 26-year-old landfill cell which was in a state of slow methanogenesis. Finally, we identified the metabolic potential for methane oxidation in lineages that are widespread in aquatic and terrestrial habitats, whose capacity to metabolize methane remains poorly characterized. Ultimately, this work expands the diversity of methane cycling guilds in landfills and outlines how these communities can curb methane emissions from municipal solid waste.

On Friday November 18, Dr. Laura Thomson, Queen's University, Department of Geography and Planning, will be giving a talk for the Queen's Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering.

Dr. Thomson will be presenting on: “Glacier monitoring in Canada’s North”

Bio:

I grew up enjoying the wonderful community of Williams Lake in the central interior of British Columbia before heading east to study in the Department of Earth Sciences at Western University as a Loran Scholar (’04). Here I received BSc and MSc degrees in Geophysics and Planetary Science, while also completing a one year research internship in glacier mapping at the University of Northern British Columbia. My PhD research at the University of Ottawa focused on the glaciers of Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut, where I now maintain the long-term (>50 year) glacier monitoring program. I have been fortunate to hold fellowships with the Western Canada Cryospheric Network, with the European Space Agency’s Earth Observation Team, and to work as a visiting scientist at the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) at the University of Zürich. I pursued Postdoctoral studies in Glaciology at Simon Fraser University under the mentorship from Dr. Gwenn Flowers, where we investigated the impact of changing ice temperatures on ice motion and the long-term stability of Arctic glaciers. I am thrilled to be joining the Queen’s Geography and Planning community in 2018 and am looking forward to fostering new collaborations in the years to come.

Back after a two-year hiatus! Come to the Miller Museum's annual Gem and Mineral Sale in the Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering. 

Queen's Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering alumni-owned businesses, Grenville Minerals and Alpine Gems, will be set up in the museum (Room 100B, Miller Hall, 36 Union Street, Kingston, ON) to sell beautiful cut gemstones, natural minerals and crystals, fossils, and decorative geological items from 9am-5pm daily starting Wednesday, November 9th and running to Friday evening. 

A portion of the sales comes back to the museum to fund new exhibits, and the delivery of popular educational programs for local school groups, nature groups, cubs, brownies and all others with an interest in Geoscience.