University of Alberta - NWT Bedrock Field School (Project Leader: John Ketchum)
Since 2003, the NWT Geoscience Office has collaborated with the University of Alberta’s Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS) to deliver a two-week field-based bedrock mapping course in the NWT. The course is offered to six 4th-year undergraduate students, and provides them with experience in data collection and compilation, as well as exposing them to the logistical realities of field work in the North. To date, the course has been based in a different area each summer, where the geologic setting is known but existing geology maps need upgrading. The advantage of this approach is that the mapping project makes a real contribution to NWT’s knowledge base, rather than being solely a “cookbook” mapping exercise for academic credit.
In 2006 the field school was based at the site of the Acasta gneisses, the oldest rocks in the world. The site is currently under consideration as a protected area under NWT’s Protected Areas Strategy. In the spring of 2006, a qualitative assessment of the area’s potential economic and scientific value was done in order to identify knowledge gaps and guide the fieldwork to be undertaken by EAS students. The field school involved bedrock mapping, collection of grab samples for assaying to assess metallic mineral potential, and a small till sampling program down-ice from the site. The till samples will be analyzed for bulk chemistry and heavy minerals to assess both metallic mineral and kimberlite potential. In addition to the above, data and samples were collected by two students for undergraduate honours theses.
Results of the Acasta field school will comprise a non-renewable resource assessment of the Acasta gneisses, a requirement for protected under the NWT Protected Areas Strategy.
To view the poster, click on the image below. (PDF format - requiring Adobe Acrobat)
