October 2006 ISSUE
Peggy Elsen
STUDENT COLUMN
Geoscience Students Bring
Host Of Summer Experiences
Back to Class
Editor’s Note: APEGGA student member Peggy Elsen, the new vice-president external for Percival Sydney Warren Geological Society at the University of Alberta, is The PEGG’s student columnist this year for U of A geosciences. The fourth-year geology student transferred last September from the University of Bordeaux 1, France.
BY PEGGY ELSEN
University of Alberta Student Columnist
(Geoscience)
There’s no lack of geology jobs right now, so summer was a great learning experience for most of us. Many students acquired different experiences working in mineral exploration, oil and gas, and hydrogeology, both in the office and in the field.
I was a field assistant at the University of Alberta for graduate student Joe Riddell and supervisor Dr. Carl Mendoza, P.Eng., P.Geol. I worked near Utikuma Lake at the Utikuma Research Study Area, where I obtained a wide variety of field and lab experience in such areas as water well monitoring, water sampling, soil temperature and surface water mapping.
Through the spring and summer sessions, students in the Earth and Atmospheric Science Department participate in four field schools. First-year field school occurred in the mountains and prairies of Alberta, where students learned about the areas’ geomorphology, structure and rock types.
Second-year field school was in the Jasper area, where students carried out
a mapping assignment of the Old Fort Point and studied sedimentary rocks. These
students also studied quaternary deposits.
Third-year field school toured southern British Columbia and Alberta to
see igneous and metamorphic rocks. Students also did a mapping project.
From Aug. 22 to Sept. 5, six fourth-year students — Nathan Steeves, and APEGGA student members Mallory Dalsin, Jasmine Baron, Gabriel Fortin, Brodie Sutherland and Jeff Samson, accompanied by professor, Dr. Tom Chacko — went to the Acasta gneiss complex in the Northwest Territories. These rocks, Earth’s oldest, are about four billion years old.
The students had the privilege of working with Dr. Carolyn Relf, P.Geol., and Dr. John Ketchum of the Northwest Territories Geoscience Office, as well as Dr. Wouter Bleeker of the Geological Survey of Canada, and even two representatives of the University of Muenster in Germany. They mapped the area and did a resource assessment, and we look forward to three thesis papers that will come out of this trip. We’ll also be seeing all of the various rock samples.
The Atlas weekly seminar series is underway. Dr. Jeremy Richards, P.Geol., of the University of Alberta spoke about the Sari Gunay epithermal gold deposit in northwest Iran. The same day, Dr. Ray Bradley of the University of Massachusetts discussed global warming and the Arctic.
We’ve also heard the talk Great Events and Small Flowers: Insights from the Fossil Record, by Dr. Else Marie Friis of the Swedish Museum of Natural History. Next up was Dr. Theodore G. Schurr of the University of Pennsylvania with his presentation, the Peopling of the Americas: New Insights from Genetic Studies.
The executive team is busy organizing and holding social and academic events for the year, including last month’s welcoming mixer.
President of the Percival Sydney Warren Geological Society this year is APEGGA student member Tyler Nahirniak. I’m vice-president external, and student member Mallory Dalsin is the vice-president internal. Secretary-treasurer is Andrea Ewing, and graduate representative is student member Heidi Tomes.
Our second- and third-year representatives are student members Jordan Balfour and Josh Miller, our sports representatives are student members Angela Johnson and Shaun Lenz, our environmental representative is student member Jen Chomyk, and our social conveners are student members Tim Anderson and Brodie Sutherland.