News

By:Jane Lang

Kitchener - Waterloo is in the unfortunate situation of having no natural outcrops of bedrock nearby. However, natural stone of a variety of types has been used as a building material at a number of locations in the twin cities.

Stop 1 - Rock Garden in the Quadrangle between the Earth Sciences-Chemistry and Math-Computer buildings on the University of Waterloo Campus.

N.L. Bowen in the early part of this century proposed a mechanism now called the Bowen's Reaction Series to account for the production of different rocks from one basaltic magma. As the magma cools, crystals rich in calcium, iron and magnesium form first and those with silicon and oxygen last. The reaction series also explains how some rocks weather faster than others.

Cemented gravel is found in gravel pits around southern Ontario. Glacial outwash gravels are cemented together with calcite mobilised by groundwater percolating through the gravel. This example may be seen by taking Highland Road from Kitchener towards Baden. The Highland Aggregates pit is on your right. This large piece of cemented gravel is seen at the entrance to the gravel pit. In other parts of southern Ontario calcium is also deposited around the roots of trees. Good examples are found in the Paris area.

By: Suzanne Paradis*, Geological Survey of Canada, Sidney, BC.
George Simandl, British Columbia Geological Survey, Victoria, BC.

*GSC contribution no.199728314

By: Eleanora I. Robbins, U.S. Geological Survey, 956 National Center, Reston, VA 20192
nrobbins@usgs.gov

By: C. Gordon Winder
University of Western Ontario, London Canada, N6A 5B7

Citizens who make notable contributions to society are memoralized by applying their name to a major award - Nobel; a way of thinking - Cartesian; a scientific law - Charles [or general law - Murphy]; a unit of measure - Ampere; and most commonly a geographic feature - Hudson Bay, Vancouver Island.

This past summer I worked at the Goldcorp Inc. Red Lake Mining Division as a Geological Assistant. I ran a re-logging program. This involved checking over 10,000 feet of core. I also supervised and interpreted deviation tests on recently drilled boreholes. All boreholes tend to curve away from the direction drilling was started.

By:Dr. Edward Sudicky,
Chair, Waterloo Earth Sciences Department.

One of the difficulties in evaluating or quantifying groundwater contamination is that it is underground . . . hence, difficult and costly to get at. One way to minimize the cost would be to develop a reliable computer model that would serve as a guide, indicating what is taking place.

Arsenic

Professor Nikolaos Nikolaidis of the department of environmental engineering, University of Connecticut has created an arsenic filter for drinking water supplies. A simple filter using iron filings and sand is being used to treat water contaminated with arsenic. People in countries like Bangladesh and Bengal, where the soil is contaminated with arsenic compounds are suffering from arsenic poisoning. Water from wells contains between 300 and 4000 micrograms of arsenic per litre. Bengalis working in the heat consume up to 20 litres of water a day.

This is the third section of a four-part article dealing with the volcanic eruptions in the Westman Islands, south of Iceland in the decade from 1963 to 1973. Part one covered the eruption of the volcano Surtsey in 1963, and my visit to the island in 1970 (WAT ON EARTH, Spring Issue 1997). Part two covered the early days of the eruption of Eldfell on Heimaey in 1973 (WAT ON EARTH, Fall issue, 1997). In this issue I will describe the continuing eruption until the cessation of activity in 1973.

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Building stones in Waterloo and Kitchener

Bowen's reaction series

Cemented gravel. . . hardrock in the making

Precious opal in British Columbia

The Jimes Expedition to Santorini

William Edmond Logan (1798 - 1875): Canada's super-rocker!!

Summer work term

Research on computer modeling of groundwater contamination

Iron file... ings

Arsenic

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