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National Driller's Buyer's Guide, December 1995 (Richard B. Wells.)

Staff, D.A. Johnston Cascades Volcano Observatory U.S. Geological Survey, Vancouver, Washington and Staff, Geophysics Program, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington Reprinted with permission from Washington Geology, Volume 23, No. 4. December 1995.

The ability of living organisms to form minerals is the fundamental tenet of biomineralogy. Among plants and animals, this process involves the production of cystolith inclusions in leaves and hard mineralized body parts like bones, teeth, and shells. This process, biological mineral precipitation, is not exclusive to higher eukaryotic organisms. Prokaryotic microorganisms, or bacteria, are remarkably potent agents of biomineralization, too.

Jim Barker, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo

Two of the articles ("Water Crisis: Inevitable or Preventable?" and "Dowsing") in this issue of Wat On Earth were written by Dr. Robert Farvolden, Professor Emeritus, former Chairman of Earth Sciences and Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Waterloo. He formed the first major program of groundwater teaching and research in Canada at the University of Waterloo in 1971. Bob was concerned with the lack of adequate water supplies in developing countries and advised governments in Central and South- America and Africa.

Part of a display which appeared at the Ontario Legislature from July 15 to October 15, 1995

Associate Professor, Department of Earth Sciences

Global atmospheric pollution dates back to Roman and Greek times - long before the Industrial Revolution - according to scientists who have detected lead fallout in samples of ancient Greenland ice.

The researchers have detected small but significant quantities of lead particles in ice cores drilled to a depth of more than a kilometre - covering a timespan of nearly 8,000 years.

Guy Morgan was annoyed that the hosepipe ban imposed by his local water company was ruining his garden. So he drilled a borehole and now has unlimited free water gushing up from groundwater lying 20 metres below his driveway.