Backyard Geology

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4.6 billion years is an incredibly long time. If you’re feeling overwhelmed even thinking about how long that is, and where geologic events fit on it, have no fear. In this bonus episode of Backyard Geology, Serena talks about the geologic time scale and how famous geologic processes and structures across Canada fit into it. The study of time and rocks, known as chronostratigraphy, details the history of the Earth based on clues left behind on the surface, and in the subsurface, of today’s planet. Learn how to tell time in geology and about some of the major subdivisions of geologic time.

In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to Kelowna to look at western Canada’s resident mountains. The Canadian Cordillera are a series of mountain chains formed by different types of tectonic processes on the margin of the North American Plate starting about 200 million years ago. Learn about the uplift of Canada’s famous Rockies and the Coast Mountains and how they can be distinctly separated based on the geologic processes that formed them.

In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to Whitehorse, Yukon. Today, the Miles Canyon, passing through Whitehorse, is home to spectacular views of columnar basalt and a hydro electric dam. But before the dam, the Miles Canyon was a memorable point of passage for those traveling north to Dawson City in the height of the 19th century Gold Rush.

In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to Drumheller, Alberta, home to the largest known assembly of cretaceous fossils, including those of dinosaurs. Sedimentation on the coastal region of the Western Interior Seaway about 70 million years ago preserved the remains of dinosaurs, amphibians and fish and more recent erosional processes have uncovered these fossils to be excavated and studies by paleontologists. Today, Drumheller is a popular tourist destination for its fossils, badlands and spectacular sunsets. 

In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to the Diavik Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories. Here, a field of kimberlite dikes host Earth’s famous hitchhikers: diamonds. Learn how diamonds made their way to the Northwest Territories and how kimberlites rule the world of hard-rock mining.

In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to Regina, Saskatchewan to explore one of the greatest puzzles in Canadian geologic history. The Trans-Hudson Orogeny was a massive Paleoproterozoic mountain building event that built a large portion of North America. Over a billion years of erosion now conceals the Himalaya-sized event in the flat landscape of the Canadian prairies. Learn about how the movement of continents has changed over time and how North America came together through a spectacular accretionary event.

Episode summary introduction: In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to Sudbury, ON where a massive meteorite impact 1.85 billion years ago left an economically significant scar on the terrane. Now one of the top global producers of nickel, Sudbury’s owes it fame to Earth’s own natural smelting event that brought precious metals up to the surface where they can be mined today. Resources: Barnes, S.J., Holwell, D.A. and Le Vaillant, M., 2017. Magmatic Sulfide Ore Deposits. Elements, 13(2), pp.89–95. Lightfoot, P., 2016. Nickel Sulfide Ores and Impact Melts: Origin of the Sudbury Igneous Complex. 1st ed. Nickel Sulfide Ores and Impact Melts: Origin of the Sudbury Igneous Complex. Mungall, J.E., Ames, D.E. and Hanley, J.J., 2004. Geochemical evidence from the Sudbury structure for crustal redistribution by large bolide impacts. Nature, 429(6991), pp.546–548. Natural Resources Canada, 2021. Minerals and Mining. [online] Government of Canada. Host Information: Serena is a Canadian graduate student currently studying geochemistry at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Her research focuses on isotopic analysis of Hawaiian volcanos to understand the dynamic and complicated evolution of the Hawaiian mantle plume. She completed her undergraduate degree at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, where the exposed sedimentary rocks of the Niagara Escarpment and enthusiastic professors quickly fostered a love for all things geology. Like other member of the Geology Podcast Network, Serena loves to talk rocks and is invested in sharing her love for our planet through podcasts, educational programs for kids, and even museum exhibits. Despite heavy seasonal rains in Vancouver, she is an avid cyclist, which unfortunately does not bode well with inevitable stop for round hounding, but is an excellent way to thoroughly explore the Earth and all its glorious geologic features.

Episode summary introduction: In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to Hamilton, ON to look at the sedimentary structure that locals call “The Mountain”. The Niagara Escarpment is a steep cliff face that bisects southern Ontario. The cliff face is home to scenic hiking trails and countless waterfalls. For geologists, the Escarpment showcases over 100m of relatively undisturbed sedimentary rock beds, hosting fossils from an ancient tropical sea that once existed on the edge of Laurentia.  Resources: The Bruce Trail Conservancy. Webinar – Ancient Seas, Glaciers and Waterfalls: The Geologic History of the Niagara Escarpment (2020) presented by Dr. Carolyn Eyles and Rebecca Lee. Armstrong, D.K. and Dodge, J.E.P., 2007. Paleozoic Geology of Southern Ontario. Sedimentary Geoscience Section, Ontario Geological Survey, p.30. Hewitt, D.F., 1971. The Niagara Escarpment. Host Information: Serena is a Canadian graduate student currently studying geochemistry at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Her research focuses on isotopic analysis of Hawaiian volcanos to understand the dynamic and complicated evolution of the Hawaiian mantle plume. She completed her undergraduate degree at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, where the exposed sedimentary rocks of the Niagara Escarpment and enthusiastic professors quickly fostered a love for all things geology. Like other member of the Geology Podcast Network, Serena loves to talk rocks and is invested in sharing her love for our planet through podcasts, educational programs for kids, and even museum exhibits. Despite heavy seasonal rains in Vancouver, she is an avid cyclist, which unfortunately does not bode well with inevitable stop for round hounding, but is an excellent way to thoroughly explore the Earth and all its glorious geologic features.

Episode summary introduction: In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to St. John’s Newfoundland. The southeastern tip of the peninsula, 130km down the coast from the city, host to the oldest known forms of large, complex life dating back 565 million years ago from the Ediacaran Period. The exposed sedimentary rocks, which make up a UNESCO World Heritage Site, provide a window into the elusive and understudied inhabitants of the Precambrian sea floor. Resources: Darroch, S.A.F., Sperling, E.A., Boag, T.H., Racicot, R.A., Mason, S.J., Morgan, A.S., Tweedt, S., Myrow, P., Johnston, D.T., Erwin, D.H. and Laflamme, M., 2015. Biotic replacement and mass extinction of the Ediacara biota. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282(1814), p.20151003. Laflamme, M., Darroch, S.A.F., Tweedt, S.M., Peterson, K.J. and Erwin, D.H., 2013. The end of the Ediacara biota: Extinction, biotic replacement, or Cheshire Cat? Gondwana Research, 23(2), pp.558–573. Liu, A.G. and Matthews, J.J., 2017. Great Canadian Lagerstätten 6. Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve, Southeast Newfoundland. Geoscience Canada, 44(2), pp.63–76. https://doi.org/10.12789/geocanj.2017.44.117. Misra, S.B., 1969. Late Precambrian (?) Fossils from Southeastern Newfoundland. GSA Bulletin, 80(11), pp.2133–2140. David Attenborough’s “First Life”, Episode 1 (2010) Host Information: Serena is a Canadian graduate student currently studying geochemistry at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Her research focuses on isotopic analysis of Hawaiian volcanos to understand the dynamic and complicated evolution of the Hawaiian mantle plume. She completed her undergraduate degree at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, where the exposed sedimentary rocks of the Niagara Escarpment and enthusiastic professors quickly fostered a love for all things geology. Like other member of the Geology Podcast Network, Serena loves to talk rocks and is invested in sharing her love for our planet through podcasts, educational programs for kids, and even museum exhibits. Despite heavy seasonal rains in Vancouver, she is an avid cyclist, which unfortunately does not bode well with inevitable stop for round hounding, but is an excellent way to thoroughly explore the Earth and all its glorious geologic features.

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