shearzone

Hi all, the Geological Association of America is starting a new program called EarthTrek. Details copied below. If you are interested in participating, I would appreciate if you could indicate that shearzone referred you to the program. Thanks!

I am astounded that none of the astute minds perusing this quiz know the answer to this question. Perhaps it is because very few of us actually look at this part of the map of Canada. The answer is the Dempster Highway and the community at the end of the road is none other than the largest settlement of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Inuvik. I aspire to drive the Dempster Highway this summer.

Shearzone accepts the orb for the next question: What is the name of the northernmost all-weather road in Canada and what is the name of the community at the northern end of it? Bonus points if you can claim to have driven along it!

OK, thanks for the additional info! I was not aware that there were two ranges in the Canadian Cordillera by the name of Rainbow! I was mistaken about the Selwyn Range. Here are a couple of maps from Bivouac.com - Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia to clear things up: Rainbow Range of the Canadian Rockies as you can see, Mt Robson is well within the Rainbow Range Selwyn Range I was not aware that the Selwyn Range stops at the Fraser River and the Yellowhead Highway. Since you got three out of four and taught me something in the process, I'm handing the next question over to you. For interest sake, the elevation of Mt Robson's Peak is 3954 m.

Yep, right answers. To clarify, the highway is the Yellowhead (Hwy 16) According to the Geological Survey of Canada's 'Physigraphic Map of the Canadian Cordillera' as well as Ben Gadd's 'Handbook of the Canadian Rockies', the Canadian Rockies comprise all ranges east of the Rocky Mountain Trench. As for the range, I believe Mount Robson is located in the Selwyn Range of the BC Rockies. The Rainbow Range is found in the Coast Mountains north of Bella Coola Anyone want to take a stab at its height in metres?

OK, for the sake of keeping the game going, I will take the next question. Name the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies, its height (in metres please), the province it is in and the road which you can see it from.

CLose enough, we need to move on Palladium is mined nearby but not exactly at the address,,, Your turn t_mac02 Can you elaborate on this little known fact? I studied geology at the U of O and I had no clue of this happening. You would think mining of such a rare and valuable mineral would be well known locally.

It's called Scotiabank Place now, but before it was known as the Corel Centre, it was called the Palladium

That's where an NHL team was buried and preserved in the stratigraphic record because they couldn't make the playoffs. OK, my real guess, is that where they quarried for the Nepean Sandstone that lines the outside of the Parliament building?

What manitoba city was named for a fictional character in a J.E. Preston-Muddock Novel? Winnipeg

is it the NWT?? well it is a place somehwere in the NWT Diavik, freezing his butt off while digging for a diamond for his woman?

There should be no end to the jokes that could answer this question. I'll start with on the couch.

Yukon

can you define a 'long time ago'? ok another hint before 1900,, Africa came to visit? The opening of the Atlantic took A LOT longer than 109 years!

can you define a 'long time ago'?

I'll guess the sand dune field found along the Athabasca River of northern Saskatchewan and Alberta.

I'd like to revisit this statement. Uranium, processed or unprocessed IS radioactive. The difference is in the concentration levels. In the (unprocessed) natural state, it is no more dangerous than the radiation you receive on a flight in an airplane. However, when processed, the concentration levels are high enough that you wouldn't want to stand next to it for very long. Regardless, can you tell us if the uranium occurrence in question is in a sedimentary deposit (such as the Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan) or in an igneous complex (like those found in South Africa as described by cincol)? If you are thinking of the Madawaska/Faraday Mine near Bancroft, you could get people to describe the pegmatite it is found in.

Are we still playing?

I think this would make a phenomenal EarthCache. Because coral reefs are so sensitive to changes, they are a very good proxy for the health of the oceans. They depend on the right balance of water temperature, salinity, nutrients, sunlight, hydraulic energy, water depth, etc. An amazing thing that a reef is capable of is that it is one of the few environments that can keep up and thrive with sea level rise. Conversely, they don't deal well with sea level fall, because once they are exposed, the carbonate factory is shut down. As you state, the accumulation of body fossils of organisms that passed away can result in limestone (and perhaps subsequently dolostone). The organic matter that decomposes from dead plants and animals can be a good source for hydrocarbons. Also, because reefs are a build-up of intertwined skeletal remains, the resulting deposit can have tremendous porosity, which can make it a terrific reservoir rock for oil and gas exploration. The only concern I might have for this type of EarthCache is that the attention attracted by setting up an EarthCache may result in additional damage to such a sensitive environment. Perhaps a requirement could be to only go on guided tours in which visitors can be monitored to ensure they don't do anything that may damage the reef? PM me if you would like me to direct you towards literature on modern or ancient reefs.

No good reason for red, green and blue except for the fact that it is standard oil and gas industry convention. Old tech? Maybe it started that way, but let me assure you those exploring for hydrocarbons are using the best technology available.

Here you go, just check it over for errors or changes needed Nice diagram! If I can make a couple of suggestions, 1) the way you've drawn the diagram, the yellow layer directly above the porous rock is the non porous rock (and should be labeled as such), or else the fluids would migrate there too. 2) Gas, oil and water are generally represented by the colours red, green and blue, respectively in schematic diagrams. Don't ask me why red and green are used for gas and oil, it's just how they do it in the oil patch.

I can make better diagrams, but you're going to have to pay me, because otherwise, it's proprietary!

I'm no chemist, nor am I a mineralogist, but I recognized something fundamentally wrong with the first statement, so I had to google this. I believe stagrunner meant to say in the first statement is: Strontium is an element that occurs in the mineral celestite (along with sulphur and oxygen).

Fold hinge is a line within the axial plane, about which the folding takes place. It can have a horizontal plunge, but it doesn't need to be. It can plunge anywhere from 00º to 90º from vertical. Similarly, an axial plane can have a dip between 00º and 90º (in your figure, it appears to be vertical). A door hinge is a good analogy to a fold hinge.

I would (likely) attend. I would also be happy to host one of these in Alberta. With some financial support, I could conceivably lead a trip through the southern Canadian Rockies too.