Leeds Geophysics Field Trip to Ontario

The 2003 Geophysics Field Trip for senior students in the Geophysics programs at Leeds University took place on June 10 to 24. The field trip was led by Julian Lowman and Greg Houseman of the School of Earth Sciences. Eight students from the 2GP class participated: Ammar Al-Kalbani, Michael Brien, Mike Fitzpatrick, Simon Greensmith, Adrian Jones, Daniel Sopher, Adrian Morley, and Sophie Pearson. The group travelled to Sudbury, Ontario where they spent 12 days studying the geological history of this unique region, and gaining experience in making geophysical measurements.

Sudbury is unique in its geological history, owing to the formation of the Sudbury Basin by a huge meteorite, 1.85 billion years ago.

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The magma ocean that was formed produced some of the largest nickel deposits on Earth, and these have been the basis of the local mining industry for the past century. The magnitude of nickel production from this region explains why we can all afford to have stainless steel sinks in our kitchens.

With the loan of geophysical equipment from Cambrian College and University of Western Ontario, and the generous support of Tony Insinna from Cambrian, David Eaton from UWO, and Darrel Long from Laurentian University, the Leeds students benefited from a unique geophysical training opportunity. Sponsorship from Rio Tinto also helped offset student costs. The students were trained in the use of:

• gravity meters to measure small-scale variations in the gravity field caused by differences in the density of sub-surface rocks,

• magnetometers that measure variations in the strength of the magnetic field, caused by buried magnetic deposits,

• electromagnetic resistivity measurements that detect variations in sub-surface conductivity,

• Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) that can provide direct images of the upper 10 metres of the ground,

• Gamma-ray Spectrometers, for the measurement of natural background radioactivity, and

• Global Positioning System (GPS) and survey techinques for the precise measurement of locations and elevations.

The students also gained valuable experience in the practical aspects of working in a difficult and relatively remote environment. Mosquitos and black flies were a significant problem. Moose and even bears were sighted at a distance. We surveyed through a swamp

over a significant nickel orebody that produced very strong electrical and magnetic anomalies. We also surveyed over the cleared mine site of a carbonatite deposit, about 50 km out of Sudbury and along some of the isolated dirt roads that led to that mine site.

Further information about the Ontario field trip, or the Geophysics Programs at the University of Leeds, can be obtained by contacting Dr Julian Lowman, or Prof Greg Houseman at the School of Earth Sciences (http://earth.leeds.ac.uk/geophysics).