Nickel Belt News
Volume 55 Number 33
Friday, August 21, 2015
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Experts researching fossils and rocks on the Churchill coastline BY MOLLY GIBSON KIRBY MOLLY@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
Nickel Belt News photos courtesy of Graham Young Researches explore Surprise Creek waterfall for findings in Churchill.
The group of researchers explores Portage Chute via helicopter.
The Manitoba Museum’s curator of paleontology Graham Young is currently researching the shores of Churchill. Young has been working with the museum for the past 22 years. Last year, Young was in Churchill with Michelle Nicolas, from the Manitoba Geological Survey, and this year he’s back with a larger group of experts who are looking for a few different things. “Basically we have have been visiting a series of sites where we know limestone and related bedrock are well exposed, and we have been studying the successions of sedimentary beds and collecting samples of rocks and fossils for further study in the laboratory,” Young explained. The experts are from the Manitoba and Ontario geological surveys, Laurentian University, the University of Manitoba and the University of Saskatchewan. Young noted that everyone has a different type of skill they’re bringing to the table. “Some are knowledgeable about how the rocks are ‘put together’ in Northern Manitoba and associated areas, others know about how to interpret the ancient environments in which sedimentary rocks were deposited, and a few of us are fossil specialists. We plan to work together in future to make better sense of some of these very interesting rocks.” The research is happening in Northern Manitoba because Churchill is one of the best places in the world to examine rocks from the late Ordovician and early Silurian periods, between 400 and 500 million years ago, Young explained. “This was an important time in the history of our planet, because the first of the big extinctions in the history of life took place then. There was an ice age, with a huge glacier on the South Pole causing sea levels to drop drastically all over the world, a lot of water got frozen into the ice.
Manitoba was tropical, believe it or not, and was covered by shallow, warm seas that were rich in life. When the ice age happened, the shallow seas all dried up and many life forms became extinct.” The research is taking place using helicopters, as well as vehicles to explore the coastal rocks. Young says the results have been fantastic, and the experts have visited all the sites they had in mind. Young noted the only polar bears seen were from the air, which was nice because field work in Churchill can be intimidating due to the creatures. The group arrived in Churchill on Aug. 11, and has finished the group part of the work. Workers have been putting their samples into plastic pails and pallets to ship down south. Young says he’ll be staying in the north for another week with Dave Rudkin from the Royal Ontario Museum, as well as Michael Cuggy from the University of Saskatchewan. The three will be doing further work on fossils around the Churchill area. Findings from the research completed will be published in scientific journals as well as geological survey reports. This means the information will be available to other scientists and the provincial and federal government. Young says he hopes to share his findings on the website and maybe even different exhibits. “We also try to contribute to northern knowledge and awareness of the geology of this wonderful place, through collaborations with organizations like the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, the Eskimo Museum, and Parks Canada; we have collected fossils in the past that are on exhibit at the Eskimo Museum, and they are planning some new exhibits about those. The fossils we have collected this time will be placed in the permanent collection of the Manitoba Museum, to be kept in perpetuity for the people of Manitoba.”
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