I recently across an article that reminded me of my field work days in the early stages of my PhD in the Canadian Arctic at retrogressive thaw slumps. The article discusses the impending catastrophic drainage of a lake when the thin strip of land separating it from a thaw slump fails (see article), which it will inevitably do very soon. The story has now been picked up all across Canada in the con ...[Read More]
The 40th edition of the photo of the week highlights the mudlfow from a retrogressive thaw slump near Fort McPherson in the Northwest Territories, where I did field work for a few weeks in 2010 and 2011. The first photo in this series highlights the slump itself. I took this photo from a helicopter and the entire slump is approximately 1 kilometer wide and has 3 lobes. The mudflow starts where eve ...[Read More]
I have been a bit lax with the photo’s of the week lately. Sorry about that! Here is a nice one from last year’s field season showing a cute little marmot sitting on an erratic with a great vista behind him. Cheers, Matt
This edition of the photo of the week highlights something I feel that I should have explained a long time ago: my banner photo. The banner photo above is more than just a pretty picture. It actually illustrates, very beautifully, a truly interesting phenomenon that can be encountered in Arctic watersheds. I speak of the aufeis, pronounced oh-fyse, which is the giant sheet of ice covering the rive ...[Read More]
It is already May!! Crazy. Everyone in the department is incredibly busy right now trying to get all of those things on their winter to-do list checked off before it is time to head out to the field once again and re-fill the to-do list for next winter with sample prep, analysis and some interpretation. It is also time to start thinking of preparing for the field. Some of you hard rock folk might ...[Read More]
The photo of the week this week is of a very special place in Canada. Yes, predictably, it is the Yukon. However, this part of the Yukon is unique. It is a special region known as Beringia, which extends into Alaska and Siberia and it is the only part of Canada that was not covered by kilometers of ice during the last glaciation. Beringia is a special place because it is believed that that first h ...[Read More]
The photo of the week came to me this morning on my walk to school. Yes, it is now warm enough in Ottawa to comfortably walk to school! All the melting ice and the slight smell of spring and undergrad panic in the air got me thinking about permafrost degradation and nights out during my undergrad. An odd combination of thoughts, I grant you. Well, what do these two very separate things have in com ...[Read More]
Most freshwater on earth is not that highly saturated with dissolved metals or minerals. However, there are exceptions to be found all over the world from natural acid rock drainage to the alkali springs of Jordan. If the concentrations of dissolved metals are high enough the water can be toxic. For example, water draining from gold mines is often very high in arsenic and must be contained and cle ...[Read More]
The 15th photo of the week is of an area of natural acid rock drainage (ARD) in Eagle Plains, Yukon. ARD is a phenomenon that most people associate with mine tailings and mine waste. However, it occurs naturally as well since the only criteria that need to be met are a source of oxidized water, such as rain, rocks or minerals that have a high sulphur content, and a very little carbonate in the roc ...[Read More]
This weeks photo is a giant bone! I leave it to you to surmise which creature it belongs to….I hope you accept the challenge. Please post your guesses in the comment section below. If no one gets it within the first few hours I’ll start posting hints about the creature. You can click on the photo to enlarge it. Have fun! Hint 1: This bone was discovered in the Yukon Territory and is ho ...[Read More]