The Future Is So Bright...CSEG DL @ University of Manitoba

The eighteenth stop on the Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists (CSEG) Distinguished Lecture Tour (CDL) reinvigorated me. After seven weeks on the road I am tired so three long days driving from Windsor, Ontario to Winnipeg, Manitoba in time for the day at the University of Manitoba drained me. I am delighted that the faculty and students absolutely reinvigorated me with the conversation and hospitality.

Pulling into the car park I was flanked by science buildings - Parker Building for Chemistry, Allen Physics Laboratory, Biological Sciences, some residences and the Wallace Building for Geological Sciences. As I wandered towards Wallace I notice the googly eyes in the font of the building name and laugh out loud. It is a great start to the day. Geological Sciences is now the Faculty of Environment, Earth and Resources, and I’m drawn to the window display on High Impact Visuals. Just inside, the entrance to the building is full of high impact visuals as the bright red, yellow and green industrial building structures wrap around me and I step straight ahead into the Ed Leith Cretaceous Menagerie. The skeletal replica of Archelon, the biggest sea turtle of all time, loomed over head, alongside Xiphactinus. The Gorgosaurus strode towards me and I was instantly transported back to the Cretaceous. Fossils from all time periods were housed in the cabinets alongside, and I could have focused on them for hours but wanted to soak in all the information so I forced myself to wander more quickly past the cases, to see meteorites, gastroliths, stromatolites, ‘what’s mined is yours’ and the POLARIS display. I especially liked the teaching tools in the final display case - sedimentary structures, grain sizes, weathering of granitoid rocks, volcanic and igneous rocks, and the seismograph. I was inspired.

During my talk I ask people to consider their perfect day, and later suggest that they read through the Geophysical Sustainability Atlas (Capello et al., 2021) for sparks of inspiration, but here, at the University of Manitoba, I also suggested that people browse through these displays, and see what grabs them. What are they looking at when their breath stops, or their heart rate increases? Is it Nickeliferous Pyrrhotite or Seismology? Personally, I would have pulled out a notebook and started sketching the Graptoloid Graptolite if I had had time before meeting my host, Dr. Andrew Frederiksen.

Dr. Andrew Frederiksen is both a Professor of Earthquake Seismology and the Associate Dean (Academic) so I was grateful for the time that he took to tour me around the department.?You’ll likely know from past Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists (CSEG) Distinguished Lecture Tour (CDL) articles that I love checking out the labs and equipment, and I was delighted to see an old Worden gravity meter in the storage room.?It took me right back to my days in the field, with field assistant Brent O’Brien, for my BSc Honours thesis, supervised by Dr. Tim Stern.?Other gems included a Manitoba map made from the dominant rock from each area, and an initiative to find carving stones for indigenous people that resulted in a display of the raw material alongside exquisite carvings. Apparently, the Winnipeg Art Gallery contains many more examples and is worth visiting although I didn’t have the time on this trip.??

I was glad to have time to chat with both Dr. Alfredo Camacho and Dr. Ian Ferguson. Alfredo was working on a problem with an engineering colleague and commented that you never seem to be able to find the image that you are looking for. I find the same thing with interesting oddities in seismic data. Those funny looking things (FLTs) that grab your attention can be elusive when looking for them a second time. So, my process now is to screen shot the image, and add them to my FLT file with their location, description, and a comment on how I’d like to follow-up. The rocks in Alfredo’s office contained many FLTs including evidence of earthquakes within the rock samples that have been collected from central Australia. Aside from personal research, Alfredo also runs the last Canadian university Argon-Argon dating facility that is part of the Manitoba Isotope Research Facility (MIRF). Ian, on the other hand, is Professor of Geophysics, and the conversation turned to aspects of his work that focuses on electromagnetism (EM).?For the last year or so, Ian has been involved with the Geophysicists for Truth project that is headed by Dr. Alexander Braun at Queen’s University, who I met earlier on the tour.?Our discussion focused on the project, that offers pro bono services to indigenous communities including “Ground Penetrating Radar and other geophysical survey techniques to help with the detection and identification of burials related to former residential school sites”. I recommend following the link to find out more.

Although Ian didn’t join undergraduates Andy, Dan and Jay, along with PhD student Sina Saber and I for lunch, I learned that he was the toughest professor. The four students laughed as they explained how tough, and Ian later laughed knowing exactly the projects that the students were talking about. Our lunch conversation focused predominantly on their futures and what they’d like to do on graduation. Their responses included geophysics without the geology, i.e. more data science oriented career, use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) magnetic surveys, a desire to obtained shareholder stakes in mining companies by offering geophysical services, and to sleep. I fully understood the desire to sleep as I entered the eighth week of the CSEG DL Tour. Our lunch ran long and we dashed back to the seminar room setting up as people wandered in.

I find it interesting to observe the differences in myself depending upon the setting of the presentation. On this tour, I’ve presented in small meeting rooms, large lecture rooms, laboratories, grad social rooms and auditoriums. In some the crowd is spread out and I find that I continuously swivel from side to side as I try to make eye contact with everyone in the room, and in other settings the small group is directly in front of me so my focus is in one place.?No one situation is better or worse, just different. And I feel different. Which intrigues me.?

One of the questions following the talk also intrigued me, not because it was asked but because it hasn’t been asked more often. And that is how we handle environmental concerns while drilling, especially in the Arctic. It is a valid question that should be asked of any industry in any environment, and my response is to have a strong track record of safety, a clear plan for all foreseeable eventualities, marine and/or environmental observers involved and a commitment to be open and transparent. That said, there is always a risk, and countries and companies are prepared to take the risk to obtain resources and ensure security of energy. The question came from someone wanting to know my response since they have wondered how to address the question with regards to mining. There are many lessons that can be share between the extractive resource industries and I enjoyed the conversations that day.??

The last conversation that I had was with Dr. Stephanie Brueckner and Mulu Serzu, both of which left me smiling as I jumped in the car and made a beeline for Regina.?Although the schedule this week wasn’t as tight as the five talks in five days in Atlantic Canada, there is little time for relaxation between Winnipeg and Regina and I was on the move again.

Next stop: University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan on 2nd November, 2022 at 4PM.