{"id":932,"date":"2014-11-21T10:00:24","date_gmt":"2014-11-21T15:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=932"},"modified":"2025-10-17T11:03:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T15:03:40","slug":"earth-sciences-students-explore-worlds-farthest-reaches","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/earth-sciences-students-explore-worlds-farthest-reaches\/","title":{"rendered":"Earth Sciences Students Explore World\u2019s Farthest Reaches"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Earth Sciences Students Explore World\u2019s Farthest Reaches\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Doctoral student Raymond Caron will tell you Carleton\u2019s Earth Sciences Department is a high caliber department at the university. Comprising a close-knit group of people who are passionate about the varied topics associated with the field of Earth Sciences, the department, says Caron, always has something exciting to offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caron, who is developing a methodology that uses helicopters and electromagnetics to reveal locations of hidden bedrock over large areas, explains that current methods of drilling and seismic surveying can be expensive and time-consuming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen it comes to geology,\u201d he says, \u201cthere are few sources of information as critical as the bedrock and what it can tell you. Across Canada, however, bedrock is typically buried beneath soil or vegetation. In mineral exploration, knowing the location of the bedrock can directly influence the determination of the size or the presence of an ore body and an airborne system is faster than other methods.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

[wide-image url=”https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/earth-sciences-2.jpg”]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Equally passionate about her field of study is Arianne Petley-Ragan, a master\u2019s student specializing in metamorphic geology.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cMetamorphism tells us a lot about the deep Earth,\u201d says Petley-Ragan, who is fascinated with the department\u2019s vast collection of metamorphic rocks. \u201cA rock at great depth experiences pressure and temperature changes to the point where new minerals begin to crystallize, and studying these minerals gives us insight into the processes that are taking place deep beneath our feet.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Caron and Petley-Ragan are among some 200 students in the Earth Sciences Department (about 20 per cent are graduate students), the largest number in its 60-year history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earth Sciences, says chair Sharon Carr, \u201cis enjoying an exciting phase of growth and rejuvenation. We have been hiring new faculty and we\u2019re embarking on a major renovation and exp<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Earth
Antarctic Expedition 2013\/2014 with Students on Ice, exploring brash ice. Photo Credit: Claudia Schroder-Adams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

ansion in Herzberg Laboratories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur students have wonderful opportunities to become involved in the wide variety of research going on, both high-tech and in the field, and to participate in field schools and international field trips,\u201d notes Carr, a founding director of the Isotope Geochemistry and Geochronology Research Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department\u2019s honours and general programs give graduates the credentials they need for a professional status. Concentrations include studies in vertebrate paleontology and paleoecology, geophysics and terrain science, and joint programs with other science departments stimulate cross-training. Earth Sciences also has a reputation for hands-on learning, offering senior students a wide range of research opportunities and unique field trips to world-class geological features in such countries as Chile, Hawaii and Antarctica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Earth
Carleton’s students explore the Antarctic Peninsula on the 2011. Photo Credit: Claudia Schroder-Adams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the past, students have studied the active volcanism of Mt. Etna in Italy, the cave formations on the Spanish island of Mallorca and the geothermal fields and lava lakes of Iceland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Earth
Antarctic Expedition, study of large tabular icebergs. Photo credit: Claudia Schroder-Adams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A year ago, micropaleontologist and earth sciences professor Claudia Schr\u00f6der-Adams travelled with 13 students to the Antarctic Peninsula to study the geological history and ecosystem of the Southern Ocean in the Students On Ice program, an organization that takes students from all over the world on educational expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Master\u2019s student Danielle Dionne, who was part of the December 2013 expedition, says: \u201cAntarctica is challenging for geologists. Coal seams on Seymour Island, off the Antarctic Peninsula, are evidence of abundant vegetation, as are its diverse fossils and beautifully preserved tree rings that suggest a warmer climate in the past. It\u2019s an amazing source of data.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth-year Earth Sciences student Brent Clark was mesmerized by the pure silence and the cracking of the glaciers. \u201cIt made me realize how truly small we are in this world. The trip taught me life is about pushing beyond your comfort zone and as you take that next step, you realize you are capable of achieving anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the kind of experience geophysicist Claire Samson wishes her students to have while they are young.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWhen you are young, it is important to have rich, multi-faceted, diverse experiences. This is how you find out what will become your passion.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n

[wide-image url=”https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/earth-sciences-5.jpg”]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last May, and in May 2012, Samson organized mining trips to Chile for fourth-year and graduate geology students. She took 14 students this year to the nearly 200-year-old world\u2019s largest underground copper mine El Teniente high in the Andes Mountains, where they could witness the copper extraction process and take a sedimentology excursion led by sedimentologist George R. Dix, who is currently doing research in Chile while on leave from Carleton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnother highlight this year,\u201d adds Samson, \u201cwas the trip to La Serena, north of Santiago, to the Cerro Telolo Inter-American Observatory and the smaller El Pangue Observatory, where we looked at galaxies and the rings of Saturn. I found that pretty magical.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department recently launched a fundraising campaign for an Earth Sciences Undergraduate Honours Project Fund, established in honour of the department\u2019s 60th anniversary, to support fourth-year students\u2019 research projects ranging from studying fossils for clues to evolution and identifying contamination near mine sites to mapping ancient rocks to dig deep into Earth\u2019s history and climate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doctoral student Raymond Caron will tell you Carleton\u2019s Earth Sciences Department is a high caliber department at the university. Comprising a close-knit group of people who are passionate about the varied topics associated with the field of Earth Sciences, the department, says Caron, always has something exciting to offer. Caron, who is developing a methodology […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[25],"cu_story_tag":[1919],"class_list":["post-932","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","hentry","cu_story_type-student-experience","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-science"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98402,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/932\/revisions\/98402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=932"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}