Welcome to EES!

Earth and Environmental Science at Acadia offers programs leading to B.Sc. degrees in Environmental Science, Geology and Environmental Geoscience, and M.Sc. degrees in Geology, Environmental Science and Applied Geomatics.

Departmental News

A trip back in time through the archives!

On Tuesday January 16th, the Fletcher Geology Club hosted an open house in the Kirkconnell Room at the Acadia Archives. It was well attended and everyone had a great time with books, maps and cross sections going all the way back to 1827! The Fletcher Club material was a particular hit with old photographs of club activities, and hand-made programs for AUGC conferences going back to the 1950s.

Thank you to Ciaran Purdome from the Archives Department for putting this all together and to Keaton Markham for getting it all started. We hope to make this a yearly event. Thank you to everyone who came out!

Department members listening to archivist Ciaran Purdome.

Fletchers from the Fifties!

Students intently reading through old textbooks...

Hand-drawn landscape in book of geological maps from the late 1800s.

Yes, we still ask those exact questions in classes!

Co-op Student Showcase

On January 12 four co-op students presented their public reports on their placements completed in the summer of 2023. It was great hearing about their varied work experience and everything they learned. Thank you to Beth MacKenzie for organizing and being a great support to the students!

Brady MacLean worked as a freshwater research assistant with Parks Canada, Kejimkujik National Park, Maitland Bridge, Nova Scotia. Ulric Mortimer IV spent the summer with Nova Agri Inc., Vital Berry Farms, Centreville, Nova Scotia as a horticultural and hydroponic research assistant. Leah Mymin worked at Teck Coal Limited, Sparwood, British Columbia in a geology co-op student position. Abbey Smith worked as an assistant field technician at Environment and Climate Change Canada, Moncton, New Brunswick.

Co-op students with coordinator Beth MacKenzie.

Research trip to Dresden, Germany

Acadia Geology MSc student Amanda Smith and Professor Deanne van Rooyen spent a week in Dresden, Germany, in December doing U-Pb zircon dating. They worked in the Geochronology Lab at the Senckenberg Natural History Museum at the invitation of the lab director, Dr. Ulf Linnemann. Amanda was analyzing zircon grains to determine the age of ironstone in the Cobequid Highlands of northern mainland Nova Scotia, and Dr. van Rooyen was analyzing detrital zircon in Cambrian sedimentary rocks from southern New Brunswick. The zircon grains for analysis were picked, annealed, and polished in preparation for analysis in a new lab at established at Acadia by Dr. van Rooyen. Amanda’s travel to Germany was supported by a grant from the Mineralogical Association of Canada and research funds from her supervisor, Sandra Barr.

Photo caption: Amanda (right) and Dr. van Rooyen examining some of the amazing rocks and mineral samples in the collections of the Senckenberg Natural History Museum, Dresden.