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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

Sarah Dunn awarded the Acadia Outstanding Masters Research Award in Science

Sarah Dunn is announced as the recipient of the Acadia Outstanding Masters Research Award for the Faculty of Science.

Mercury Lab awarded NSERC grant for new ultra-high purity water system

Dr. O’Driscoll’s research group was awarded an NSERC RTI grant (~$61,000) for the purchase of a new ultra-high purity water system for trace level analyses in the Mercury Lab.

Jean-Luc Pilote selected as the 2020 William Harvey Gross medalist

Dr. Jean-Luc Pilote has been selected by the Mineral Deposits Division of GAC as the 2020 William Harvey Gross medalist. The award consists of a medal and a cash supplement supported through endowment funds provided by Corona Corp. and donations by the friends and family of Bill Gross to provide a contribution toward the travel expenses for the recipient and a guest to attend the annual luncheon of MDD to receive the award.

Upcoming Events

Nov

2025

GEOL 5900 Seminar Presentation - Leslie Boateng-Dwomoh - 4PM HSH 336

Huggins Science Hall 334 @ 4pm

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AVALONIA AND MEGUMA: CONTIGUOUS OR DISTANT TERRANES?

LESLIE BOATENG-DWOMOH

MSc GEOLOGY STUDENT, ACADIA UNIVERSITY

ABSTRACT

The evolutionary and accretionary relationships between peri-Gondwanan terranes that accreted to the composite Laurentian margin in the Canadian Appalachian orogen has been a controversial topic in geoscience. A specific challenge has been understanding these dynamics between Avalonia and Meguma terranes. Some research suggests that Meguma and Avalonia were part of the same microcontinental block that separated from Gondwana and accreted to the Laurentian margin during the Acadian orogeny. In contrast, other research suggests that an ocean existed between the two terranes before accretion and that these two terranes were not part of the same microcontinental block. Detrital zircon ages and Sm-Nd signatures of the Silurian-Devonian Rockville Notch (RNG) in the Meguma terrane have been compared with the Arisaig Group in Avalonia, with some research indicating that the similarities between the two groups are the consequence of an overstep sequence in the Silurian. They further propose that Meguma rocks were directly deposited on Avalonian basement in the Silurian. Supporting research suggests that metasedimentary granulite xenoliths, inferred to be from the structural basement of Meguma, show similarity to Avalonian rocks than Meguma, leading to the interpretation of Meguma being deposited on Avalonian basement or thrust over Avalonia. In contrast, a comparison of Meguma terrane to the Harlech Dome in Wales and Cadomian rocks in Germany appears to indicate that the Meguma terrane shows more similarity with those terranes than the Avalonian rocks. The occurrence of a 30-37 Ma hiatus before deposition of RNG in Meguma and its relative absence in Avalonia, coupled with lithological differences, defeats the assumption of an overstep sequence and contiguous relationship between Meguma and Avalonia

Feb

2026

AGS Colloquium, Feb 6-7, Truro NS

Truro, NS

6-7 February

Details at https://atlanticgeosciencesociety.ca/

Mar

2026

Science Atlantic Environment Conference (SAEC) @ Acadia - March 13th-15th

The 2026 SA Environment Conference (SAEC) is to be held at the K.C. Irving Environmental Science Centre in Wolfville Nova Scotia.

Visit the website here for more information.