Welcome to EES!

*Please note that due to Acadia's 4 day work week program the Earth and Environmental Science Main Office will be closed on Fridays from June 13^th, 2025 until August 15^th, 2025. Emails will be answered in order when it reopens on Monday morning.*

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

Donation of gems and semi-precious stones

The department received a generous donation of a wide variety of stones used for jewelry that will significantly improve our collection of gem materials.

AGS Colloquium 2021

Several faculty and students participated in the 47th AGS Colloquium, held online.

Four MSc theses in four areas defended in one week

The final week of fall term was busy with exams and thesis defences. Within the space of a week, four MSc theses were defended, one in each of the disciplines of Geology (Caleb Grant), Environmental Science (Lauren Muzak Ruff) and Applied Geomatics (Daniel Mutton) and one in Portugal. Of special note is that Lauren's thesis is our first MSc thesis in Environmental Science.

Upcoming Events

Aug

2025

Orientation Week 2025!

Orientation and Welcome Week!

Sep

2025

Doug Angus - CSEG Distinguished Lecture Tour - 4pm Huggins 336

Doug Angus is VP of Mining at ESG Solutions, a company that provides world class acquisition and data services for real-time rock-mass characterization to improve mine safety and operational efficiency. He studied applied geophysics from Queen’s University, gaining his MSc(Eng) in applied seismology focused on moment tensor inversion of mine seismic data and his PhD in theoretical seismology focused on wave propagation in anisotropic heterogenous. For more than 10 years he worked as an academic in the UK focused on integrating seismology with geomechanics, rock physics and multi-phase fluid flow; as a research associate at Bristol University (2006-2008) and subsequently Associate Professor of Seismic Geomechanics at the University of Leeds (2008-2016). Seismic and aseismic tools for mine safety The energy transition will require more critical minerals and many of these mineral deposits are deep underground, which poses significant safety and technological challenges. Underground mining operations generally encounter adverse stress conditions, and this response can be seismic, either very soon, or after sustained perturbation of the insitu stress over several years. It has been recognized that closely monitoring and characterizing seismic response is non-negotiable for safety underground and therefore plays a key role in the operational success of mining operations. Data courtesy NZP&M While characterizing the rock mass can be as simple as monitoring seismicity rates and locating seismicity, evaluating the source parameters and mechanisms of seismicity, and mapping velocity and attenuation changes in the rock mass can assist in validating designs and adjust mine sequences and rates. Additional seismic-adjacent technologies, such as DAS fiber optic seismic, strain and temperature measurements are also contributing to cost-effective monitoring. Integration of seismicity with geomechanics allows validation and calibration of numerical models, improved understanding of the rock mass response as well as testing of hypotheses.

4pm Huggins 336

Mar

2026

SA 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.