AUGC 2026!
Acadia University was well-represented at the annual Atlantic Universities Geoscience Conference (AUGC) hosted by the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton between Oct 22 and 25. Twelve Acadia students attended field trips, short courses, research presentations, and other conference activities. Of these, five students presented on their research.
Zailynne Durant, working with Deanne van Rooyen, presented their poster “Petrography and detrital zircon geochronology and provenance of the Mabou and Cumberland Groups in the Maritimes Basin”. Zailynne and Tessa were the runners of for the Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists Challenge Bowl. They will be travelling to Calgary in May, 2027 to compete in the Nationals!
Megan Earley, working with Mo Snyder, Chelsea Gardner, and William Parkinson, presented their paper "What’s in a Name? Building an economic marble collection for all audiences”. Megan wowed the judges and received the Science Atlantic Best Paper Award. The Science Atlantic award is given for the best overall student paper on any geoscience topic presented orally at the annual AUGC!
Tessa Kierstead, working with Zhenhao Zhou, presented their paper “Mineral replacement, mass transfer, and fluid sources of REE mineralization in the Strange Lake and Desert Lake peralkaline granite”. Tessa was the runner-up for the Frank S. Shea Memorial Award. This award is given to a student making the best presentation regarding an aspect of, or with, implications for economic or applied geology.
Tess Richardson, working with Mo Snyder and Brette Harris, presented their paper “A petrographic investigation of the complicated Windsor Group stratigraphy of Nova Scotia". Tess received runner-up for the Canadian Energy Geoscience Association (CEGA) Award, given to the best presentation of geology (typically sedimentary) -related paper at the AUGC.
Kenaz Swain, working with Mo Snyder and Lexie Arnott, presented their paper “Re-examination of the 1972 Bermuda Core: Petrographic and XRF Characterization of the Igneous Basement Rocks”.
Well done EES students!