Landsat Image of the Field
Camp Area, Coniston, Sudbury
(Ramsey Lake, lower left)
Click here to go to Dr. Eaton's home page.
Landsat Image of the Field
Camp Area, Coniston, Sudbury
(Ramsey Lake, lower left)
PRELIMINARY NOTICE - Nov 22 2002
Departure
The excursion to Sudbury will leave PROMPTLY from the rear loading dock of the B & G Building at 8.00 A.M., Thursday May 1st. Each student is required to fill out a standard University 'Release and Assumption of Risk' form. This should have been done at the time the course fee is paid to the departmental secretary. If you haven't done so, please do see the secretary. Do not forget to bring your OHIP card - in case you should need medical attention.
Participants:
If
your name is not on the following list, contact Dr Church.
TENTATIVE Program
Geology students will map several areas of deformed and metamorphosed rocks of the Southern and Grenville Provinces. The georegistration of maps, photographs, and satellite and magnetic images to be used in the mapping part of the course will be carried out using the computers in room 53. A series of labs for this purpose will be organised throughout the year.Click here to go to the georegistration instruction page.
Geology
En route to Sudbury a stop will be made between Parry Sound and Pointe
au Baril to examine the nature of the Parry Sound shear zone and the shear
pods of the southern Britt zone of the Grenville Province. Time permitting,
we will also examine the Alban quartzites and the high P/high T Burwash
migmatites.
The first two days of the course will involve a traverse of the Sudbury
basin to a point south of the ‘Grenville Front’ near Long Lake, and a traverse
across the Espanola - Whitefish Falls area. (Geology
of the Sudbury Region.) The third day will
be dedicated to the geology of the northern Grenville Province. These three
days, as well as the first day of travel, will be considered instructional
days, and as such will provide an opportunity to study the key rock types
(Whitewater series, Sudbury Irruptive, ‘trap’ dikes, Nipissing diabase,
Sudbury diabase, Grenville diabase, high and low metamorphic grade Huronian
metasediments, ‘older’ and ‘younger’ Grenville Front granites, etc) of
the Sudbury region, and the structural history of the Southern and Grenville
Provinces. They will also provide the context (big picture!) for an examination
of the various geophysical data sets (seismic, magnetic, gravity) currently
available for the Sudbury region. For the next two days students
will collectively map two areas of deformed Huronian rocks in the Coniston
area, and during this time receive instruction in basic orienteering and
the use of their GPS units with georegistered airphotos. The remaining
time will be partitioned to allow students to map areas pertinent
to the resolution of several outstanding issues concerning the geology
of the Sudbury region.
Student evaluation
Following the instructional stage, students will map as individuals and no further direct instruction will be provided during this part of the course. Nevertheless, for safety reasons, students will form mapping teams. (There are 13 students and two instructors, and the function of the 'instructors' at this stage will be safety surveillance and the correction of any serious locational problems - students walking off the limits of the airphoto, etc!!) On the last day of the course, students will be tested on their ability to map a relatively small test area (the same area for all students), and will also be given an evening oral examination covering all aspects of the course. The overall evaluation will therefore be based on three components: the notes and maps (40%), the mapping test (40%), and the oral examination (20%).
Tentative Course schedule (revised Nov 22 2002):
Geology students
Thu May 01
Travel to Sudbury
Fri May 02
The Sudbury Basin and Southern Province to the Grenville Front (instructional
day)
Sat May 03
The Espanola/Whitefish Falls/Cutler region (instructional day)
Sun May 04
Group mapping exercise, Garson (instruction day)
Mon May 05
Group mapping exercise, Coniston (instructional day)
Tue May 06
Mapping (Brodil, Ramsey Lake, Garson, Creighton)
Wed May 07
Mapping
Thu May 08
Mapping
Fri May 09
Mapping
Sat May 10
Mapping
Sun May 11
Mapping/Write report
Mon May 12
Field test and examination
Tue May 13
Return to London.
The course is subject to student evaluation, to be carried out on the evening of May 12th.
Travel
to Sudbury
We will travel to Sudbury in several 7-seater vehicles, and since we are
15 students + 4 faculty + equipment, space will be at a premium.
There will be room in the vans for only one normal size 'soft' suitcase
per person (no guitars, drum sets, giant boomboxes, etc); please try therefore
to minimize your luggage. If you wish listen
to music while travelling, please bring your own head-set radios.
The van radios will be turned on only at the discretion of the driver.
It would be appreciated that students not hassle the driver in this regard.
Students may travel to Sudbury in their own vehicles, but all travel during
the field camp period must be in the departmental vehicles.
University
Regulations
The University insists that SMOKING and DRINKING OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
NOT BE ALLOWED IN THE VANS. Do not even bother to ask! Beverages
containing alcohol must be very securely packed away in your bags. Furthermore,
"if students wish to consume alcoholic beverages it is to be done on their
own time and not any time during the course program."
University regulations also require that students wear hard hats and safety glasses when in the field, e.g. hard hats when examining unstable road sections, safety glasses when hammering rocks. Hard hats and safety glasses will be provided by the department.
Potential Problems
1) The field course program is predicated
on the assumption that the weather will be constantly sunny. There is a
chance however that some mapping days will be lost to heavy rain. This
is not the result of disorganization on the part of the instructional staff!
2) Some students tend to imbibe overly large volumes of alcohol in the
evenings, are hung over the next morning, and as a result tend to be less
than enthusiastic when in the field or when receiving instruction.
You are therefore encouraged to be moderate in your consumption of alchohol
- self-inflicted injury will engender no
sympathy! Repeat offenders will be sent
home by bus.
3) All rooms at the motel are equipped with television sets.
Some students have difficulty disciplining themselves with regard to when
and for what duration the TV should be turned on. Students who watch TV
into the early hours of the morning sometimes have difficulty getting out
of bed at the required time each morning.
4) The instructors rise at 6.00 am, have their evening meal between 7.00
and 8.30 pm, and retire at 10.00 pm. There are therefore only two small
windows of time in the evening between 5.30 and 7.00 pm and 8.30 and 10
pm that allows for discourse between instructors and students concerning
the days activities. In this respect, please give consideration to the
fact that the instructors also get tired after a long day.
5) The computer equipment may malfunction, there may be unforeseen software
problems, some students may be inadequately prepared to use the computers
or the software, and some students will be reluctant to devote the necessary
evening time to using the computers. The GIS component of the course is
therefore not guaranteed.
6) This is a field course and it is desirable that students not be distressed
by having to be outdoors all day and having to walk long distances.
We recognise that a student may discover at any given moment that field
work is really not their "cup of java"! Nevertheless, it is important,
particularly if the weather is poor, that group morale be maintained. To
this end, any complaint, legitimate or not, should be addressed promptly
to the instructors and not allowed to fester. We would prefer that field
camp be a relatively pleasant experience, notwithstanding that it
is an examination course and
not a holiday.
Accomodation
Students will be accomodated in one
of the residences at Laurentian University.
Students who live in the Sudbury area and who intend staying at home during
the course should make this fact known to Dr. Church. The rules concerning
morning departure (see below) will still apply.
IMPORTANT:
We have conducted field camp in the Sudbury region for many years.
We have been charged a very reasonable room rate
on the understanding that we do not damage property and do not disturb
other guests. This is very
important at a time when it is proving difficult to control the cost of
field camps. Consequently, we are obliged to comport ourselves in a manner
such that we draw no complaints from other residents. This means no noisy
parties, no drunkenness, no water bomb wars, no more than six people
in a room at any one time, no smoking, and rooms to be kept reasonably
tidy (reasonable to be determined by the residence staff).
Meals
The residence does not provide cooking utensils, and if you wish to use
the residence kitchen to prepare your own meals, including lunch, you should
bring a small saucepan/bowl/plate/cup/ KFS/dish cloth/drying
cloth. A visit will be made to a grocery store at the end of each day.
If many students choose to prepare their own meals, cooking may have to
be be done in 'sittings'. It would be polite in this case
to remove your garbage when finished and to keep the kitchen area cleaned
as it is used. Meals can also be taken on campus, but not,
apparently, on the weekend.
Regrettably, other than under very special circumstances, the rental vans
will not be available "on demand" to provide a limousine service.
Morning
Departures
Departure time for the field each morning will be at 8.30 am prompt. Students
should therefore be showered by 7.30 am, have completed breakfast by 8.15
a.m., and be at the vans by 8.25 am.
Equipment
The department will provide aerial photos, notebooks, compasses, GPS units,
magnets, hammers, hard hats and safety glasses; for which the students
will sign. (Although a deposit is not required for the use of the equipment,
students will be required to replace lost or damaged equipment.) Students
should provide their own WATCHES,
HAND
LENS, and an ultrafine point, waterproof,
PERMANENT marking pen (Steadtler
or Sharpie) capable of writing on mylar sheets
and the plastic surface covering the aerial photos.
Bring
at least TWO markers of different
colour
-
if you bring only one you will inevitably mislay or lose it within the
first two or three days in the field!! (Bring three markers if you
are the kind of person who mislays pens easily!) You are also required
to bring pencils, ball-point pens, coloured pencils,
ruler, square, sample bags, boots
(perhaps also spare shoes/boots, running shoes, soccer shoes), warm
clothing (+ thermos?), and rain clothes
(ponchos).
IMPORTANT: you must wear an outer shirt or field jacket, e.g. a
Brunton jacket, that is red or orange in colour
(NO greens, blues,
or blacks). This will increase
your visibility
and make it easy to find you should you get lost.
Bears
The field area you
will be working in is mostly open ground with minimal tree cover such that
moving humans and animals are easily seen from a distance.
If we can afford it, a Cobra MicroTalk2 or equivalent communicator
will be provided each team. Please feel free to
bring your own, if it will make you feel more secure.
There is also the
likelihood (depending on the year) that you may see a black bear (see http://www.nature-net.com/bears/black.html),
wolf, or coyote, and while in the vast majority of cases these animals
will try to avoid rather than approach you, there remains the possibility
that a bear will wish to share
your lunch. Furthermore, should you run into bear cubs, the
bear sow could be dangerous
(but see
below), for which reason you should promptly remove yourself from
the vicinity of the cubs - don't hang around to take photographs! In consideration
of these eventualities, however unlikely, we will provide you with a spray
deterrent. The following is taken from the web site of the Forest Service
of the US Department of Agriculture at:
http://www.bear.org/species/blackbear/bearH000.html
"Black bears can
injure or kill people, but they rarely do. When pressed, they usually retreat,
even with cubs. Attacking to defend cubs is more a grizzly bear trait.
(Grizzlies live only in Alaska, northern and western Canada, and the Rocky
Mountains south to Yellowstone.) Black bear mothers often leave their cubs
and flee from people, and those that remain are more likely to bluff-charge
than attack. Still, it is prudent to use extra caution
with family groups that allow close approaches because mothers are generally
more nervous than other bears. Nevertheless, chances of being attacked
around campsites by any black bear are small. During a 19-year study of
bear/camper encounters in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in
Minnesota, only two injuries were reported in 19 million visitor-days.
The study included the year 1985 when bear nuisance activity was at a record
high. The two injuries were by one bear on September 14 and 15, 1987. The
bear was killed the next day." "Unprovoked, predatory attacks by
black bears are rare but highly publicized. Such attacks have accounted
for all 23 deaths by non-captive black bears across North America this
century. Most occurred in remote areas where the bears had little or no
previous contact with people, rather than in and around established campsites.
The worst attack occurred in Ontario in 1978 when a black bear killed and
partially consumed three teenagers who were fishing. Predatory attacks
by black bears are usually done without bluster or warning. People involved
in such attacks can improve their chances by fighting rather than playing
dead. Deaths from such attacks average a little more than one every
four years across the United States and Canada." "Fortunately, black bears
usually use at least as much restraint with people as they do with each
other. Unlike domestic dogs, which often are territorial and aggressive
toward 
strangers, black bears typically behave
as the subordinate toward people when escape is possible." "Black bears
that want our food sometimes use threats or bluffs to get it, as has been
reported by campers, picnickers, and backpackers.
The most common
behavior of this sort is blowing, which may be accompanied by clacking
teeth, lunging, laid back ears, slapping the ground or trees, and/or a
short rush. The same behavior is used to scare other bears from feeding
areas. The sounds and actions are all done explosively, with effective
results. However, it is rare for a black bear to attack a person during
or after such a demonstration. All blowing bears observed by the author
retreated when pursued. A less common sound is the resonant "voice" of
a bear. This is used to express intense emotions (fear, pain, and pleasure),
including strong threats. Black bears with ready escape routes seldom use
this threat toward people. Grunts are used in nonthreatening communication
to cubs, familiar bears, and sometimes people."
See also http://www.bear.org/species/blackbear/bbslideshow/index.htm