Hello Everyone!

I have been unable to post anything until now due to computer issues, so I thought that I would give a quick summary of what I was up to during our trip.

On my first day of this trip I worked with the Geiger counter measuring radiation from the rock surfaces. I got to learn how to use a Geiger counter and collected data on the average number of particles released from a certain area of rock over a minute.

The next day, I worked determining the magnetic susceptibility of the tock in different outcroppings outside of the Sudbury Impact Crater. We found that the magnetic susceptibility greatly varied within just one rock due to the heterogeneous nature of the rock itself. Different types of rock had different magnetic susceptibilities. There is Breccia, which is a combination of a lot of different rock types in one rock. There’s the Diabase Basalt which seemed to be fairly magnetically susceptible. The most magnetically susceptible rock seemed to be the granite. This is due to the high levels of potassium in the rock.

As for yesterday, we all alternated with the different equipment and measurements to take throughout the day. I really enjoyed finding the Breccia while working on collecting rock samples. There doesn’t seem to be as much of it, and it is the rock type that is indicative of high velocity impact. So it is really exciting when you find good samples of the Breccia. On the first day I found a good sample of a shatter cone. Essentially the high pressure of the high velocity impact causes the rock to form into cone like structures which point towards the site of the impact. This is similar to any glass like material shattering. We found similar shatter cones later the same day where dynamite was once used to blow away the mountain side for mining. The cones all pointed towards the hole where the dynamite was originally placed.

On the way to the air port today, we passed by a lot of outcroppings and I couldn’t help thinking about the types of rock that each formation was formed from and the structure. When we visited the French River on our way to the airport, I immediately recognized the basalt dikes and some of the rock types present. I few days ago, I would have thought nothing of it.

Other than that, I have really had fun climbing all of the outcrops!

~Leva