CRATER EXPLORATION ACQUAINTANCES

CRATER EXPLORATION ACQUAINTANCES

by: Charles O’Dale

Eric Kujala 1964-2017 Here we are fulfilling our lifelong dream, exploring the Pingualuit impact crater, 2008. I miss you buddy!!

 

Dr. Michael R. Dence and yours truly at a 2012 Sigma Xi Companions in Research meeting, Ottawa. Dr. Dence was prime on impact crater research within the Canadian Shield, 1961-81. He was one of the few indiviuals responsible for transforming terrestrial impact crater research into a respectable and scientific discipline of planetary science.
Dr. Ian Halliday and yours truly, Ottawa 2012. Dr. Halliday was a pioneer on impact crater research authoring several papers on the subject. His field research provided evidence in support of a meteoritic origin for West Hawk Lake, Manitoba, Canada.
Dr. Christopher Herd and yours truly at the 2012 RASC GA in Edmonton. Dr. Herd is Associate Professor, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Alberta. He was prime in the confirmation of theWhitecourt Crater as an impact structure. He has published papers regardingastromaterials and their significance.
Yours truly with Blyth Robertson. We are standing in front of a desiccation structure (fosilized creek). Dr. Blyth Robertson is Emeritus Scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada. Of the 37 years that he spent with Natural Resources Canada, Dr. Robertson spent 20 years researching impact craters in Canada and worldwide. In the 1970’s Dr. Robertson was instrumental in confirming the impact nature of a large site in northern Canada known as the Haughton Crater.
Yours truly with fellow crater explorer, Dr. Gordon Osinski at the 2016 RASC Ottawa Centre Annual Dinner. Dr. Osinski’s research interests are diverse and interdisciplinary in nature. His work synthesizes field, remote sensing, and laboratory observations with a range of geochemical data. His current research falls into three main areas: planetary geology, astrobiology, and economic geology. Meteorite impact craters provide a common cross-cutting theme. He approaches planetary geology with the fundamental view that interpretations of other planetary bodies must begin by using the Earth as a reference and fieldwork forms the basis for much of his research. His latest research is on theTunnunik  Impact Structure.
Yours truly with Ivan Semeniuk at the RASC 2017 General Assembly in Ottawa Ontario. For more than two decades as a science writer, Ivan has covered breaking scientific research – from the mysteries of the universe to the ancient creatures that once inhabited the Earth.
The REAL “Bad Astronomer”, Phil Plait with yours truly at the 2009 RASC GA.
Dr. Eugenie C. Scott, Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education and yours truly at the “Great Unconformity” (look it up!!) in the Grand Canyon, 2008. In Blacktail Canyon (river mile 120), one can put one’s hand on a thin line separating two rock units—the lower, the Vishnu Schist, dated at 1750 million years of age (Ma), the higher, the Tapeats Sandstone, dated at 525 Ma. The gap between them is 1,225 Ma, and since the Earth is 4,540 Ma, that single small gap—that gravel-fringed line one can cover with one’s finger—represents 27% of Earth’s entire history.

REFERENCES:

Dence, M.R. 1964: A comparative structural and petrographic study of probable Canadian meteorite craters; Meteoritics, Contr. Dom. Obs., vol.
6, No. 3.

Halliday I., and Griffin, A.A. 1964: Application of the scientific method to problems of crater recognition; Meteoritics, vol. 2, No. 2.

Herd C.D.K.  et al 2010: Astromaterials Curation and Research in Canada: Why It Matters; GeoCanada

Osinski G.R. 2008: Meteorite impact structures: the good and the bad; Geology Today, Vol. 24, No. 1, January–February 2008

Osinski G.R. 2015: New Ar-Ar Dating of the East and West Clearwater Lake Impact Structures, Québec, Canada – Evidence for Two Separate Impact Events; Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta Volume 148, 1 January 2015

Robertson P.B. & Grieve R.A.F. 1977: Shock attenuation at terrestrial impact structures; Impact and Explosion Cratering.

Robertson P.B. 1988: The Haughton impact structure, Devon Island, Canada – Setting and History of Investigations; Meteoritics, vol. 23, No. 2.

“We, all of us, are what happens when a primordial mixture of hydrogen and helium evolves for so long that it begins to ask where it came from.”
Jill Tarter