ATLANTIC GEOSCIENCE SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER

Deadline for next issue: February 23, 1998

• 1998 AGS Colloquium 
• - Accommodation and Facilities
• - Short Course/Workshop
• - CoGS Open House
• Proposed By-Law Changes
• Nominated Executive and Councillors
• Attachments 
• - AGS Colloquium Technical Program
• - AGS Membership Form
• - TSOP Conference Announcement

The Atlantic Geoscience Society Colloquium on Current Research in the Atlantic Region will be held at the Old Orchard Inn, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, on 6th and 7th February, 1998. A full slate of papers and posters will be held on the Friday night and all day Saturday, and will be preceded by a site visit to the College of Geographic Sciences (Lawrencetown) or a short course-workshop on Recent Advances in Dating Methods, in which Peter Reynolds and Keith Taylor will reveal the latest developments from the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar lab at Dalhousie University, and Dorothy Godfrey-Smith will display the wares of thermolumi-nescence dating. The short course-workshop will be held at Dalhousie University, on 6th February. For any inquiries, please contact Rob Raeside at raeside@acadiau.ca or telephone 902-585-1323.

The Old Orchard Inn

Quaternary Geochronology: 

A WORKSHOP on the Theory and Application of Luminescence, Fission Track and Argon Dating Methods. . 

1. optical dating, also known as optically stimulated luminescence (OSL)
2. thermoluminescence (TL)
3. electron spin resonance (ESR)

Each of these techniques measures the time since a mineral was last exposed to a "clock-resetting" event. This could be an exposure to sunlight, or to a combination of heat and pressure. Two recent projects of particular relevance to Nova Scotia are: 

1. the study of the two subfossil mastodons discovered at East Milford
2. the study of ceramics from the Archaic archaeo-logical site at St. Croix.

The Fission Track Research Labora-tory at Dalhousie is equipped to do fission track dating, and fission-track length analysis in apatite. Fission track is a technique suitable for dating certain minerals and natural or man-made glasses of any age provided they con-tain sufficient uranium. Fission decay of the trace uranium (238U) produces linear damage zones in the solid (fission tracks) that can be made visible by etching, and counted under a microscope to determine geological age. Fission track length analysis of apatite is a tool developed mainly for use by the oil industry. In this Workshop the principles and limita-tions of fission track dating of apatite and young volcanic glasses will be discussed.
The Argon Isotope Research Labora-tory contains instrumentation to measure the isotopic composition of the small amounts of argon gas re-leased from single mineral grains. Two argon extraction furnaces are in operation: 

1. a Nd-YAG 'laser probe'
2. a Nd-YAG 'laser probe'.

The laser-probe is used in two modes:

1. to heat small individual grains under an expanded beam
2. to heat selected material in a geologic thick section using a tightly-focused beam.

In this Workshop, the application and limitations of this method in the dating of very young rocks( ie. with ages < ca. 300 ka) will be discussed. 

Visit to the College of Geographic Sciences, Lawrencetown

Proposed Change to the By-Laws of the AGS pertaining to the Products and Publications Committees
The following proposed changes to the By-Laws is recommended to allow for the formation of Product and Publication Committees. The Society distributes grant and loan monies and a Products Committee would ensure a fair and equitable process as well as continuity over the years. It would make recommendations to the Executive and Council only, it cannot distribute monies. 
The Publications Committee or person would look after marketing and listing of AGS products and their current status. Presently the AGS has 15 special publications and 4 videos. These are currently sold through the treasurer and would change to be sold through the Publications Committee/ person. Again this would allow a more consistent tracking of the current status of publications. 
Add Articles 48 & 49 to the By-Laws 
48. The Society shall have a Products Committee composed of at least 5 members of good standing to review proposals for loans and/or grants requested of the Society. The review process shall ensure that the proposals include product planning, copyright, royalties, financing, marketing, sales and distribution where necessary as outlined in the Appendix "Duties of Officers and Standing Committees of the AGS". The committee would report directly to the Executive and Council with a recommendation of acceptance or rejection of the proposal. 
49. The Society shall have a Publication Committee composed of one or more members of good standing to maintain and market publications of the Society as outlined in the Appendix "Duties of Officers and Standing Committees of the AGS". 
AGS Distinguished Scientist - Gesner Medal and AGS Distinguished Service Awards 
Add Article 50 to the By-Laws 

1. The President shall receive, on an annual basis by December 1st of any year, nominations (see sec. 8) for the Gesner Medal and the Distinguished Service Award.
2. The Vice-President shall appoint a panel of not less than 5 judges to evaluate the nominees for the awards. After the Vice-President appoints the panel, he or she receives the nomi-nations from the President, and mails them to the judges. 
3. The Vice-President shall ask the judges if they can impartially judge all the candidates and if not to withdraw their appointment from the process.
4. Judges will rank the candidates in order of preference, and convey their rankings to the Vice-President. The latter will determine the average ranking of each candidate, and the candidate with the highest ranking will receive the award.
5. The papers given to the judges will be returned to the Vice-President after the ranking and will be kept for three years from the date of their first submission. After three years they will be destroyed. All files and nomina-tions are confidential.
6. In the event of a tie vote, the President shall appoint an impartial arbitrator to cast a deciding vote.
7. Nominations are to stand for a 3-year period, after which a candidate must be renominated in order to be reconsidered for an award.
8. A nomination shall include a statement of between 500 - 1,000 words succinctly explaining how the candidate meets the selection criteria and supporting documentation from the nominator and a letter of support from the seconder. The supporting documentation could include items such as: 
1. Selected bibliography (a complete bibliography including abstracts is not needed)
2. Documentation of impact of work
3. Supporting letters from referees other than the nominator and the seconder.
9. The nominator and seconder shall be members in good standing of the Atlantic Geoscience Society.
10. Regardless of the number of nominations received no award need necessarily be given in any one year, those nominations can be set aside to the following year. The candidate's 3-year term of eligibility shall be part of this year of no award.
11. Award winners shall be advised in advance of the Annual Meeting, so that arrangements may be made for acceptance of the award.
12. In addition to the award presen-tation the winners' names and years will be placed on plaques that will be displayed annually at conferences and other appropriate events. The Vice-President will be responsible for the plaques and their display.
13. The criteria for the "Distinguished Scientist Award - Gesner Medal" are as follows: 
1. award made to a person who has, through their own efforts (maps, publications, memoirs, etc.) developed and promoted the advancement of geoscience in the Atlantic Region in any field of geology
2. the contribution of the person should be of large enough scope to have made an impact beyond the immediate Atlantic Region
3. the person does not have to reside in the Atlantic Region or be a member of the Atlantic Geoscience Society
4. the person must still be alive and active in geoscientific research, although not necessarily full time in the Atlantic Region.
14. The "Distinguished Service Award" shall be given "in recognition of exceptional and altruistic contributions to the Atlantic Geoscience Society over a long period of time". There are no specific criteria other than this.

The following are the executive and nominated councillors for AGS 1997-1998. Nominations and volunteers will be accepted until the AGS Colloquim and from the floor during the annual general meeting.

Past-President

Peter Wallace 

Dalhousie University Department of Earth Sciences

Halifax, NS, B3H 3J5

Phone: (902) 494-2364/2358)

Fax: (902) 494-6889

E-Mail: peter.wallace@.dal.ca

President

Robert Raeside 

Acadia University, Department of Geology

Wolfville, NS, B0P 1X0

Phone: (902) 585-1323)

Fax:

E-Mail:raeside@acadiau.ca

Vice-President

Chris White

Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources

P.O. Box 698, Halifax, NS, B3J 2T9

Phone:(902 424-2519)

Fax:

E-Mail:whitec@gov.ns.ca

Secretary

Peter Giles

Geological Survey of Canada (Atlantic), BIO. 

P.O. Box 1006, Dartmouth, NS, B2Y 4A2

Phone: (902) 426-8928)

Fax:

E-Mail:giles@agc.bio.ns.ca

Treasurer

Ken Howells

27 John Cross Drive

Dartmouth, NS, B2W 1X1

Phone: (902) 434-4884)

Fax:

E-Mailhowells@agc.bio.ns.ca

Publicity

Don Fox

Dalhousie University Department of Earth Sciences

Halifax, NS, B3H 3J5

Phone: (902) 494-3797)

Fax: (902) 494-6889

E-Mail:dfox@is2.dal.ca

Jennifer Bates

Newsletter Editor

Geological Survey of Canada (Atlantic), BIO. 

P.O. Box 1006, Dartmouth, NS, B2Y 4A2

Phone: (902) 426-4386)

Fax: (902) 426-4848)

E-Mail:bates@agc.bio.ns.ca

Hugo Beltrami

St. Francis Xavier University , Department of Geology

Antigonish, NS, B2G 1C0

Phone: (902) 867-2326)

Fax:

E-Mail:hugo@justine.stfx.ca

Bruce Broster

University of New Brunswick, Department of Geology

P.O. Box 4400, Fredericton, NB, E3B 5A3

Phone:(506) 453-4804)

Fax:

E-Mail:broster@unb.ca

Paul Durling

Geological Survey of Canada (Atlantic), BIO. 

P.O. Box 1006, Dartmouth, NS,B2Y 4A2

Phone:(902) 426-4124)

Fax:

E-Mail:durling@agc.bio.ns.ca

Laing Ferguson

Mount Allison University, Dept. of Physics, Engineering and Geology

Sackville, NB, E0A 3C0

Phone:(506) 364-2310)

Fax:

E-Mail:lferguson@mta.ca

Linda Ham

Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources

P.O. Box 698, Halifax, NS, B3J 2T9

Phone:(902) 424-2522)

Fax:

E-Mail:ljham@gov.ns.ca

John Hill

Technical University of Nova Scotia

P.O. Box 1000, Halifax, NS, B2G 1C0

Phone:(902) 420-7677)

Fax:

E-Mail:hilljd@tuns.ca

Randy Miller

New Brunswick Museum, Natural Science Division

277 Douglas Ave., Saint John, NB, E2K 1E5

Phone:(506) 643-2361)

Fax:

E-Mail: millerrf@nbnet.nb.ca

Mike Parkhill 

New Brunswick Dept. of Natural Resources & Energy 

Geological Surveys Branch,

P.O. Box 50, Bathurst, NB, E2A 3Z1

Phone: (506) 547-2070) 

Fax: (506) 547-7694

E-Mail:mparkhill@gov.nb.ca

Georgia Pe-Piper

St. Mary's University, Department of Geology

Halifax, NS, B2Y 4A2

Phone:(902) 420-5744)

Fax:

E-Mail:gpiper@shark.stmarys.ca

Alan Ruffman 

Geomarine Associates Ltd.

P.O. Box 41, Station M, Halifax, NS, B3J 2L4

Phone:(902) 422-6482)

Fax:

E-Mail:

Clint St. Peter 

New Brunswick Dept. of Natural Resources & Energy 

P.O. Box 6000, Fredericton, NB, E3B 5H1

Phone:(506) 453-2206)

Fax:

E-Mail:cstpeter@gov.nb.ca

Ian Spooner

Acadia University, Department of Geology

Wolfville, NS, B0P 1X0

Phone:(902) 542-1312)

Fax:

E-Mail:ian.spooner@acadiau.ca

Dick Wardle

Newfoundland Dept. of Mines & Energy, Geological Surveys Branch,

P.O. Box 8700, St. John's, NF, A1B 4T6

Phone:(709) 729-2107)

Fax:

E-Mail:

Tim Webster

College of Geographic Sciences

R.R. # 1, Lawrencetown, N.S., B0S 1M0

Phone:(902) 584 - 2226)

Fax:

E-Mail:tim@cogs.ns.ca