Alumni News - Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto

Issue 18 February 2009
Alumni
NEWS
for Alumni
and Friends
2008 Rockfest Fest winning photo
The Wave (Coyote Buttes, Vermillion Cliffs,
Utah Arizona Border) by Ulrich G. Wortmann
Acting Chair, Dick Bailey
A Message from the Chair
The 2009 edition of the Alumni Newsletter arrives in your hands in the middle of a rather
atypical year for both the Department of Geology and the world at large. Different for the
Department because the Chair, Sandy Cruden, is taking a well deserved research leave for the
2008-2009 academic year, to investigate the tectonics of crustal deformation in a number of
interesting locations around the world. I am writing this as Acting Chair, and hope to hand the
helm back to Sandy in July, with the Department in at least as good condition as he left it. A
different sort of year for the world out there, the world our students come from and our graduates
go to, because of the striking economic events that have overtaken everyone. These events
may look unnerving in the short term, but cannot be in the long term: people will always be
curious about the planet they live on, and, more practically, they will always need the resources
that it provides. So, looking to the interests of this longer future, I am pleased to report that
the total number of students registered in the various geology programs at the University of
Toronto continues to rise, and is up about 30% over last year to about 130 (even without taking
into account increases in cognate disciplines in other parts of the University, such as the Lascontinued
on page 2

Contents
Message from the Chair 1
Canadian Mining Hall of Fame 3
News Honours and Awards 4
Explorers Fund Report 5
2008 Grads and Award Winners 6
Acknowledgements 7
SMGRL News
Planetary Science
7
8
In Memoriam 10
Geochronology Lab News 12
Joint Assembly Meeting 13
News of Alumni and Friends 13
2
Continued .... from the Chair
sonde Program in Mineral Engineering, or the geophysics
option of Engineering Science). Graduate student numbers
are about the same as last year, perhaps because the voracious
(at least until very recently) demands of industry for
qualified people persuaded many B.Sc. graduates to enter
the work force immediately upon graduation. Maintaining
the quality of our programs as enrolments rise requires considerable
work, and I am very ably assisted in meeting these
challenges by our Associate Chairs, James Brenan (Undergraduate
Affairs) and Russ Pysklywec (Graduate Affairs).
Last year, Sandy noted a very important point, one which
the economic events of the last few months have emphasized.
The growth that we need to sustain to meet the longer
term needs of our students, and of the country, requires
resources both to support our students, and to maintain, and
improve where possible, the quality of the infrastructure
that makes their education here a truly rich experience, both
intellectually and professionally. We will need to rely on
both existing and new ways for achieving this. An existing
vehicle for this, you will remember, is the Explorer’s Fund,
that we launched two years ago. Spearheaded by Laurie
Curtis (Ph.D. 1975, Founder of Intrepid Mines) and guided
by an outstanding Industry Steering Committee, the Explorers
Fund is a way for alumni and friends to support students
in the Department through the creation of Graduate and
Undergraduate Scholarships. An Annual Fund contributes
to the students’ costs of field education and supports other
initiatives related to the quality of their experience in the
Department. The Explorer’s fund endowment has now
grown to $573,556 from donations and matching funds. In
the past year alone, 7 new student awards have been created,
including two by Industry Steering Committee member
and 2008 U of T Arbor Award recipient Nick Tintor
(B.Sc. 1980), who established the Nick and Marilyn Tintor
Explorers Fund Graduate Scholarship and the Daniela and
Alexander Tintor Undergraduate Scholarship. One area in
which we would very much like to see growth is the Annual
Fund, which would directly improve the field course education
of our students. Please consider making a donation,
of any size, to one of the Explorers Funds this year – these
donations will help significantly improve the access of our
students to the best training possible, not just this coming
year, but for decades forward, in good times and bad.
The Explorer’s fund specifically addresses one aspect of the
Department’s life: the direct support of students and their
lab and field experience. There is more to our task than this,
however. Maintaining and improving effective delivery of
programs requires, over the long term, sustaining and augmenting
the faculty we have to deliver our programs, and
the infrastructure those programs depend on. The Department,
with the collaboration of the Advancement Offices of
the Faculty of Arts and Science and the University, is preparing
the groundwork for a more extensive and expansive
fundraising effort to address these issues, which will see the
number of faculty personnel increased through the creation
of more endowed chairs and a critical investment in stateof-the-art
educational facilities and equipment. Because
geology is a high-cost but small-enrolment program we see
this planned external fundraising as essential to our ability
to deliver informed and effective Earth Science graduates
to meet Canada’s needs in future decades. We need act
now to lay the ground for these initiatives, to anticipate the
needs of the upswing in the economic conditions that the
next cycle will bring.
The Department’s regular addition of new faces to its
faculty and staff rosters has slowed this year, briefly we
hope, but its activities have not. You can read more about
the activities and honours of its members in the following
pages of the Newsletter. We take very special pride in the
election of our colleague Emeritus Professor D. H. (Digger)
Gorman to the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame (opposite
page). You can also catch up with us and our activities at
our annual reception at the PDAC on Tuesday, March 3
from 5:00 to 7:30 pm. I look forward to meeting you there
and catching up on your activities as well. I would also
like to extend an invitation to all alumni and friends to visit
the Department at any time. We will be happy to show you
around, and do our best to arrange meetings with students
and faculty, and are always willing to discuss ideas for the
Department and provide updates on what we are doing.
Dick Bailey

Canadian Mining Hall of Fame
Emeritus Professor Donald H. Gorman (Digger to
his many friends and colleagues) was inducted into the
Canadian Mining Hall of Fame on January 15, 2009 in
recognition of his lifetime of service to the industry. The
following notice is reprinted, with permission, from the
Northern Miner, November 17-23, 2008.
Professor Donald Gorman has served the Canadian mining
industry with distinction for more than half a century as
a renowned mineralogist and superbly talented educator.
Born in Fredericton, he completed a BSc degree in
his native New Brunswick in 1947, after his studies were
interrupted by wartime service in the Canadian Navy.
After spending 1948-1949 studying economic geology as
a graduate student at the Royal School of Mines in London,
England, he earned a PhD degree at the University of
Toronto in 1957 and launched his teaching career.
“Digger” Gorman taught mineralogy with unflagging
enthusiasm for the next 41 years, inspiring hundreds of
geology and engineering students to pursue careers in
mining and mineral exploration. He commanded respect
in the classroom by exemplifying the two sides of science:
on the one side the rigorous analysis of minerals and
their composition and significance; and on the other the
pleasure that comes from solving geological puzzles and
discovering mineral treasure. To those he taught, minerals
were not chemical formulae and crystal structures, but living
things that tell a timeless story, shape history and spur
human progress. His incomparable mastery of the mineral
kingdom was the foundation of his teaching success, and
this rare ability combined with an engaging personality
dominated his teaching and resulted in generations of
students emerging from the University of Toronto with
a better grounding in mineral recognition than anywhere
else in Canada.
In addition to being a gifted educator, Gorman was a valued
mentor to prospective mineralogists and geologists,
a sought-after industry consultant and applied researcher,
and an entertaining advocate for his science at popular
public events. For decades he was the star attraction at
mineral and gem shows, such as the Bancroft Gemboree
where novice rockhounds and experienced prospectors
alike tried to stump the expert with countless obscure mineral
specimens. He seldom failed to identify them, even
those that weren’t naturally occurring substances at all. He
was a popular lecturer at the Royal Ontario Museum and
the Walker Mineralogical Club, the oldest mineral club
in Canada, which named him its Honourary President in
1981. His outreach activities included memorable presentations
to youth and church groups, and radio and television
appearances that entrenched his status as Canada’s
ambassador for mineralogy and geological sciences.
Gorman has received many awards for his outstanding
teaching abilities and exemplary advancement of science,
including the Peacock Prize for Mineralogy for 1975-76.
In 1978, he was presented with the Ontario Confederation
of University Faculty Association’s award for outstanding
teaching. In 1981, the International Mineralogical Association
approved the name gormanite for a newly discovered
mineral. In 2004, he was included in the University
of Toronto’s list of Great Teachers from the Past, a select
group of only 96 former faculty members that includes
only one other earth scientist.
Photographs, courtesy of R. Mandel and the Northern
Miner, show Jeff Fawcett making the presentation to
Digger. David Harquail, 7T9, Geological Engineering
and now CEO of FrancoNevada Inc. MC’d the evening
and is shown on the left.
3

News, Honours and Awards
Emeritus Professor Donald H Gorman (Digger to his
many friends and colleagues) was inducted into the Canadian
Mining Hall of Fame on January 15, 2009 in recognition
of his lifetime of service to the industry.
Nick Tintor (B.Sc. 1980) was the recipient of the University’s
Arbor Award for his dedicated work on behalf of the
department’s Industry Steering Committee for Advancement
Initiatives. Nick is currently CEO of Homeland
Uranium.
Professor Jim Mungall is on a two year leave of absence
working full time as Chief Geologist for Noront Resources
on the Ring of Fire project in the Ontario James Bay
Lowlands. They are exploring an Archean suite of komatiitic
intrusions where the targets are magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE
sulfides and massive chromitite.
Emeritus Professor Tony Naldrett writes:
My life has been dividing itself as usual between South
Africa (where I am researching on the Merensky Reef and
UG-2), the UK and a little in Canada. Perhaps the main
item of interest to alumni is that I was chosen as the 2008
Alex du Toit lecturer by the Geological Society of South
Africa. So far I have lectured in Johannesburg, at UCT-Stellenbosch,
University of KwaZuluNatal in Durban, Bloemfontein,
Fort Hare, Rhodes University in Grahamstown and
the University of Venda. I’ll be going back to South Africa
on Nov 5 to complete the tour, speaking to geological societies
in Namibia, Botswana, Malawi, and branches of the
GSSA in Barberton, Pretoria and Rustenburg, so I’ll have
seen much of Southern Africa by the time I finish!
Maureen Jensen (B.Sc. 1979) – received the Distinguished
Service Award of the Prospectors and Developers Association
of Canada.
another Festschrift to accompany the Gittins volume of the
prestigious Journal of Petrology. The Canadian Mineralogist
has issued the Gittins Volume on Carbonatites and Alkali
Rocks as a tribute to John’s internationally recognized
leadership in research on these enigmatic rocks.
Martyn Beckett (B.Sc. 1984; M.Sc. 1987) has been appointment
Director of Education for the Durham Region,
Ontario.
David Brace (B.Sc. 1975) has been appointed Chief Executive
Officer of GlobeStar Mining Corporation, a company
that also employs alumnus Sergio Gelcich
Professor Andrew Miall
The long awaited book, “The Sedimentary Basins of the
United States and Canada” has now been published by
Elsevier. This project has been ten years in the making and
the lengthy gestation reflects the extended period of time it
took for some authors to complete their chapters.
The book draws on the detailed syntheses of the continental
geology assembled for the GSA-GSC “Decade of North
American Geology” project of the 1980s and early 1990s,
plus the discoveries of COCORP and Lithoprobe. The book
is aimed at the general, educated geological audience, and
should be useful for any individual who needs an introduction
to the sedimentary geology and basin history of a
specific area of the continent. Andrew served as General
Chair and Technical Program Coordinator of The Gussow/
Nuna conference on The Geoscience of Climate Change
held at the Banff Centre, October 2008. The conference
presentations are being prepared for publication as a series
in Geoscience Canada.
4
Barbara Sherwood Lollar is the recipient of one of
NSERC’s Accelerator Awards within the Discovery Grants
Program.
Professor Rebecca Ghent has been selected as a NASA
Participating Scientist on the upcoming Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter mission and will be working on data from the
Diviner instrument.
Professor Uli Wortmann co-edited a special volume
Investigating Climates Environments and Biology for the
Elsevier journal Paleogeography, Palaeoclimatology and
Palaeoecology.
Emeritus Professor John Gittins has been honoured with
Andrew Miall with Gordon Williams (President APEGGA)
and Lisa Griffiths (President, CSPG) at the Banff
conference on the Geoscience of Climate Change.

In addition Andrew has completed the first year of a twoyear
term as President of the Academy of Science of the
Royal Society of Canada. This is a largely administrative
position, overseeing the selection and induction of new
Fellows. The Society is also attempting to enlarge its role
in Canada’s public life, and to this end has been engaged in
fundraising activities and developing closer relations with
Canada’s universities. He also found time to give two short
courses to the petroleum geology community in Calgary.
Andrew and Charlene Miall completed their online survey,
and interviews of earth scientists across the country (71
interviews, from Victoria to St. John’s) and have written up
a summary of the results for Geoscience Canada. This may
be accessed at http://www.gac.ca/publications/geoscience/
data.php.
Report on the Explorers Fund
and Donor Initiatives
The Explorer’s Fund has already begun to pay dividends to
the Department and its students. Katrina van Drongelen is
the first recipient of a graduate scholarship from the Fund.
She received support from the Jeff Fawcett-John Gittins
Fund for her M.Sc. research. Katrina is a first year graduate
student supervised by Dr. Kim Tait, Curator of Mineralogy
at the ROM, cross appointed to the Faculty. In addition,
the Explorer’s Fund was able to provide an undergraduate
scholarship to fourth year student Nicole DeBond
In 2008 the Steering Committee for fundraising worked
on expanding the initiative into the business community,
particularly in Toronto. A luncheon hosted by Eric Sprott
brought together members of the mining investment community
as well as several alumni to discuss the need to fund
teaching and ongoing research in the Earth Sciences.
Geology Faculty Members present included Professor Jeff
Fawcett, Chair Sandy Cruden and Professor Ed Spooner.
The take home message was that the Earth Sciences required
support beyond the University domain particularly
given the increased need for geoscientists in the exploration,
mining and environmental sectors.
Since that time the steering committee has continued to
work with institutions as well as alumni managing junior
and senior mining companies to publicize the Explorers
Fund and the channels that are available for donating to the
Department of Geology at the University of Toronto.
A principal focus of the Steering Committee in 2008 was
to develop and refine a five year stewardship progam to
raise significant funds for the Department of Geology. The
program was developed by Faculty members, members of
Katrina van Drongelen
the steering committee and Monica Lin, a representative
for Advancement for the Faculty of Arts and Science. The
pyramid of building blocks for the fund raising relies on a
base of Endowed Chairs and Professorships which would
attract students and further funding. This higher level
investment opportunity would be coupled with the more
grassroots program of endowment and gifting through the
Explorers Fund established in 2007.
A copy of this program and its rationale as well as a prospectus
style presentation will be mailed to all Alumni.
While the dynamics of the stock market have changed dramatically
over 2008, the steering committee is of the belief
that there is substantial opportunity to have potential donors
pledge shares or gifts based on future improvements in the
value of such holdings.
The program in 2009 will start with a meeting of Alumni at
the Cordilleran round-Up in Vancouver in January, where
the recently formulated funding document will be introduced.
Laurie Curtis, January 1st, 2009.
Steering Committee Chair.
5

2008 Graduates and Award Winners
Graduating Undergraduates and Award Winners
B.Sc.
Priyanka Chandan
Melissa Chiang
Neil Fernandes
Gabrielle Hosein
Gary Cheong Lim
David Maglieri
Alexandria Marcotte
Naveed Rehman
Laurent Roy
The Coleman Gold Medal in Geology
Laurent Roy
The Roger E. Deane Memorial Scholarship
in Geology
Victoria McKenzie Mubeen Muhtar
The H.V. Ellsworth Undergraduate Award
in Mineralogy
Nicole De Bond
The Alexander MacLean Scholarship in Geology
Victoria McKenzie
The Garnet W. McKee-Lachlan Gilchrist
Scholarship
Andisheh Beiki
NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards
Adrienne Nicole De Bond Ronald Ng
Katherine Kelly
Carla Rose
Jean Liu
The Frederick W. Schumacher Scholarship
Victoria McKenzie
The Wesley Tate Scholarship in Geology
Laurent Roy
The Undergraduate Explorers Fund Award
Nicole DeBond
The Daniel Wilson Scholarship in Earth Sciences
Victoria McKenzie
Graduating Graduate Students and Award Winners
M.Sc.
Vishal Gupta
Ida-Maria Jansson
Laura Lee
Jennifer McDonald
Ph.D.
Yongtai Yang
Graduate Award Winners
Malcolm Shaw
Younglan Shin
James Joseph Walker
Matthew Williams
The Margaret Amelia Miller Scholarship
Allison Laidlow
The Peacock Memorial Prize
Adrian Van Rythoven
Mary H. Beatty Scholarship
Laura Karrei
6
The P.C. Finlay, Q.C. President’s Fellowship
Abin Das
The Dr. Norman Keevil President’s Fellowship in
Geology
Oguz Gogus
The Griffis Memorial Scholarship
Gerald Bryant
The H.V. Ellsworth Graduate Award
in Mineralogy
Guillaume Barlet
Antonia O’Dowd-Booth
Laurent Roy
NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship
Shannon Carto Jennifer Kyle
Kerry Evans-Tokaryk Adrian Van Rythoven
Tiffany Johnson
Ontario Graduate Scholarship
Allison Laidlow Christoph Schrank
Ontario Graduate Scholarships in Science and
Technology
Christopher Charles Duane Smythe
John Eliades Lisa Tutty
Mike Howlett James Walker
Jennifer Macauley

Connaught Fellowship
Neil Bennett Christoph Schrank
Stephanie Tille
Graduate Admission Awards
Shannon Carto Carla Rose
Tiffany Johnson Kerry Evans-Tokaryk
Jennifer Kyle Adrian Van Rythoven
Barbara Perez
The Helen Sawyer Hogg Graduate Admissions
Award
Robert Gray Allison Laidlow
Laurent Roy
Jeff Fawcett and John Gittins Graduate Explorers
Fund
Katrina Van Drongelen
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge with thanks donations from the following:
Nick and Marilyn Tintor for the establishment of an undergraduate and a graduate award in the Explorer’s Fund.
Andrew F. Bau
Richard Bedell
Jennifer A. Clark
Kathryn A. David
J. Jeffrey and Sylvia Fawcett
Ann Ehrlich Hersch
Bruce Jago
Debra R. Kendall
Derek Lee
J. Douglas and Sheila D. Macdougall
Eric W. and Anita Mountjoy
John and Mary Louise Riley
Kevin A. Shaw
Alar Soever
Scotiabank Marine Geology Research Laboratory
The SMGRL was established in 1989 with an “Excellence
in Education Award” from the Bank of Nova Scotia, its first
annual award of this type, to the lab’s Director, Steve Scott.
Because of Steve’s retirement to emeritus status in 2006,
the SMGRL has fewer researchers but is nevertheless still
very active. Since the 2008 newsletter, the lab’s research
team has published 14 papers and presented 23 talks/posters
at national and international conferences, most of which
were invited.
Postdoctoral Fellow Elitsa Hrischeva worked with Steve on
metalliferous sediments at modern seafloor hydrothermal
sites. Some of this was a contribution to the Environmental
Impact Statement by Toronto-headquartered Nautilus Minerals
Inc. on their Solwara 1 seafloor massive sulfide site in
the Bismarck Sea offshore eastern Papua New Guinea that
the company expects to mine when the current international
financial crisis is resolved and necessary permits are issued.
In June, Elitsa took a position with Activation Laboratories
in Ancaster, Ontario.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Filipa Marques, is splitting her time
between the SMGRL and the University of Lisbon. She and
Steve are using melt inclusions in phenocrysts of volcanic
rocks to understand better the igneous and hydrothermal
processes that are presently producing seafloor sulfides in
the Azores region of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and that in the
geologic past produced giant massive sulfide deposits of
the Iberian Pyrite Belt of Portugal and Spain. Filipa spent
several weeks at sea off the Azores training to be a pilot of
a robotic submersible as Portugal solidifies its exclusive
economic zone (EEZ) claim.
Steve spent all or part of every month on the road in 2008,
mostly giving invited, keynote and plenary talks in 8 countries.
One trip with his wife, Joan, was a 2-month odyssey
through France, China, Australia and Hawaii. In Kunming,
SW China, and with the help of 8 internationally renowned
geologists, they organized a 5-day short course on ore deposits
for 325 enthusiastic participants. Steve conducted 21
media interviews involving print, radio and television, one
of which was the taping of an hour long @issue program
for the digital broadcaster ichannel that will be aired on
Ocean Day. He is a subject of interest in the ROM’s new
Teck Suite of Galleries and also managed to fit in some
outreach at a Toronto public school.
S.D.S.
7

Planetary Science
In the Remote Sensing Laboratory
By Rebecca Ghent, Assistant
Professor of Geology
Figure 1. 70-cm radar mosaic of the Northern Imbrium
region of the lunar nearside. Regions with high radar
returns appear bright; low returns appear dark.
Radar-dark haloes are marked with black arrows.
8
Introduction
Planetary science has long captured the imaginations of
the scientific community and the public. The past decade
has seen an unprecedented acceleration in international
collaboration in the design and operation of planetary
exploration missions, and analysis of resulting data. There
has rarely been a more exciting time for those interested in
planetary science, with active missions at Mars, the Moon,
Venus, Mercury, and Saturn numbering in the double digits,
and with the revival of interest in the Moon rivaling the
Apollo era. Research in the Geology Department’s Remote
Sensing Laboratory focuses on problems in lunar geology,
largely using Earth-based radar observations.
Earth-based radar: how does it work?
Together with colleagues from the Smithsonian Institution
and Cornell University, we have used the NSF Arecibo
Observatory (AO) radio telescope in Puerto Rico and the
Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia to image the
entire nearside of the Moon, providing both synoptic and
high spatial resolution (up to 40 m / pixel) coverage. We
use the Arecibo telescope to transmit pulsed radar signals
at either 70-cm or 12.6-cm wavelengths; these signals are
reflected from the Moon, and we receive and record them
at GBT. We can associate a given reflected pulse with a
particular location on the Moon by measuring the pulse’s
delay (travel time to and from the Moon) and Doppler
shift (caused by slight motions of the Moon relative to the
receiver). The strength of a radar return is a function of
the roughness, attitude, and/or composition of the target.
Using a series of geometrical transformations, we produce
maps of the Moon in selenographic coordinates, with
strong returns appearing bright and weak returns appearing
dark (Fig. 1).
Radar is a particularly useful tool for the study of the
lunar regolith, which is the layer of pulverized debris that
blankets the Moon’ surface. The particles that make up the
regolith range from micron-sized glass spherules to housesize
boulders ejected during large bolide impacts. Radar
signals can penetrate the regolith to depths up to several
tens of meters, with long-wavelength signals penetrating
more deeply than short-wavelength ones. In addition, the
polarization of the reflected waves yields information about
the size and distribution of scatterers (blocks on the order
of the radar wavelength) both on the surface and within the
upper volume of regolith. Surface or subsurface blockiness
causes the reflected pulses to contain some energy
with the same sense of circular polarization as the transmitted
signal, and some with the opposite sense. At GBT,
we measure and record these two polarizations separately,
allowing us to use them independently and in concert (e.g.,
by calculating their ratio). By comparing radar returns
with both polarizations and at multiple wavelengths, we
gain information about the properties of regolith materials.
A Few Current Results
Work in the Geology Department’s Remote Sensing Laboratory
has focused on understanding the physical properties

of impact ejecta (the material excavated from an impact
crater and redeposited on the surface). This field of study is
important to our understanding of lunar geological processes,
because the characteristics of impact ejecta deposits
– their spatial extent and continuity, the size distribution
of their component particles, and their physical state at
the time of emplacement – provide links to the physics of
the impact process. Furthermore, an understanding of the
processes by which these materials are produced and then
emplaced, and their effects on the surrounding landscape, is
required to unravel the impact history of a given region on
the Moon. Finally, a knowledge of the geotechnical properties
of the regolith are vital to efforts to explore the Moon,
and eventually, to establish a permanent lunar base.
Using Earth-based radar, we have discovered that large
lunar impacts (craters >10 km diameter) produce an ejecta
facies characterized by an absence of particles or blocks 10
cm or greater in size. These finegrained
materials form low-radarreturn
“haloes” around many
nearside craters (Figs. 1, 2). The
radar-dark haloes must be on the
order of 10 meters thick at their
outer edges to be detectable; thus,
these block-poor deposits represent
a large volume of material,
and are significant contributors
to the fine fraction of the lunar
regolith.
Thermal energy dissipated in a
large impact commonly results
in production of “impact melt,”
which can line the interior of the
cavity and/or flow across the surface,
inside or outside the crater
rim, until it cools and solidifies.
Examination of the large multiringed
impact basin Orientale,
located at the Western limb of
the Moon (Fig. 2), showed that melt-rich ejecta from this
impact are distributed over much of the lunar nearside.
This material shows a radar signature indicative of high
roughness on the wavelength (12.6- to 70-cm) scale, with
the roughest signatures associated with small (hundreds
of meters) impacts. This signature indicates a source of
competent material at shallow depths (tens of meters) that
later, smaller impacts can excavate, producing abundant
blocks. Distal Orientale melt-rich ejecta were deposited in
dicontinuous linear streamers across the surface, reaching
to the south pole and beyond, into the South Pole-Aitken
(SPA) basin. This finding is significant because independent
evidence suggests the possible presence of water ice in
permanently shadowed regions near the pole; therefore, the
SPA basin is a very likely target for near-future landed missions.
Knowledge of the nature of surface and near-surface
materials in SPA is a key goal in current lunar science.
Future work
NASA plans to launch its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
(LRO) spacecraft in 2009. The Remote Sensing Laboratory
will be involved in processing and analyzing data from the
DIVINER thermal mapper on that spacecraft. DIVINER
and the other LRO instruments will provide new opportunities
to understand the lunar regolith.
More information about the Geology Department’s Remote
Sensing Laboratory is available at www.geology.utoronto.
ca; information about LRO is available at http://lunar.gsfc.
nasa.gov/.
Figure 2. 70-cm radar mosaic of the southern hemisphere
of the Moon; orthographic projection centered on
the South pole. Ratio of same-sense to opposite-sense
polarized signals overlain in color on opposite-sense
image. Orientale is visible at lower left. Radar-dark
haloes, accentuated in the ratio image, are marked with
white dashed outlines. The margins of Orientale’s dark
halo are marked with yellow arrows; here, it can be seen
to partially obscure, or mute, the high polarization ratio
streamers (yellow and green salt-and-pepper texture)
that radiate outward from Orientale.
9

In Memoriam
10
Alan Murray Goodwin (1924 – 2008)
“One of the greatest geologists this country has ever been
blessed to have, and a real gentleman to boot…” is how
Alan M. Goodwin was described by one of his friends and
colleagues. ‘Smiley Al’ – as he was affectionately nicknamed
– passed away, peacefully but quite unexpectedly,
while at his family cottage on the tenth of June, 2008. Al
was just ten days short of his 84th birthday. Alan Goodwin
had been professor in our department for twenty years,
retiring in 1989. In fact, Al stayed in the department until
the very end, still visiting us every few weeks, describing
the latest paper on Precambrian geology and ore deposits
that had caught his attention, or recounting his most recent
‘Wagnerian’ trip to Bayreuth or musical vacations in Paris
with his wife Marion.
After an undergraduate education at Queen’s University, Al
Goodwin joined Professor Stanley A. Tyler at the University
of Wisconsin. Stan Tyler was interested in then enigmatic
Banded Iron Formations (BIF) and Al wrote a thesis
on the Stratigraphy and origin of the Gunflint Iron Formation.
Al was still in Madison when Stan Tyler and Harvard
paleontologist Elso Bargoorn first convinced themselves
– and later the world – that silicified stromatolites in the 2-
billion-year-old Gunflint had retained a remarkable variety
of organic-rich unicellular fossil organisms. Al Goodwin’s
maps of the Gunflint Iron Formation, published by the
Ontario Department of Mines (now the Ontario Geological
Survey) has stood the test of time and are still used today.
After his Ph.D. graduation, Al Goodwin became Research
Geologist with Algoma Steel, where he did more
ground-breaking geochemical work on the Gunflint, with
an early isotope study of the genesis of these BIFs. While
at Algoma, Al also began to turn his attention to older
rocks, namely the 2.9 to 2.7 billion-year-old Michipicoten
Greenstone Belt. Using his expertise, Al recognized that
some major BIFs existed there and could be used as marker
horizons; in combination with younging information from
basaltic pillow tops, Al was able to unravel the complex
folding within that belt, a first in Archean geology. Studying
the geology of Algoma’s New Helen Mine in Wawa,
then Canada’s largest source of iron, Al also recognized
carbonate-facies iron formations in what had been previously
interpreted as replaced rhyolite flows, and described
the intense exhalative processes active near volcanic
centres that have since become common interpretations of
volcanogenic ore deposits.
In 1961, Al Goodwin joined the Ontario Department of
Mines as Field Geologist and decidedly switched his focus
to Archean volcanic rocks. He pioneered work on their
stratigraphy and geochemistry and recognized that they
generally could be classified into tholeiitic and calc-alkalic
compositions, the two classes respectively resembling
modern ocean-floor basalts and island arc assemblages. In
collaboration with Roly Ridler, Al continued that work with
the Geological Survey of Canada where he became Research
Scientist in 1965.
Alan Goodwin joined the University of Toronto in 1969.
Soon after his arrival, Al began promoting what was then
a novel concept in university-based geological research
– a collaborative, field-based study focussed on a common
large theme and knitted together by regular workshops
where participants with differing expertise would help
educate and stimulate each other. The result, in collaboration
with Professor Gordon West and others, was the
“Western Superior Province Geotraverse”, a six-year study
of Archean terrains that involved researchers and students
(mainly) from Ontario universities and the Ontario Geological
Survey. (It was hoped that the process would also assist

with procuring steady research funding, especially support
for graduate students, but this dream was short-lived.) With
Geotraverse, Al wanted to look at what lay underneath
the greenstone belts and understand what processes were
responsible for their formation. Starting ca. 1965, thanks in
no small part to U of T Professor John Tuzo Wilson, Plate
Tectonics (PT) had quickly become the accepted model
of terrestrial evolution by geophysicists, geochemists and
many students of Phanerozoic geology but Precambrian
geologists were still reluctant to embrace it in the early 70s.
Al, however, did want to explore how PT applied to the earliest
half of Earth’s history. Ten years later, Plate Tectonics
in the Archean had gained the enthusiastic support of many
Precambrian geologists, while Al, on the contrary, and as
expressed in his landmark text book, “Principles of Precambrian
Geology” (Academic Press, 1996), emphasized
its limitations. It is only in the current decade that it has
become quite accepted that Earth’s evolution from ‘magma
ocean’ to the present tectonic style must have been gradual
as its heat content was decreasing.
Professor Goodwin was a wonderful teacher in the field. He
took time to point things out but was always very careful
to let students experience the thrill of their own discoveries.
“Well,… what do you think?” was his famous phrase.
Although generally easy going, loose terminology, and
correspondingly loose thinking, did get to him. He once
chided a graduate student who claimed that a certain terrain
had been “stuffed up there”. Alan remonstrated in his most
grandfatherly way, saying: “Mr. …., you can subduct it, or
you can obduct it, but you most certainly cannot just stuff it
up there. …”.
While he was invited all over the world for his expertise,
and was made honorary member of many national geological
societies, Al Goodwin remained very modest in all his
contacts with colleagues. He was always interested in them
as people, as family members, and generally as human
beings, rather than just as listeners or as sources of useful
information.
Alan was a great friend to many colleagues and they will
miss him.
Pierre-Yves Robin, with contributions from
Roly Ridler, Gordon West, Phil Thurston,
Jeff Fawcett and Fried Schwerdtner.
Thomas Edvard Krogh (1936-2008)
Tom Krogh was an internationally respected scientist who
developed advanced techniques in uranium-lead dating
of geological processes. Their application by Tom
and numerous other researchers have revolutionized our
understanding of Earth’s geologic evolution through its 4.5
billion-year history by placing geologic events in precise
time sequence. After over three decades, his approach and
methods are acknowledged to be unsurpassed and are still
used in the best laboratories around the world today.
Tom joined the Department of Geology at the University of
Toronto in 1975 and established the world-renowned Jack
Satterly Geochronology Laboratory at the Royal Ontario
Museum (ROM), which officially opened in 1977. He was
born and raised in Peterborough, Ontario, and received
his M.Sc. in Geology from the Faculty of Engineering at
Queen’s University followed by his Ph.D. from the Massachussetts
Institute of Technology. He then worked at
the Carnegie Institution of Washington as a post-doctoral
fellow and continued on as a Staff Scientist for 11 years
before joining the ROM as a Curator. He retired from
the ROM in 2001, but continued his work as a Professor
Emeritus at the University of Toronto.
His innovative technical developments permitted the
acquisition of age data with exceptional levels of precision
and accuracy that had previously never been achieved. The
11

12
driving force behind Tom’s creative scientific achievements
was his great passion for understanding complex
geological processes. Dating rocks to unravel the history
of the Earth’s crust by Tom, his coworkers and collaborators,
has contributed to the development of an astonishingly
detailed understanding of Precambrian shield areas.
In particular, he used these techniques to make several
important breakthroughs in understanding how the ancient
crust in the Superior and Grenville geologic provinces of
Ontario formed. His work on zircon crystals from Sudbury
provided an age for its mineral deposits and demonstrated
shock features that could only have been caused by meteorite
impact. Tom identified similar features in zircon grains
from the worldwide layer of dust that was laid down by the
impact of another giant meteorite at the end of the age of
dinosaurs. By dating these crystals, he and his coworkers
were able to show that they came from the Chicxulub crater
in Mexico, the first unambiguous evidence for the location
of this impact.
Through Tom’s mentorship, many students and post-doctoral
fellows developed the expertise to establish their own
successful laboratories. Two of Tom`s seminal papers have
been cited ~2900 times (total career citations: ~6205 so
far), which is rarely achieved in geology. He was named
a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and received
the Logan Medal, which is the Geological Association of
Canada’s highest award, the J. Tuzo Wilson Medal of the
Canadian Geophysical Union, the Past President’s Medal of
the Mineralogical Association of Canada, and an Honorary
Doctor of Science from Queen’s University. He was also
named Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and was
an elected Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science
and Letters.
Tom will be long remembered by his many friends and colleagues
around the world for his contributions as a scientist,
his great passion for geology and his generosity as a human
being.
Sandra Kamo
We were saddened to learn of the death, on December
23, 2008, of Mrs. Dorothy Deane, wife of the late
Professor Roger E Deane who died in a tragic boating
accident in 1965. Mrs. Deane helped establish the Roger
E Deane Prize (now the Roger E. Deane Memorial
Scholarship) that is awarded annually to the top student
at the third year field camp – reflecting Professor Deane’s
commitment to geological field work. She also kept in
touch with the Department over the past 40 years and had
a continuing interest in its faculty and students. She was a
kind and thoughtful lady with a sharp memory right up to
the time of her death, three days before her 95th birthday.
Tom Krogh
News from the Jack Satterly
Geochronology Laboratory
The Geochronology Lab has had another busy and exciting
year. New and on-going student projects include isotopic
work on the Tagish Lake meteorite by Chris Charles to
better understand the origins of material in the outer solar
system. Abin Das is undertaking a detailed geochronological
study of the evolution of the Sudbury Impact Structure
using a new high temperature Pb transfer technique that offers
the possibility of 100 Kyr age resolution. This method
was published earlier this year by Don Davis in Geology
(volume 36, p. 383-386). Ethan Rotenberg has nearly completed
a re-determination of the rubidium decay constant,
which is of fundamental importance to Rb isotopic studies.
Sandra Kamo is applying ultra-high precision U-Pb dating
to the stratigraphic record and meteorite impact-related
materials in the Phanerozoic to explore the driving forces
behind mass extinction events.
Mike Hamilton organized a Special Session at the GAC-
MAC in Quebec City in honour of the late Ronald Emslie
of the Geological Survey of Canada for his career contributions
to Canadian geoscience. In July, Mike journeyed to
northwest Greenland to sample mafic dykes with Henry
Halls for combined U-Pb dating and paleomagnetic studies.
Their collaborative efforts will help to reconstruct
Proterozoic supercontinents. Sandra and Mike attended the
33rd International Geological Congress held in Oslo this
past August. Sandra gave a keynote lecture on the career
contributions of Tom Krogh and reported new data from an
ultra-high pressure terrane formed during terminal collision
of the Caledonian orogeny in Norway. Mike gave an
invited talk on geochronological considerations in dating
large igneous provinces and examined their implications for
ancient continental reconstructions.
In late April we were greatly saddened at the passing of
Tom Krogh, the legendary founder of the Jack Satterly
Geochronology Laboratory, a true innovator, our valued
colleague and mentor, and most especially our dear friend.
Sandra Kamo

2009 JOINT ASSEMBLY
The Department of Geology is providing the main
support for the local organization of the forthcoming
Joint Assembly, to take place in the Metro Toronto
Convention Centre 24-27 May 2009. This is to be
a combination of the annual GAC-MAC meeting
together with the Spring Meeting of the American
Geophysical Union, plus two other Canadian
associations, the Canadian Geophysical Union, and
the International Association of Hydrogeologists-
Canadian National Committee.
Chair of the Local Organizing Committee, and GAC
representative, is Andrew D. Miall. The Co-Chair,
who is also serving as MAC representative on the
LOC, and Canadian coordinator of the Technical
Program, is Grant Henderson. Other members of the
LOC are Nick Eyles (Field Trips), Mike Hamilton
(Short Courses), Pierre Robin and Kim Tait
(social program), Nicole Januszczak (Exhibits and
troubleshooter), Norah Allman (sponsorships), Riaz
Ahmed (book-keeper), and Karyn Gorra (website
designer and manager).
We are hoping for upward of 3000 attendees, and
have planned a wide range of local activities. A full
technical program will have enough to satisfy any
interests in the earth sciences. Registration for the
conference will be on the AGU website, and is to
open in mid-February.
A.D.M.
Five chairs at the Mining Hall of Fame dinner; Jeff
Fawcett (1995-2001),Geoff Norris (1980-1990),Dick
Bailey (2008-2009), Sandy Cruden ( 2005-?) and
Steve Scott (2001-2005)
News of Former Students
1960’s and 70’s
Alan Ruffman (B.Sc. 1964; M.Sc. Dalhousie 1966) is
now following up his earlier research on the Lisbon (1755)
and Grand Banks (1929) tsunamis. He is involved in an
international project with colleagues at Dalhousie University
and the University of Madras that seeks to unravel the
tsunami history recorded in sediments bordering the Bay
of Bengal. The project will also examine over 1500 Tamil
language documents some of which contain reference to
earlier tsunamis. The research group has been given seed
funding by the Shastri Institute.
Barrie Clarke (6T4 B.Sc.; 6T5 M.A.)
A few critical moments determine the course of one’s
professional career, whether or not one recognizes them as
pivotal at the time. The first such critical moment for me
came in 1959, exactly 50 years ago, when I first set foot
in the Mining Building. As an impressionable high school
student, I had come for an interview with the Department
Head, G. B. Langford. I wanted to study geology in university,
and he convinced me that Toronto was the place
to do it. The next pivotal moment came in the Spring of
1963 when we took geophysics from Tuzo Wilson during
the period that he was rapidly ascending to what became
the plate tectonic paradigm a few years later. The contrast
between Tuzo’s almost religious belief over in the Geophysics
House and the utter disbelief back in most of the
Mining Building (“don’t pay any attention to Professor
Wilson, he’s crazy”) was interesting, to say the least, to
unwashed undergraduates. But, in one memorable lecture,
Tuzo mused that Greenland had probably “drifted” away
from North America, and because there were early Tertiary
basalts in West Greenland, there might be some equivalents
on Baffin Island. One year later, I was on Baffin Island
bashing basalts with Tuzo, and poised to embark on a
graduate degree in igneous petrology with the venerable W.
W. Moorhouse as my supervisor. But, when term began in
September 1964, some of us were shocked and dismayed
to learn that an Anonymous Arbitrary Decision-Maker had
decided to shunt some of Moorhouse’s students off to an
unknown new guy, Jeff Fawcett. But that decision, too,
was a major defining moment. It made all the difference
between using the descriptive petrographic approach, or
doing the exciting new chemical and phase equilibrium
approach, to igneous petrology. Jeff’s crucial influence and
support made it possible for me to go to Edinburgh next
to continue work on the Baffin Island – West Greenland
correlation. Coincidentally, during that time, the scientific
world was just learning about how primitive oceanic basalts
were, and the BI-WG basalts turned out to be even more
primitive than MORBs. That geochemical coincidence, and
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14
my newly acquired experience with such rocks, landed me
a professorial position at Dalhousie University in Halifax
with a mandate to collaborate with the Bedford Institute of
Oceanography to explore the ocean floors. Thus, I dutifully
set out to work on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Labrador Sea,
and Davis Strait, but then again came an unexpected turning
point. Sure, Halifax is on the Atlantic coast and naturally
looks southeast towards the sea, but the largest granite
batholith in the Appalachian system invades the city limits
from the northwest. So, after less than two years of doing
marine geology at Dalhousie, the last major pivotal moment
came when a potential graduate student (Colin McKenzie)
asked to work on what later became to be known as the
South Mountain Batholith, and my long career in peraluminous
granites began. After several dozen students producing
theses and papers with me on granites, I retired from
teaching and administration in 2007 to be able to work full
time on research. My granite papers continue to intrude the
literature, and even one final Baffin Island basalt paper will
erupt this year. It’s been a great ride, but the timely and crucial
influences at Toronto of Langford, Wilson, the Anonymous
Arbitrary Decision-Maker, and Fawcett were keys to
its success. Had any one of those four not done what they
did when they did it, I would certainly not be writing this
retrospective piece for this Newsletter.
(clarke@dal.ca)
Magaly (M.Sc. 1968 – Naldrett) and Victor Graterol (Ph.
D. 1968 Geophysics) are both retired profesors from the
Simon Bolivar University. Victor writes – ‘At present I do a
lot of traveling doing GRAV-MAG interpretation for CAR-
SON AEROGRAVITY and other oil companies, especially
in Colombia, Peru and Argentina. I just finished the new
BOUGUER and TMI maps of COLOMBIA-VENEZU-
ELA including all existing land and airborne potential data.
Magaly is fine helping me in every trip.
Hope to visit Toronto one of these days to say hello to you
and all the guys in the U of T.
Al McOnie (M.Sc. 1972)
Arriving in Toronto in September of 1970 was quite an experience
after having spent a southern summer working in
the Southern Alps of New Zealand then a northern summer
in the Coast Ranges of northern British Columbia. It was
dead flat and there was no ocean.
With no real plan, no wheels and nobody I knew, what was
this kiwi kid to do - obviously I was not going to sit around
and wait for the winter to end before finding some rocks to
study in northern Ontario - so there was no alternative - go
and make some rocks of your own in Jeff Fawcett’s lab for
the next couple of years.
So it was. Following this I gained valuable exploration
experience working out of a Vancouver base and travelled
all across Canada from Labrador to Yellowknife, staying
long enough to earn the prize of Canadian Citizen for myself,
my wife Lynne and our first child Aaron who earned it
automatically from being born there.
Unlike some of my friends, I avoided further study and the
lure of the treadmill to become a long time employee in
some big time mining company - I preferred the freedom
to work with the smaller companies or to pick and choose
projects where there was some added dimension of adventure.
We returned to live in New Zealand in the early
1980’s, although I continued to commute to project work in
Alaska, although subsequently most of my time has been
spent in exploration in Australia and New Zealand.
In the slow times, I developed side interests and worked in
photography, have grown flowers on a commercial scale,
mapped farms and orchards and even stooped so low as to
work as a government geologist in Wellington.
Today we live on the Tauranga harbour on the east coast of
New Zealand’s North Island, close to where Lynne continues
her skills as a classroom teacher and I spent many years
exploring the epithermal gold fields of the district. Recently
new opportunities with appeal have been available in
Mexico, China and currently I am in year 2 of a project in
the Keno Hill silver district in the Yukon.
Please drop a line if you are passing bye as a couple of you
have from time to time - we have some very fine wines in
this part of the world. almconie@xtra.co.nz
Joel Grice (B.Sc. 1969; M.Sc. 1970 and Ph.D. 1973 U. of
Manitoba)
Arriving at registration on the U of T campus in 1965 was
a memorable event. Coming from a farming background,
the city of Toronto and the university were rather intimidating.
While I knew exactly what I wanted to do in my career,
the path to get there was a total unknown. Teachers at my
high school didn’t really think it was possible to take a
university course that would prepare me for working with
minerals in a museum. There was no ‘career pamphlet’ of
that description but there was one on becoming a geologist.
This information sheet mentioned the magic word, mineralogy.
The registrar’s office sent me to the Mining Building
to see if I could find someone who might best explain how
to get into geology. On arrival I was graciously greeted by
the departmental secretary who ushered me into Professor
Nuffield’s office. He immediately put me at ease and
assured me that I was not only in the right place, and that I
was making the right career decision.

The undergraduate geology program of that time was probably
the best one could get anywhere. Les Nuffield had
created a program that used to advantage the chemistry,
physics, and mathematics departments. He was adding enthusiastic
new staff at an unprecedented rate and the entire
department hummed with productivity. Digger Gorman
was pleased to find a student who could identify almost
any mineral put in front of him. I confided in him my
dream of working in a museum at which point he promptly
introduced me to the two ROM curators, Bob Gait and Joe
Mandarino. I worked for Bob the summer of my graduation
and he arranged for me to meet my future thesis supervisor,
Professor Robert Ferguson. I spent three wonderful years
at the University of Manitoba and have been an Adjunct
Professor ever since. Graduate school was followed by a
NATO Post Doc with Guy Perrault at Ecole Polytechnique.
My first job was teaching at Acadia University in 1974. I
then worked for a year at CANMET. This put me on the
doorstep of the National Museum of Natural Sciences and
I let it be known I was interested in working there. In 1976
I was offered a position with the Museum (now called the
Canadian Museum of Nature), and have worked there ever
since. My chosen-career beginnings were very meagre,
sitting in an Ottawa East end warehouse basement with no
equipment, little staff and a very rudimentary mineral collection.
Things are very different now: good X-ray diffraction
and electron microprobe labs, a world-class mineral
collection and a new mineral gallery in the design stage.
My research has resulted in over 200 publications in mineral
systematics and crystal-structure hierarchies. I have
described over 100 new minerals species and was voted as
Chairman for the International Mineralogical Association,
Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification
(1995 – 2003). In 2006, I was honoured with the
Mineralogical Association of Canada’s highest award, the
Peacock Medal (formerly the Past Presidents Medal). I
ranked in the top 10 most-cited authors in geosciences for
the period 1996-2007 (Science Watch, Thomson Scientific
Web of Science)
My second book*, Beginners Guide to Minerals and Rocks,
which I’ve just completed, will appear in 2009. Published
by Fitzhenry and Whiteside, this book is an attempt to
encourage and help the uninitiated into the world of mineralogy
so they may enjoy it as much as I have.
December 22, 2008
1980’s
Malcolm Back, (B.Sc. 1985; M.Sc. 1990)
While I was in third year at the University of Toronto I had
the good fortune to meet Dr. Joe Mandarino from the Royal
Ontario Museum. This led to a summer research project
under his supervision, and eventually part time work at the
Museum. After completing my M. Sc. Degree under Joe’s
supervision in 1990, I was offered a full time position as
the X-Ray technician in the Mineralogy Department at the
Royal Ontario Museum. I have worked there ever since.
While my duties there do not officially include self directed
research, I have always been encouraged to do so when
time permitted. I have been fortunate to work on a number
of new mineral descriptions, and have a few more waiting
to be completed.
For the past five years we have been working on the new
Teck Suite of Galleries: Earth’s Treasures which showcases
the Royal Ontario Museum’s exceptional specimens of
minerals, gems, rocks and meteorites, a collection among
the finest in North America. The 6,900 square-foot combined
gallery space fills the length of the Weston Family
Wing on Level 2 and is divided into the Vale Inco Limited
Gallery of Minerals, the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame
Gallery and the Gallery of Gems and Gold. For those of
you that remember the circa 1970’s gallery, We are one
floor up from the location of that gallery. The Vale Inco
Limited Gallery of Minerals presents approximately 2,300
minerals, rocks and meteorites, exploring such areas as the
classification of minerals, their physical properties, causes
of mineral colour and the geological environments necessary
for spectacular mineral growth. This gallery features
the ROM’s meteorite collection, including a 1.1 kilogram
lunar specimen, one of the biggest lunar meteorites on display
in the world. The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame Gallery
showcases the biographies and personal stories of 130
inductees through a fully bilingual, interactive video wall
that explains how mining touches every part of our lives.
The gallery opens to the public on December 20, 2008.
At the same time we worked on a travelling exhibit, The
Nature of Diamonds, an exhibit organized by the American
Museum of Natural History, New York in collaboration
with the Royal Ontario Museum, The Field Museum, Chicago,
and the Houston Museum of Natural Science. This
exhibit closes March 22, 2009.
I have also been a member of the Walker Mineralogical
Club since 1982, and have had the privilege of serving as
President for two, three year terms, the second of which
ends this December. This organization was started in 1937
by Professor A.L. Parsons T.L. Walker , Professor Ellis
Thompson, Mr. Len Berry and others, at the University of
Toronto, to encourage Mineralogical, Crystallographical,
and Petrographical Studies in connection with the minerals
and rocks of Canada. Through the years the Walker Club
has evolved into more of an amateur, mineral collector’s
club, but we still meet every month in the department at the
University. Dr. Digger Gorman is our Honourary President,
and a few years ago I was honoured to receive the appointment
as an Honourary Member of the club. We are grateful
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to the Geology Department for the support we receive from
them.
Helen Lasthiotakas (B.Sc. 1989; M.Sc. 1993 – Scott
Group)
I have very fond memories of my time in the Geology Department
– both for my undergraduates and graduates years.
When I think of my undergraduate years, the comfortable
and creaky Mining Building comes to mind. Along with
good times spent with fellow students – whether hanging
out in the student lounge, going on enlightening field trips,
late night lab assignments, and professors that were both
incredible scholars and entertaining professors.
There was a transition to the new Earth Sciences Building
along with a transition to graduate studies. I started attending
(and participating) in Rockfests and was welcomed
even more into the department community. Amazing field
trips to Costa Rica stand out in my mind, as does the sense
of accomplishment in completing my M.Sc. with Steve
Scott, and the late night conversations and hanging out with
fellow graduate students.
After completing my M.Sc., I turned to the study of psychology
for a while at UofT but it wasn’t long before I was
back in geology working with Steve and Glenn Brown in
the Canada ODPoffice. What a learning experience with
visits to Halifax and Victoria to help conduct tours of the
JOIDES Resolution for the Ocean Drilling Program.
Just as I was considering leaving the University when the
CanadaODP office moved to another university, I was offered
a terrific opportunity to be the program manager for
the Nortel Institute for Telecommunications of the Faculty
of Applied Science and Engineering. I was involved with
NIT at an exciting time, with successful grant proposals
and building of labs and cleanrooms in the new Bahen
Centre at UofT.
Later, I moved to my current position as director, policy
and planning in the Office of the Vice-President and Provost
at UofT. This has been a really fascinating experience
as I’ve had the privilege of working with staff and faculty
members from across the university. Mainly I work in the
area of university-wide academic policies, planning and
governance approvals related to academic programs, contracts
and units, reviews, and decanal searches.
During my grad years, I met my partner Joseph. He was
a mathematics and computer science secondary school
teacher that subsequently founded and developed his own
company. He works with companies to develop web sites
with online databases and secure services. We have three
wonderful children that delight us and keep us on our toes.
Our lives seem to be an exciting rollercoaster ride that
energizes us.
I have retained warm and lasting friendships with geology
professors and staff and occasionally visit the department.
I’d love to meet up with any geology classmates – just drop
me a line at h.lasthiotakis@utoronto.ca
Elaine Ellingham (B.Sc. 8T0; M.Sc. 8T5; MBA ’94
PGeo)
After starting at U of T in 1975 in Commerce I quickly
realized my lifelong interest in geology. I was fortunate to
meet Professor Frank Beales who took me on as a summer
research assistant in 1978 and encouraged me to take
my first field job with Brinex in Newfoundland the next
year. After graduating with a BSc in 1980 and working for
Noranda, I returned to work on an MSc (1981-1985). My
master’s thesis with Andrew Miall focused on depositional
modeling the basal units of the Sverdrup basin and field
work took me to Ellesmere Island, which is a surrealistic
place. After completing my MSc, I worked as an exploration
geologist with St. Joe Canada in Northern Ontario,
including on the discovery of the Golden Patricia Mine.
During the flow through era, I had the privilege of a great
mentor with a very dynamic junior company.
The market downturns for explorationists are always challenging
-- exploration is the first to dry up and the last to
recover. I was fortunate to always find work related to
the mining industry -- I worked with a mining engineering
firm, as a lab assistant to U of T’s geochemist Dr.
Greg Anderson, and also for Ontario Ministry of Northern
Development and Mines on the first Prospectors Assistance
Program.
Later, while working full-time at Rio Algom, I returned
to U of T in the part-time MBA program (1990-1994).
The MBA allowed me to work with people from a broad
range of businesses. Upon completion I joined Campbell
Resources as Manager, Investor Relations. In my years
working for juniors, I learned the significant role the financial
markets play in driving exploration and mining. In
1997, a month after the Bre-X scandal, I joined the Toronto
Stock Exchange as Manager, Company Listings and later
as National Leader, Mining. As the first geologist hired
after Bre-X, it was a lot about explaining to people what
the realities of the exploration business were and convincing
them not to put too restrictive rules in place that would
be prohibitive to good companies. It was great experience
leading the introduction of the Exchange’s new mining
listing requirements and a new suspension policy as well as
sitting on the Exchange’s Stock List Committee.
In 2001, I joined the TSX’s Business Development Group
Continued on page 18

and led the international initiative to attract foreign mining
companies to list in Canada. During this time, I had the
opportunity to lead seminars to Australia, South America,
South Africa and China on how to go public and list in
Canada, increasing the profile of the Canadian markets as
the dominant global resource market. One really exciting
part was the opportunity to visit China several times
and meet with a wide variety of Chinese companies, key
government officials, the Chinese Stock Exchanges and
Securities regulators during the time when China was just
starting its strong emergence and very aggressively seeking
overseas capital.
After eight years, I left the Exchange to take advantage of
the mining supercycle that offered an abundance of interesting
international consulting opportunities. I worked with
an Australian company to spin-out a new Canadian nickel
company with a significant discovery in Tanzania. I also
worked with a Johannesburg-based corporate finance group
evaluating acquisition opportunities in Canada and Africa
and held a number of directorships with public companies,
a role that draws on all of your combined experience and
knowledge.
1990’s
Werner Klemens ( Ph.D 1996 – Schwerdtner group)
I have really fond memories of my time at our Geology
Department, the UofT community and environment and
Toronto in general. Though quite challenging at times
looking back this episode certainly counts towards some
of the best years of my life during which I made several
very good friends. With Fried Schwerdtner as my Ph.D.
supervisor I had an excellent teacher in structural geology,
Fried not only taught me the intricacies of field mapping
in the Canadian Shield but also introduced me to Canadian
customs and the English language. I still feel quite a bit of
homecoming whenever I come back to Toronto on business
and I always try to make it to the annual alumni reception
during the PDAC to chat with former professors, fellow
students and friends.
After my graduation in 1996 I started working in mineral
exploration for a junior company in the Highland Valley
copper district, Kamloops region, B.C., where Bruce Perry
(Ph.D. 1994?) was the exploration manager at that time. In
1998 I made my first move to Russia consulting for Barrick
Gold which had just set up a small office under the
leadership of Mirek Benes, also a UofT Geology graduate
(Ph.D.1995 with Steve Scott). In these early years following
the collapse of the Soviet Union we were looking to
secure promising exploration properties for the company all
over Russia, but Russia’s mining law at that time, logistics
and infrastructure proved to be quite a challenge. During
that time I was also involved in the pre-feasibility study at
the famous Sukhoy Log gold deposit in eastern Siberia, a
+30 Moz black-shale hosted supergiant gold deposit, still
undeveloped to this date and now considered a state asset
for Russia. At Sukhoy I set my personal cold temperature
record at -48 centigrade. Following the Russian economic
default in late 1998 we shifted our exploration efforts into
Central Asia and for the next 4 years I worked mainly in
the alpine environment of southern Kyrgyzstan, partially
following the traces of ancient explorers like Genghis Khan
and exploring in a setting of fantastic geology for a variety
of gold deposits including Carlin-type, intrusion-related
and skarn-type gold mineralization. Then in 2001 I moved
back to Russia and for the next three years I was mostly
based in the Murmansk region, Russian Arctic, where I was
project manager for exploration at the Fedorova deposit, a
mafic layered intrusion with multi-million ounces of PGM
mineralization, recently announced by the Russian press
as the biggest find of PGM’s since Norilsk. Eventually in
2005 I became Exploration Manager for Russia and Central
Asia for Barrick, and since 2007, following Barrick’s
consolidation of their Russian operation, I am head of
exploration of Highland Gold Mining, a London AIM-listed
mining company in which Barrick and Millhouse, Roman
Abramovich’s investment vehicle, are major shareholders.
Highland has mining and exploration projects in the Russian
Far East and Kyrgyzstan and I still enjoy working in
the harsh Siberian wilderness or the sunny mountains of the
Tien-Shan.
On the personal side, I am based in Moscow, happily
married to a Russian and we have 16 month old beautiful
daughter. wklemens@russdragmet.ru.
Sylvia Maria de Araujo (Ph.D. 1996) and Cesar Fonseco
Ferrera Filho (Ph.D. 1995) are both professors at the
Institute of Geosciences, of the University of Brasil; Sylvia
specializing in mineral deposits and petrochemistry and
Cesar in petrology and metallogenensis.
Alex Borowik (B.Sc. 1993; M.Sc.1998)
The family moved from India to Bath, England in the summer
of 2006. My husband, John, is still working for Rio
Tinto out of their London office. I am working part-time
for Bristol University developing geology and related power-point
presentations for eight year olds, available on the
web for teachers to download and use in their classrooms.
I keep in contact with Alison Rust, who is at the university
as well. The rest of my time is spent looking after our son
Peter, who is now seven, and daughter Hannah, aged four.
Continued on page 18
17

News of former students continued
2000’s
Penny Morrill (Ph.D. 2005 – Sherwood Lollar group)
Penny has completed post doctoral work and been appointed
as assistant professor in the Department of Earth
Sciences, Memorial University
Jacob Hanley (Ph.D. 2005 – Mungall group) has accepted
an assistant professorship at St. Mary’s University,
Halifax ,N.S.
Kevin Gostlin (Ph.D. 2005 – Miall group) is with the
DeBeers Group in Yellowknife. He is working on a paper
on the sedimentology of the Burgess Shale, representing a
major portion of his Ph.D. thesis.
Sarah Hirschorn (Ph.D.
2007 – Sherwood Lollar group).
Sarah has recently joined the Nuclear Waste Management
Organization as Geoscience Technical Specialist in Toronto.
Yongtai Yang (Ph.D. 2008 – Miall group) has taken up a
post-doctoral position at Dublin, Ireland, to work with a
group on Atlantic margin tectonics and sedimentation.
The Explorers Fund
As announced in 2007, this Fund has been established to
support the recruitment and training of the next generation
of geoscientists. Both undergraduate and graduate students
will be supported by scholarships and by the enhancement
of their academic experience through support for field
training. A detailed description of the Fund, its objectives
and its administration, is available from the Department
Chair, Professor Sandy Cruden at 416 978 3021 or via
e-mail at chair@geology.utoronto.ca
What are the benefits to donors?
In addition to making a major contribution to geoscience
education at the University of Toronto, donors can anticipate
the following benefits and recognition:
Tax benefits: A tax receipt will be issued for all donations.
Donations of stock and securities, flow-through shares and
pledges of stock options lever significant tax savings to
the donor: the donor will not be subject to capital gains tax
on donations of publicly listed stocks and securities when
shares are donated to the Explorers Fund rather than sell-
ing and donating the proceeds. The value of the tax receipt
will be based on the market closing price on the day the
University takes legal receipt of stock/securities into our
brokerage account. Charitable donations can be claimed for
up to 75% of net income. A five-year carry-forward on any
unused donation amount is permitted.
Recognition of donors: All donors to The Explorers Fund
will be recognized in the department’s annual Alumni
Newsletter and on a virtual Donation Wall on the departmental
website.
Naming opportunities: Donors who contribute a minimum
of $50,000 to the Graduate Explorers Fund or a minimum
of $20,000 to the Undergraduate Explorers Fund will have
the option to name an Explorers Scholarship (in accordance
with U of T’s Policy on Naming). Naming opportunities are
also available on multi-year pledges.
18
Alumni News
Volume 18, 2009
Editor: Jeff Fawcett
Contributors: Dick Bailey, Laurie Curtis, Pierre-Yves Robin,
Steve Scott, Rebecca Ghent, Sandra Kamo, Andrew Miall
and Nean Allman for the “Toronto ‘78” photos.
Thanks to the alumni who sent letters and biographical
notes.
Layout & Design: Karyn Gorra
Comments and contributions are most welcome –
especially news of former students. Send your contribution
by regular mail or e-mail: fawcett@geology.utoronto.ca
The Editor, Alumni News,
Department of Geology,
University of Toronto,
22 Russell St.
Toronto M5S 3B1.
Phone: 416 978 3022
Web: www.geology.utoronto.ca

The Explorers Fund has been established to support the recruitment and training of the next generation of geoscientists. Both undergraduate and graduate
students will be supported by scholarships and by the enhancement of their academic experience through support for field training. This fund gives alumni and
friends an opportunity to directly support the recruitment and training of the next generation of geoscientists.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
19

Memories from Toronto ‘78
Join us at the annual
University of Toronto, Geology
Alumni Reception in Toronto
Tuesday March 3rd, 2009
at the Fairmont Royal York
Library Room
5:00pm to 7:30 pm
Visit us at Booth # 538
at the 2009 PDAC