History of The Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Manitoba

THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA: 110 YEARS STRONG

The Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Manitoba is the oldest geoscience department in western Canada. It was established in 1910 as the Department of Geology and Mineralogy with the appointment of Robert C. Wallace as Head. Dr. Wallace began teaching courses in mineralogy, petrology & petrography, and physical & historical geology. He also began field investigations of gypsum deposits and saline brines in the Interlake district and sulphide mineral resources of the Precambrian Shield. He later served as Commissioner of Mines for northern Manitoba.

Department of Geological Sciences Logo

Dr. R.C. Wallace, first Head of the Department of Geology and Mineralogy, shown at Flin Flon in 1916. Photo Credit - Department History Wall

1910–1947—THE BROADWAY CAMPUS YEARS

Over the next twenty years, the teaching staff of the Department of Geology and Mineralogy grew with the addition of Justin S. DeLury (petrology), Stuart R. Kirk (paleontology), George M. Brownell (economic geology), and Edward I. Leith (stratigraphy, sedimentation). Dr. DeLury become Head in 1928 when Dr. Wallace resigned to become President of the University of Alberta.

Although small, the Department was ambitious from the start. Geophysics began in 1911 with the installation of a seismological station at St. Boniface College. The Geology Club was formed during 1916-1917, and the first student field trips were launched the following year. The resources of the Department received a major boost in 1918 when Joseph W. Winthrop Spencer donated his lifetime collection of fossil, mineral, and rock specimens, and his library of over 600 volumes.

Geology students in a Broadway Campus laboratory in 1928. Photo credit - Department History Wall

The University’s Broadway Campus was the home of the Department during this period. Departmental offices were located in an annex of the Science Building, and lecture rooms and labs were shared by the arts and science disciplines. Geology research equipment was limited to specimen preparation facilities, microscope labs and field equipment, and the Department had its own museum.

During the late 1930s to mid-1940s the University moved all of its facilities from the Broadway Campus to the site of the Manitoba Agricultural College, later known as the Fort Garry Campus. The Department of Geology and Mineralogy moved into the Buller Building, where it occupied the top two floors of the west wing. Dr. Brownell became Head in 1944, and new faculty were added in 1947: Robert B. Ferguson (crystallography, mineralogy), H. D. Bruce Wilson (petrology), and George A. Russell (photo-geology, environmental geology, mining geology).

1947-1962 – THE BULLER BUILDING YEARS

The years in the Buller Building represented a successful transition to a robust Department of Geology and Mineralogy, with well-defined objectives in teaching and research. Introductory classes taught by Dr. Leith drew ever-increasing numbers of students and led to larger enrolments in the geology programs. A geological engineering curriculum was also taken on by the Department, with a geology-civil engineering committee providing curriculum guidance. The five professorial staff had their hands full and met the challenge with excellent courses and by establishing research labs and programs, all within limited space. Dr. Ferguson acquired X-ray diffraction equipment for his research on feldspars. Dr. Wilson researched layered intrusions and ore deposits. Dr. Russell acquired separation equipment for his labs in mineral processing.

Edward Leith teaching a stratigraphy class at Stony Mountain quarry in 1949. Photo credit - Department History Wall.

In 1957 William C. Brisbin was appointed to the staff and took on the teaching of structural geology and petroleum geology. He also began a program of regional gravity interpretations of continental crust and mantle. In 1962 Donald H. Hall was appointed to the staff and developed a full program in geophysics. Dr. Hall brought seismic and other geophysical equipment to the Department and thereby developed a full program of study leading to specialization in geophysics. The name of the Department was changed to the Department of Geology, Mineralogy and Geophysics in 1963.

Technical staff between 1947 and 1962 included William Hill, K. Irwin, R. Wadge, and William Hutchcroft.

Department regional gravity survey in northern Manitoba in 1960. Photo credit - Department History Wall.

It soon became obvious that the Department’s continued growth would require considerably more space and negotiations led to the acquisition of the old Chemistry-Physics Building, now the Fitzgerald Building. A complete renovation of the building resulted in new teaching and research labs as well as museum space.

1963–1985—THE GEOLOGY (FITZGERALD) BUILDING YEARS

The move into the newly renovated space invigorated the Department and led to new appointments, new areas of research, and increased enrolments over the next 22 years.

Dr. Wilson became Head in 1965 and faculty appointments were made in the fields of petrology, geochronology, hydrogeology, remote sensing and exploration geophysics. Between 1965 and 1967, these included Donald T. Anderson (remote sensing), Allan C. Turnock (igneous and metamorphic petrology), George S. Clark (geochronology), John Cherry (groundwater geology), and Christopher D. Anderson (exploration geophysics).

At this time the name of the Department was changed to the Department of Earth Sciences, in recognition of the additional fields.

From 1970 to 1974 additional faculty appointments covered other important areas of the geological sciences, including Quaternary geology, sedimentology, paleontology, volcanology, pegmatology, metallogenesis, petroleum geology, crystal chemistry, geochemistry and global tectonics.

Dominion Observatory vertical heat-flow hole being drilled to a depth of 606 m at the rear of the Geology Building in 1964. Photo credit - Department History Wall.

These included James T. Teller (glaciology, Quaternary geology), Petr Černy (pegmatite mineralogy and geology), Rand S. Harrison (carbonate sedimentology), Peter Laznicka, (metallogenesis), Lorne D. Ayres (Precambrian volcanology), and Alan G. Green (solid Earth geophysics, global tectonics). From 1978 to 1983 new appointments included Robert J. Elias (paleontology), Wooil Moon (satellite imagery, geophysics), William M. Last (petroleum geology, sedimentology), Frank C. Hawthorne (mineralogy, crystal chemistry), and Norman M. Halden (geochemistry). Technical staff consisted of A. Pasquale, Jon Berta, Ken Ramlal, Paul Beaudoin, Ron Pryhitko, Irene Berta, Iva Černa, and John Wenham.

Dr. Brisbin became Head in 1972 and was succeeded by Dr. Hall in 1978.

Two collaborative research initiatives stand out during this period. Project Pioneer which began in 1966 was a study of the Rice Lake-Beresford Lake area by the Department and the Manitoba Department of Mines. This innovative project applied a coordinated series of geological, geochemical, and geophysical techniques to a single Precambrian area. The second initiative was the formation of the Centre for Precambrian Studies as a semi-autonomous unit of the University in 1972 to implement multi-disciplinary research on larger areas of the Precambrian Shield. M. Keys served as the administrative officer.

The newly constructed Star Lake Field Station in 1971. The student bunkhouse is on the left; the kitchen and dining hall, which were also used as a classroom in the early days, are on the right. Photo credit - Department History Wall.

Annual geology and geophysics field courses were introduced first at the Chemalloy Mine property at Bernic Lake in 1964 and then moved to the newly constructed Star Lake Field Station in 1971 in the Whiteshell area. The field courses were augmented by local and international field trips to acquaint students with a multitude of geological environments and processes, a philosophy that has continued over the ensuing years with trips to the Black Hills, Grand Canyon, Canadian Cordillera, plate margins in California and Baja California, Southern Appalachians, Florida Keys, Northwest Territories, Yellowstone, Colorado Plateau, and elsewhere.

In addition to its undergraduate and graduate students, the Department was committed to providing geoscience education to grade school teachers through its EdGeo program at the Star Lake Field Station. Many staff members were also involved with continuing education, travelling to communities to present geoscience courses in places as far north as Churchill, as unusual as Stony Mountain Penitentiary, and as far away as Canadian Armed Forces bases in Germany. The Department hosted the Joint Annual Meeting of the Geological Association of Canada and Mineralogical Association of Canada (GAC-MAC) in 1981 and then again in 1996 and 2013.

Field school class of 1971 gathered on the verandah of the student bunkhouse. It has become a Department tradition to take the class photo here every year. Photo credit - Department History Wall.

By 1975 the growth of the Department surpassed the capacity of the Fitzgerald/Geology Building. An annex had been added to the existing building, trailers had been placed in the quadrangle in front of the Buller Building, graduate students were occupying trailers near the Russell Building, and classroom, lab, and office space was spilling over into the Bison Building. Although the University and University Grants Commission had a new geology building at the top of their priority list, it was not until the early 1980s that the planning and design were completed, and construction begun.

1986–2019—THE WALLACE BUILDING YEARS

On October 26, 1986 the new building was officially opened and named after Robert C. Wallace, the first Department Head. Coinciding with the opening, the Department’s name was changed to the Department of Geological Sciences.

The newly constructed Wallace Building in 1986. Another one-and-a-half storeys were added in 2005 and 2012 to accommodate other units of the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources. Photo credit - Department History Wall.

The design of the Wallace Building represented a major change in architectural style on the campus. The new building was also a harbinger of other changes for the Department. Dr. George S. Clark was Head from 1987 to 1998 and guided the Department through a period of growth.

During the sixteen years after the move the following faculty appointments were made: Marjorie Osborne (mineralogy, crystallography), Nancy Chow (carbonate sedimentology), Costas Macrides (geophysics), Barbara L. Sherriff (mineralogy), Ian J. Ferguson (electromagnetic geophysics), Adrienne C.L. Larocque (geochemistry), Anton Chakhmouradian (mineralogy), Franz Heider (seismology), Andrew W. Frederiksen (earthquake seismology), and Jeffrey Young (instructor). During this time the Department Heads were Dr. Clark (1987-1998) and Dr. Halden (1998-2003).

Discussions in the Department focused on the future and the changing role of the geological sciences in Canada. These discussions led the Department, under the leadership of Dr. Norman M. Halden (1998-2003), to take a major step in promoting the formation of a new faculty. In 2003 a new faculty, given the interim name of Faculty of Environment, was formed involving the Department of Geological Sciences, the Department of Environment and Geography, and the Natural Resources Institute. The name of the faculty was modified in 2005 to the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources. Clayton Riddell was an alumnus of the Department of Geological Sciences (BSc Hon. 1955) and provided a $10-million endowment to support the new faculty. Dr. Nancy Chow became the Head in 2003 and was followed by Dr. Ian J. Ferguson in 2009. New faculty appointments from 2003 to 2009 included Elena Sokolova (crystal chemistry), Mostafa Fayek (environmental and isotopic geochemistry), Alfredo Camacho (tectonics), Andrey Bekker (isotopic geochemistry), and William Mandziuk (instructor).

The Ed Leith Cretaceous Menagerie, which was completed and dedicated in September 2003. Photo credit - Department History Wall.

A new museum display, the “Ed Leith Cretaceous Menagerie”, was created in the atrium area of the Wallace Building with generous donations from alumni and was officially opened in 2003. It houses skeletal replicas of three gigantic “sea monsters” and a tyrannosaurid dinosaur, and is visited frequently by school groups. The R. B. Ferguson Museum of Mineralogy was expanded to showcase the Department’s extensive mineral collection and another half-storey was added to the Wallace Building to accommodate the Riddell Faculty Office and the Centre for Earth Observation Science. Research lab facilities continued to develop and now have state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation. Technical staff supporting and advancing this world-class research facility have included Neil Ball, Mark Cooper, Ronald Chapman, Sergio Mejia, Wayne Blonski, Gregg Morden, Mulu Serzu, Panseok Yang, Misuk Yun, Rong Liu, Ravinder Sidhu, and Ryan Sharpe.

In 2010, the Department celebrated its 100th anniversary. Activities to commemorate the occasion included an alumni reunion held in the Wallace Building and at the Star Lake Field Station in August, and a special technical session, Geological Processes over Time in Central Canada, held at the GeoCanada 2010 Conference in Calgary in May. The Department also created the History Wall and Mosaic Map of Manitoba Geology in the Wallace Building with substantial donations from alumni.

Geological Sciences alumni, staff and friends celebrating the Department’s centenary at the Star Lake Field Station in August 2010. Photo credit - Department History Wall.

Since the Department’s centenary, new faculty appointments have been made in the fields of Arctic geochemistry and geomicrobiology, clastic sedimentology, vertebrate paleontology, environmental mineralogy and economic geology. New faculty appointments have included Soeren Rysgaard (Arctic geomicrobiology, climate change), Karen J. Ferreira (instructor), Genevieve A. Ali (watershed hydrology), Zou Zou A. Kuzyk (Arctic environmental geochemistry), Russel S. Hiebert (instructor), Paul R. Durkin (clastic sedimentology), Michael Schindler (environmental mineralogy), Stefanie M. Brueckner (economic geology), and Kirsten S. Brink (paleontology). Dr. Mostafa Fayek became the Head in 2014 and was succeeded by Dr. A. Camacho in 2019.

Over the Department’s history, many individuals have passed through the doors and helped build the Department into what it is today. Many faculty members, technical staff, and office staff have spent significant portions of their careers in the Department teaching, advancing world-class research and helping to ensure that students receive the necessary assistance. This includes Murray Riddell, Frances Starratt, Elisabeth Ross, Sharon Kirsch, Anne Flynn, Margo Watson, Donna Danyluk, Brenda Miller, Pamela Achtemichuk, and Steven Brown. Research associates, post-doctoral fellows, adjunct professors, sessional instructors, and visiting researchers have made significant contributions to research, teaching, and student progress.

THE STUDENTS

Without question the most important component of the Department throughout its history has been the students. Each year they challenge, they entertain, and above all they provide the Department with a sense of accomplishment and pride. The Department has strived to maintain contact with alumni, and in return alumni have provided generous support through contributions to the Department’s endowment funds, scholarships, and other initiatives.

2019 Earth Ring ceremony in the Ed Leith Cretaceous Menagerie. Photo credit - Department History Wall.

The first BSc degrees were awarded at the University of Manitoba in 1912 but without discipline designation. The first recorded BSc Geology degree was conferred in 1922 to Clifford A. Merritt. A record of the first BSc Geophysics degree awarded is not available but the first students in the geophysics program would likely have graduated around 1966. The first MSc Geology degrees were conferred in 1924 to Clifford A. Merritt, Lucas G. Thompson and Walter Yarwood, and the first MSc Geophysics degree was conferred in 1967 to Hans G. Schmidt. The first PhD Geology degree was conferred in 1960 to Lionel C. Kilburn, and the first PhD Geophysics degrees were conferred in 1970 to Behic M. Gurbuz and Zoltan Hajnal. Departmental records for the period between 1922 and May 2019 indicate the conferring of 1,114 BSc Geological Sciences (Honours and Majors) degrees, 357 BSc Geological Engineering degrees, 330 MSc degrees, and 56 PhD degrees.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This article is an update of the one originally written by Bill Brisbin and Brenda Miller for the Department of Geological Sciences’ centenary in 2010 and published in Reservoir, v. 37, issue 4, pp. 36-38. Photographs are from the Department’s History Wall presentation.

Compiled by

1. Bill Brisbin, PhD, (deceased), Professor Emeritus, University of Manitoba
2. Brenda Miller, retired Administrative Assistant, University of Manitoba
3. Nancy Chow, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of Manitoba, PGeo (SM)

Editing by James Burns PhD

Posted by Glen N. Cook, PEng (SM), FEC