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Unveiling geological history

SCNHS
John Clague
John Clague will provide a image-rich overview of the Strait of Georgia’s recent geologic history, from its last glaciation period to the present time at the Jan. 2 meeting of the Sunshine Coast Natural History Society.

John Clague will provide an image-rich overview of the Strait of Georgia’s recent geologic history, from its last glaciation period to the present time, at the Jan. 2 meeting of the Sunshine Coast Natural History Society.

This glaciation period occurred 17,000 to 30,000 years ago, when Sechelt Peninsula was buried beneath 2.5 km of glacier ice. Topics will include: glacier sculpting of the coastal landscape, sea level change over the post-glacial period (the past 10,000 years), changes to the shoreline around the Strait of Georgia, vegetation change on the South Coast and local natural hazards. The focus will be on the Sechelt Peninsula and Howe Sound.

Mentioned too will be the pine logs that were found recently in a deep Sechelt building excavation site, which on analysis were determined to be 4,830 years old.

Clague was educated at Occidental College (BA, 1967), the University of California Berkeley (MA, 1969) and UBC (PhD, 1973). He worked as a research scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada from 1975 to ‘98. In 1998 he accepted a faculty position in Department of Earth Sciences at Simon Fraser University, where he is currently the Canada Research Chair in Natural Hazard Research and Director of the Centre for Natural Hazard Research.

Clague’s presentation starts this Friday, Jan. 2, at 7:30 p.m. at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre in Sechelt. All are welcome.