The earliest rocks at Wasson Bluff are from the Carboniferous period, 300 million years ago, but this episode’s main focus is on the Triassic basalt formed from lava that erupted 201 million years ago and on the early Jurassic sedimentary rocks above the grey basalt, representing lake and river beds, and sand dunes 200 million years old. These rocks were deformed by faulting during the early Cretaceous period 125 million years ago. And the land continues to be shaped by weathering and erosion. Join geoscientists Caleb Grant, Bob Grantham, Howard Donohoe, and David Piper as they share the fascinating geological story of the area.

A variety of minerals can be found in the Wasson Bluff area. As the lavas started to cool 201 million years ago in the late Triassic, hot gases and mineral rich solutions percolated up through cracks and crevices leaving some excellent examples of the zeolite family of minerals, including Nova Scotia’s provincial mineral, stilbite. Geoscientists Bob Grantham, Doug Wilson, Rod Tyson, Ronnie van Dommelen, and Georgia Pe-Piper share some of the amazing features of many of these special minerals.

The 200 million year old sedimentary rocks at Wasson Bluff preserve fossil evidence of ancient life of the early Jurassic time, such as fishes including sharks, ancestors of the mammals (Trithelodontids), the remains of prosauropod dinosaurs, and footprints. Paleontologists Paul Olsen and Hans-Dieter Sues, and geoscientist Tim Fedak share more about the story of these fossils which represent the survivors in the recovery from the mass extinction event at the end of the Triassic period that wiped out 43% of genera on Earth.

The area around the Minas Basin of the Bay of Fundy of Nova Scotia has some of the earliest known settlements in eastern North America, the earliest dating to 13,000 years ago. Gerald Gloade tells how the early peoples shared traditional knowledge through legends and stories, such as locations for raw materials for spears, arrows and other implements. Geoscientist Tim Fedak shares how earth scientists today build on the work of early geologists including Abraham Gesner, in addition to the efforts of citizen scientists such as Eldon George.

Has Climate Change Driven Human History? Lessons from the Past for a Future Climate

Travelling Speaker Series 2022, Dr. Rob Raeside

Following the last retreat of the Ice Age, human civilization has developed during a 10,000-year long period of remarkable climate stability. Through that period, however, subtle changes in climate have driven expansion of deserts, pushing early societies on to fertile valleys, with the resulting population pressures invoking agriculture, religion, war, and taxes. In both the Old and New Worlds, civilizations have come and gone, many because of changing environmental conditions with tantalizing suggestions of human origins. Even in written history, climatic conditions have had a hand in directing the course of human activities. From Viking raiding to the French Revolution, we see hints of climatic causes. What lessons can we take from the past as we move into an increasingly warmer and wilder world?

Rockhound of York Redoubt

Join Dusty, a Golden Retriever, and the titular “Rockhound of York Redoubt”, on a geological tour of the National Historic Site situated on Purcell’s Cove Road in Halifax. As Dusty walks about the site, his long-suffering handler instructs the irreverent rockhound in how to recognize the two main rock types exposed at the Fort―metamorphosed sedimentary rocks formed on the ~400–600-million-year-old Meguma microcontinent, and granite of the ~375-million year old South Mountain Batholith. The 9-minute video is a good introduction to local geology for lay persons and can be supplemented by “A teachers guide to the geology of York Redoubt National Historic Site of Canada”, Geological Survey of Canada Open File Report 6964;  https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/starweb/geoscan/servlet.starweb?path=geoscan/shorte.web&search1=R=292865.

Time Travel at Arisaig, Nova Scotia

Travel through time at Arisaig, Nova Scotia.
Journey back 460 million years to a time when
volcanoes erupted and lava flowed onto the land.
Explore sedimentary rocks that make up what is
considered to be the world’s most continuous
exposure of 440 to 404 million year old sea floor.
Each step you take covers thousands of years, and
along the way you can find signs of ancient marine
life. Look out for the fossil remains of brachiopods,
fish scales, crinoids, and trilobites. You can even
find trace fossils — the behavioural traces of
extinct organisms such as burrows — preserved in
the rocks at Arisaig. So … step back in time, and
discover Arisaig’s geological history.

The Recent Ice Age (1990)

Learn more about the massive ice sheets that covered the landscape during the Recent Ice Age and why sea level continues to rise to this day. Jay Ingram explores geological processes related to glaciation and how these continue to impact human activities.

Explore Atlantic Canada’s (newest) Global Geoparks!

In this 2020 AGS Travelling Speaker Series video, explore the Global Geoparks of Atlantic Canada with John Calder (2020). Learn more about Global Geoparks and see highlights from Global Geoparks in the Atlantic Provinces – a video presented as part of the AGS Travelling Speaker Series.