NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: South Slave Region

Tags: physical sciences, geology, tectonic movement, rock

Objective(s): To determine the strength of Earth's lower crust and how this portion of the crust responds to tectonic forces.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No.4723. The main object of this research project is to determine the strength of Earth's lower crust and how this portion of the crust responds to tectonic forces. Two weeks of fieldwork will be carried out at the Great Slave Lake Shear Zone to acquire the appropriate samples to explore stress across a fault zone. The majority of the time will be spent collecting small (hand-sized) rock samples. Key sites, based on previous mapping of the area and work that we performed in 2018 have been identified. The research team only require a small amount of rock material (30-40 hand-sized samples), and the team will leave no trace of the activities. After the field work is complete, metamorphic analysis will be undertaken at University of British Columbia. This information can then be used to determine the strength of the lower crust, which will help the team make more accurate models of earthquake hazards. The Principal Investigator (PI) will get in telephone or email contact with member from the Akaitcho Territory Government, Deninu K'ue First Nation Environment and Conservation Committee, and Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation - Wildlife, Land and Environment Committee to communicate the planned research. Once the research is conducted the PI will submit a report to be disseminated to these stakeholders that explains the findings and future study plans. One of the project collaborators is from Northwest Territories Geological Survey (NTGS). They will be available to help share our results at stakeholder engagement meetings run by the NTGS. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from June 3, 2021 to July 30, 2021.