Program Overview
The CSPG is committed to offering its membership the opportunity to learn and explore through various methods of education; one of them is via Field Courses.
Under the current constraints of a COVID-19 world, the Field Course volunteer committee has been looking at the re-invention of CSPG field courses to best serve the membership now, and in the future.
We have embarked on the development and execution of various types of field courses (listed below).
Look for articles in each edition of the Reservoir written by our committee members about upcoming field courses and trips, and please give us your feedback and ideas!
Upcoming Field Trips
Leader: Tako Koning, P. Geol. Senior Geologist – Consultant Date: August 28, 2022
About the Field Trip This field trip provides the participants with an opportunity to gain an insight into biological life which existed 450 million years ago in Ordovician time in a shallow tropical sea. The field trip will begin on Sunday, August 28, 2022 at 1:00 PM downtown Calgary. The meeting place is 119 - 6 Ave SW. We will be viewing Ordovician fossils in two historic buildings clad by the Tyndall limestone which is commonly known as Tyndall Stone.
We will then view a variety of fossils in ten blocks of Tyndall Stone in front of the Safeway store on 10th St and 3rd Ave in Kensington – Sunnyside. Fossils include the algae Receptaculites which is also informally called the “sunflower coral”, gastropods, cephalopods, corals, nautiloids, a starfish-like sponge Aulacopella and many trace burrowing fossils Thalassinoides. These blocks provide the opportunity to see the Tyndall Stone in multi-dimensions (top and four sides).
We then proceed up 10th Street to 13 Ave NW in Rosedale and walk over to the Senator Patrick Burns building at SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) which is extensively clad by Tyndall Stone. We will see many more various fossils including a variety of corals such as “honeycomb” tabulate corals Trabeculites, single chain corals Catenipora and the double chain corals Manipora. The field trip will conclude at about 4:30 PM. About the Leader Tako Koning, P.Geol is Holland-born but Canada-raised with a B.Sc. in Geology (1971) from the University of Alberta and a B.A. in Economics (1981) from the University of Calgary. He worked primarily for Texaco as a geologist, exploration manager and VP exploration in Calgary, Indonesia, Nigeria and Angola. In Angola he was also much involved as a volunteer with community-focused drinking water projects. His time living and working overseas totaled close to 30 years. He has been a member of the CSPG for 47 years as well as maintaining his membership since 1974 with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists (APEGA). Tako also leads field trips for the Alberta Paleontological Society (APS) and the Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA).
Structural Geology Transect in the Eastern Canadian Rocky Mountains, Calgary (AB) to Field (BC)
Field Trip Leader: Normand Bégin, Nanook Geo-Exploration Inc. Date: September 17th, 2022 CPD: 9
View Full Field Trip Description Today!
Field Trip Committee
The CSPG Field Course Committee:
Director – Mark Mallamo
Committee Members – Marcelina Labaj, Astrid Arts, Gabrielle Abernethy, Philip Benham, Jason Lavigne, Bob Lamond