Backyard Geology

4.6 billion years is an incredibly long time. If you’re feeling overwhelmed even thinking about how long that is, and where geologic events fit on it, have no fear. In this bonus episode of Backyard Geology, Serena talks about the geologic time scale and how famous geologic processes and structures across Canada fit into it. The study of time and rocks, known as chronostratigraphy, details the history of the Earth based on clues left behind on the surface, and in the subsurface, of today’s planet. Learn how to tell time in geology and about some of the major subdivisions of geologic time.

Studying mountains is a mammoth task, pun intended, as Dr. Kyle Larson explains in this bonus episode of Backyard Geology: Canada Edition. The Canadian Cordillera, made up of the Coast Range and the Rockies, must be studied with an interdisciplinary approach from the largest to the smallest structures. Tune in to learn more!

In this episode of Backyard Geology, Serena takes you to Kelowna to look at western Canada’s resident mountains. The Canadian Cordillera are a series of mountain chains formed by different types of tectonic processes on the margin of the North American Plate starting about 200 million years ago. Learn about the uplift of Canada’s famous Rockies and the Coast Mountains and how they can be distinctly separated based on the geologic processes that formed them.

The present is the key to the past, and in the case of placer mining in the Yukon, the past is the key to the present! Sydney Van Loon is a geologist and historian who works with Canadian gold mining archives to explore mine sites today. Join Serena and Sydney to learn about placer mining in the Yukon and how the works of gold stampeders are fueling modern exploration efforts.