THE MAIN THRUST

NEWSLETTER OF THE STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY AND TECTONICS DIVISION GEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF CANADA

September 1996 We hope everyone had a a pleasant summer. To ease your transition into the fall we bring you the September issue of the Main Thrust.

1) Report from the annual meeting of the SGTG in Winnipeg.

Unfortunately none of the executive were able to attend the meeting, however, Simon Hanmer kindly agreed to chair the meeting. His report follows:

Attendance at the SGTD AGM was not high, but those present were active participants in discussion. Attendees were

Don Cook

Serge Perrault

Jergen Krause

Paul Evins

Colleen Elliott

Philip Simony

Donna Kirkwood

Simon Hanmer

Obviously not a quorum, the attendees nevertheless had a number of recommendations to bring to the Executive's attention with a view to encouraging you to broadcasting the questions on the Internet (e.g. Spartan) and soliciting greater Division participation prior to arriving at binding decisions.

(1) Suggested sessions/symposia for GAC-MAC '98 + Field trips for '97 and '98

Donna Kirkwood is sending you a memo explaining the rationale behind a proposed Special Session on External domains in orogenic belts, accompanied by a field trip in the External domain of the Appalachians in Quebec, to be held at GAC '98. The Executive is encouraged to request further proposals via the Internet.

(2) Seed Money for sponsored sessions

The meeting agreed that Division sponsorship of sessions should be more than a rubber stamp of an individual's initiative and efforts. Colleen Elliott gave the meeting an account of her recent experience organising the Sponsored Special Session at the Winnipeg GAC, explaining how seed money could potentially assist setting up such a session. The meeting acknowledged that (a) seed money requirements will vary on a case by case basis, (b) that a blanket commitment to provide seed money would represent an unsustainable drain on Division resources, but that (c) in special cases it could very well be warranted. Drawing a parallel with NSERC practices, it was suggested that the Executive might seek a mandate to provide for seed monies in exceptional cases, according to the quality of the case being made. Division membership might be asked to comment on the principle, as well as on conditions of acceptance of requests and to place a maximum on the monies to be made available. It was recognised during the meeting that there should be not any requirement for such seed money to be made available each year. Colleen Elliott agreed to prepare a short summary of her recent experience to be posted on Spartan in order to catalyse the discussion among the membership.

As well as adding substance to sponsorship of Special Sessions, the meeting discussed the possibility of sponsoring field trips. In light of the experience at recent GAC meetings, and the evident success of certain field trips at GAC '96 (at least in terms of participation), and following-up on the suggestion by the Quebec '98 organising committee, it was suggested that the executive encourage Division membership to combine proposed Special Sessions and field trips. A tangible example of the success of such a practice this year was the Trans-Hudson Symposium and the well subscribed (35+ attendees) post-conference field trip to the Flin Flon - Snow Lake area. The meeting foresaw that field trips could also benefit from seed money (e.g. to reserve block-booked accommodation), but again on a case by case basis.

Finally, it was suggested that the Executive ask the Division membership to consider the possibility of sponsoring short courses in Structural Geology and Methods outside of the GAC context. Such courses could find a market in the private sector and might even represent a potential source of revenue for the Division.

(3) Division Finances were announced and accepted.

(4) The meeting was reminded of the CTG venue in BC in October 1996.

(5) The meeting accepted the Executive's explanation for delaying the announcement of the Best Student GAC Abstract Prize. The process of selection of Best Abstract was discussed, including suggestions for evaluating all student abstracts (as opposed to nominations), evaluating posters and talks, It was recognised that these approaches were impracticable at a large meeting such as the GAC, and that the current method was the only manageable compromise. However, in light of the often low participation in the Best Abstract competition, it was queried as to whether this was the best use of the Division's funds and the best way to encourage the participation of young scientists. The meeting recommended that the Executive run such a competition again in '97, but that copies of the abstracts to be considered be forwarded to the Executive according to the same deadlines as the GAC itself. This would allow for an early decision and announcement to be made in time for the winning student to be able to consider putting the prize to good use .... e.g. enrollment in a GAC field trip.

Recognising the low participation at the AGM, the executive is asked to broadcast all of these items for discussion among the Division membership, and to provide a mechanism for the members to make their opinion known.

Simon Hanmer, Chair

Followup on Simon's report:

As Simon has suggested we would like to get the menbership's thoughts on a variety of issues:

Seed money for special sessions:

Should we provide it in some cases?

What criteria should be used to decide if we fianacially support a session?

What level of support should we provide? Please keep in mind that our total income from mebership dues is less than $1000/year.

Sponsorship:

How do you feel about the sponsorship of short courses?

Replacement of best student abstract:

In view of the low participation in the competition for best student abstract, should the division consider an alternative or stick with the present system (with modifications to the deadline for receipt of abstracts as suggested by Simon Hanmer)?

What could replace the best student abstract and still provide some reward/support to some deserving grad student?

Please email/send your thoughts to Sandy Cruden (cruden@credit.erin.utoronto.ca)

2) The prize for the best student abstract goes to James Joseph Ryan for the abstract entitled:

"The structural anatomy of the central Flin Flon Belt, southeastern Trans-Hudson Orogen"

Congratulations Jim, the cheque is in the mail.

The executive agrees 100% with the recommendations made at the meeting about the astracts. Submissions for next year's abstract are due to the executive at the same time as the GAC abstracts. The award will be announced before the meeting. You will recieve a reminder by email.

3) Reminder of SGTG's best thesis prize submissions

If you have a M.Sc. or Ph.D. thesis completed over the last 12 months you would like us to consider, please send the executive a copy before the end of September. No theses received after September can be considered for this year's awards given at the CTG meeting in October 1996 (we won't have sufficient time to read and evaluate them).

4) Reminder of the SGTD's Best Paper award

The SGTD's Best Paper award is given for the best paper of the year by Canadian authors, or dealing with Canadian structural geology and tectonics. The winning paper is chosen by the Division Executive from short lists of papers submitted by the Division Councilors. The councilors select eligible papers from eight journals: CJES, Tectonophysics, Tectonics, GSA Bulletin, Geology, CSPG Bulletin, JGR, and the Journal of Structural Geology. A reminder to our councilors to submit their consideration for the best paper prize. Please also send along a complete list of the Canadian papers in your journals. Submissions from people other than our councilors and journals not covered by the councilors are welcome.

5)Reminder of CTG meeting

The 1996 Canadian Tectonics Group meeting will be held October 18-20 at Bowen Island, B.C. For general information contact Carol Evenchick before June 1 or after Sept. 1; or Bob Turner anytime. For details about the scientific content of the field trip contact Murray Journeay. Their office is moving to a new location in September, so email and snail mail will both be unreliable in September. If you have to contact the organizers in September or October, use the phone, or email Lori Kennedy at UBC.
Carol Evenchick phone 604-666-7119;     email   cevenchick@gsc.emr.ca
Murray Journeay phone 604-666-1130;     email   mjourneay@gsc.emr.ca
Bob Turner      phone 604-666-4852      email   bturner@gsc.emr.ca
Lori Kennedy                            email lkennedy@earth.geology.ubc.ca

6) Proposals for sessions and/or field trips for the GAC-MAC '98 Meeting.

If you would like us to sponsor a session please send us a memo and we will discuss the suggestions at the CTG meeting and broadcast all proposals to the membership.

Please note that we could also consider a special session at the GSA '98 meeting. We would not officially "sponsor" these, but it would be good if Canadian structural geology and tectonics could be highlighted at this meeting.

7) E-mail vs snail mail Main Thrust distribution/ involvement of more members.

As Simon's report makes clear, the attendance at the meeting was low, in fact attendence has traditionally been quite low. In this electronic age it should be relatively easy to communicate with the bulk of our membership electronically. We do however have a problem. As you may (or may not) recall from the last Main Thrust, we asked members to either send us their email address or resubmitt a form to send us their snail mail address. The thought was to cut down on mailing cost (hardcopies only to those who have no email) and enhance the speed of communication.

We have about 170 paying members, unfortunately we only have email addresses for about 60 and only about 10 sent back the form with their snail mail address. That leaves about 100 members unaccounted for. Sending hardcopies of the main thrust to all is expensive, so are the meetings (the Winnipeg meeting cost $263). So we would like to try again.

If you have email please send your address to:

ffueten@craton.geol.brocku.ca

If you don't have email and haven't confirmed that you wish to receive the Main Thrust by snail mail, please send us your snail mail address by filling out the form (only on the hardcopy version)

8) Web Reminder

If you have a web page and would like it listed at the CTG web site (http://craton.geol.brocku.ca/ctg.html) please email the URL to ffueten@craton.geol.brocku.ca. This issue and previous issues of the Main Thrust can also be obtained at the CTG web site.

9) Next issue of Main Thrust

If you have any news items you would like included in the next Main Thrust, please forward them to the executive. Comments received from the membership on the questions posed in this issue will be included in the next issue of Main Thrust.
The SCTG Executive
Alexander R. Cruden, Chairman
Department of Geological Sciences
University of Toronto
Erindale Campus
Mississauga, ON  L5L 1C6
ph: 905-828-3971
fax: 905-828-5328
email: cruden@credit.erin.utoronto.ca

Paula MacKinnon, Treasurer
Department of Geological Sciences
Brock University
St. Catharines, ON  L2S 3A1
Ph: 905-688-5550 ext 3856
Fax: 905-682-9020
email: paula@craton.geol.brocku.ca

Frank Fueten, Secretary
Department of Geological Sciences
Brock University
St. Catharines, ON  L2S 3A1
Ph: 905-688-5550 ext 3856
Fax: 905-682-9020
email: ffueten@craton.geol.brocku.ca
http://craton.geol.brocku.ca/faculty/ff/ff1.html