Come and join Don Scallen as he talks about the Turtles of Ontario on Tuesday November 28th at 7 P.M.
Don lives his life studying and then teaching and writing about our natural world around Ontario, particularly around our local Headwaters district. I’m envious!
On Thursday, November 2nd, Mark Whitcombe will lead a field trip to the Crawford Lake Conservation Area, just south of Campbellville (south of the 401 and west of Milton). As of Tuesday October 31st, we have a dozen members coming, with two car-pools set up.
(Please note that the date for this trip is
still Thursday November 2nd at 10 A.M.,
not the incorrectly reported date of two days later.
See you at Crawford Lake this coming Thursday!)
We’ll arrive at Crawford Lake Conservation Area (Halton Region CA) for 10 A.M. next Thursday November 02, 2023. We are arranging how much each car and driver has to pay, and how much each participant has to pay. (Headwaters Nature is not paying for this field trip. As individuals, we are covering the costs ourselves. We are getting a cheaper rate through a Group Booking. Watch for updates to this page — and keep an eye on email updates.
I would like to specifically visit the lake itself. The meromictic sediments in this special lake show very clearly that we humans have left an irreversible imprint upon Earth’s geology. Data from the sediments at the bottom of the unusual Crawford Lake show a clear footprint of plutonium from the nuclear testing done in the late 1940s and early 1950s — data that also shows in various other locations around the world. This location has been proposed as the ‘Golden Spike’, the location on Earth that clearly shows the beginning of the epoch now being proposed to be called the Anthropocene, “the geologic age when Humanity left an irreversible imprint upon Earth’s rocks”.
If you are coming (or have further questions),
please let me know so that I can plan this field trip!
Mark Whitcombe, info@onheadwatersnature.ca
In July 2023, Crawford Lake was chosen as the “golden spike” by the Anthropocene Working Group as the clear marker for the beginning of the Anthropocene epoch. The unique conditions of the lake preserves layers of sediment similar to tree rings used in dendrochronology — and the presence of plutonium in the layers of lake mud dated to 1950 has been set as the beginning of the new proposed epoch.
Studying everything from atomic bomb fallout to pesticide residues, scientists are close to defining the start of the Anthropocene — the geologic age when Humanity left an irreversible imprint upon Earth’s rocks.
In July 2023, Crawford Lake was proposed as the “golden spike” by the Anthropocene Working Group as the clear marker for the beginning of the Anthropocene epoch. The unique conditions of the lake preserves layers of sediment similar to tree rings used in dendrochronology; the presence of plutonium in the layer of lake mud dated to 1950 has been set as the beginning of the new proposed epoch.
Perhaps the most famous Golden Spike are the telltale signs found in many spots around the world of the meteorite that crashed into Earth 66 million years ago, killing off dinosaurs and starting the Cenozoic Era, or what is conversationally known as the age of mammals. But not quite. While that meteorite started a whole new era, the working group is proposing that humans only started a new epoch, which is a much smaller geologic time period.
* – * – * – * – * – * – * – *
Ahead of time, you might wish to check this recent video
and excellent explanatory writeup
from Emily Chung, science, climate, environment reporter, (CBC):
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/crawford-lake-anthropocene-1.6902999
Steve Burrows, the author of seven Birder Murder Mysteries, will be back speaking with Headwaters Nature telling us about his latest story of DCI Dominic Lejuene, a Canadian birder working as a detective. Lejeune uses his advanced birding knowledge to help him solve (at least one) murder in the quiet countryside of Norfolk, UK. His latest book is called A Foreboding of Petrels. (I’m going to read up on Petrels before Steve speaks … and before I read his book. By the way, BookLore will be attending this meeting to sell his books.
Join us Tuesday evening, 7:00 – 9:00 P.M., October 24th,
at the Orangeville Seniors Centre at 26 Bythia Street.
Free Admission,
Everyone Welcome,
Refreshments provided,
Bring your own mug.
Burrows is a wonderful storyteller and an entertaining speaker. He says he’s happiest talking to groups such as ours who instinctively understand the nuances of bird behaviour that he weaves through his writing.
Steve first began exploring nature in the urban parks of his childhood home in Birmingham, UK. After emigrating to Canada, he eamed degrees from York University and Dalhousie University before relocating to Hong Kong, where he earned a Master’s degree from the University of Hong Kong. His dissertation explored the feasibility of reintroducing Silver Pheasants into Hong Kong’s forests.
Check out his website at Steve Burrows
(Details about each session will come out in the month before the actual event.)