Professor EmeritusDr. Grant M. Young
Paleoclimatology / Geochemistry / Precambrian Geology
Office: Staging 205
Phone: 1-519-661-2111 x.89205
Fax: 1-519-661-3198
Email: gyoung@uwo.ca
Research Interests
Research has mainly been concerned with Precambrian geology,
including stratigraphic, sedimentological and geochemical investigations. These
studies were initially focussed on Paleoproterozoic deposits of the Huronian
Supergroup on the north shore of Lake Huron but broadened to include
international investigations and collaborations that contributed to the recognition
of two world-wide Proterozoic glaciations and theories regarding their genesis.
Archean glacial deposits were also documented from the Pongola Supergroup of
South Africa, and stratigraphic and geochemical investigations were also
carried out on Late Ordovician glaciogenic rocks of the Cape Fold Belt. Comparative
studies of Neoproterozoic glacial deposits in the Flinders Ranges of South
Australia and those in Alaska and the northern part of the Canadian Cordillera
led to correlations between the two continents that contributed to an
understanding of the configuration of the supercontinent Rodinia. Regional
stratigraphic and paleocurrent studies in Arctic Canada and the northern
Cordillera provided data suggesting that the Grenville orogen may have shed
detritus across the entire width of the North American continent, and
demonstrated the applicability of the ‘big river’ concept to the Precambrian. Another ongoing research interest is
the geochemistry of soils, sediments and rocks. This work was largely stimulated
by, and carried out in collaboration with, Dr. Wayne Nesbitt. It has included
studies of modern and ancient soil profiles in Canada, South Africa and
Scotland. The geochemistry of modern sediments has been investigated in varied
climatic settings ranging from Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic to New
South Wales, Australia and the Mojave Desert of California. The main thrust of
these studies has been to develop a geochemical method of quantifying the
effects of chemical weathering – the Chemical Index of Alteration - which is now
widely used in such studies, and to understand the processes involved in
weathering, transport, diagenesis and metasomatism. In recent years work has been carried out on volcanic and
sedimentary rocks in the North Spirit Lake area of NW Ontario, where
stratigraphic, structural and geochemical studies have led to re-interpretation
of the history of this Neoarchean greenstone belt, and to the recognition of
rocks that resemble those forming at modern mid-ocean ridges. Scotland has also
been the focus of much recent research, where, together with Dr. W.G.E.
Caldwell, I have been working for the past decade. These investigations are
aimed at understanding the stratigraphic, sedimentological, igneous and structural
evolution of the western part of the Midland Valley of Scotland. The work has
mainly involved field mapping of islands and coastal areas in the Firth of
Clyde area, where we were both introduced to field work and carried out our
first geological research, based at the University of Glasgow. I maintain a strong interest in secular change
and am currently exploring relationships among supercontinentality, the great
glaciations that introduced and closed the Proterozoic eon, oxygenation of the
atmosphere, the emergence of complex life forms and the influence of major
impacts on Earth history. A lifetime of geological investigations (and Jean
Sougy, in the Sahara Desert) taught me the importance of looking at things on
different scales (from satellite images to the electron microscope), but more important
than any of this is learning, practicing and teaching the art of meticulous
field work, without which all the black boxes are talking a meaningless
language.
Selected Publications
Young,
G. M. and Caldwell, W.G.E. (in press, 2011) The North East Arran Trough, the Corrie
conundrum, and the Highland Boundary Fault in the Firth of Clyde, SW Scotland.
Geological Magazine. Young,
G.M. and Caldwell, W.G.E. (2011)
Stratigraphy and geochemistry of the Early Carboniferous Clyde Plateau Lavas in
South Bute, Midland Valley of Scotland. Geological Magazine., v.148, p.
597-618. Young,
G.M. and Caldwell, W.G.E. (2011) Early Carboniferous stratigraphy in the Firth
of Clyde area: new information from the island of Bute. Scottish Journal of
Geology v, 47. P. 143-156. Caldwell,
W.G.E. and Young, G.M. (2011) The Early Carboniferous volcanic outliers of
Little Cumbrae and South Bute: implications for westward attenuation of the
Clyde Lava Plateau. Earth and Environmental Sciences: Transactions of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh, v. 102, p. 59-76. Jutras, P.,
Young, G.M. and Caldwell, W.G.E. (2011) Reinterpretation of James Hutton’s
historic discovery on the Isle of Arran as a double unconformity masked by a
phreatic calcrete hardpan. Geology, v.39, p. 147-150. Young, G.M., Nesbitt, H.W. and Bosman, S.A. (2009) Stratigraphy, tectonic setting
and age of Archean supracrustal rocks in the north-central part of the North
Spirit Lake greenstone belt, NW Superior province, Canada. Precambrian Research 174,
1-15. Rainbird, R.H. and Young, G.M.
(2009). Collosal rivers, massive mountains and supercontinents: was everything
bigger in the past? Earth, v. 54, p. 52-61.
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