Sudbury geologist recognized for quartz research

Geology research out of Laurentian University has shed some new light on Sudbury's origins. Thefindings could translate into new explorations for mining companies.

Laurentian professor Andy McDonald with the Harquail School of Earth Sciences has been recognized for a study heco-authored last year, that looked at breaks and fractures,known as offset dykes,in quartz.

McDonald has been awarded this year's Hawley Medal in recognition of the research, which took a new look at the mineral.

"Quartz is probably the most abundant, if not the second most abundant, mineral in the earth's crust, which means that, because it's so common, a lot people people aren't really interested in it. And we decided that maybe it's time to have another look at a boring old mineral," said McDonald, who co-authored the study with former graduate student Elliot Wehrle.

The Sudbury basin was formed 1.8 billion years ago when a meteor made impact with the earth. McDonald says at the time, magma flowed into the rock fractures, and he says the quartz still bears a record of that time.

"A lot of minerals, when you expose them to water or different temperatures, they'll break down and form other minerals. Quartz doesn't do that. So what that means is that it's potentially a recorder of the conditions at the time that it formed."

McDonald says the research couldhelp mining companies with further exploration to find more of these offset dykes, and in turn more ore bodies.

The paper was selected as the best to be published in The Canadian Mineralogist publication in 2019 earning McDonald the Hawley Medal for the third time in his career.