Geological Survey of Canada
The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC ) is the state geological service of Canada. It was founded in 1842 to support the Canadian mining industry.
Headquartered in Ottawa, where he is also their data center for seismology and the geomagnetic laboratory, next to Quebec City, Vancouver, Sidney (British Columbia), Calgary, Dartmouth ( Nova Scotia ). There are subdivisions GSC Atlantic (Research in Atlantic Canada's continental shelf ), GSC Pacific (Research in the Pacific shelf of Canada ) and GSC Calgary (for research in Canada sedimentary basin ).
The first director and founder was William Edmond Logan (Head Office Montreal). Early employees were also the paleontologist Elkanah Billings, Robert Bell ( geologist ) and Joseph Burr Tyrrell. Many of the collections of the Canadian natural history museums go back to the collecting activities of the GSC. Logan organized exhibitions of Canadian minerals at the World Exhibition in London in 1851 and in Paris in 1855 and 1863 was published the monograph Geology of Canada. In 1877 they received a legal basis as the official authority of Canada and in 1881 they moved to Ottawa.
In addition to mineral resources and exploration of transcontinental railroads were a function of the GSC end of the 19th century. The third director George Mercer Dawson was prospecting, especially in British Columbia and the Klondike explore before the gold rush. Robert Bell explored over three decades, the northern and western Canada including Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait. Albert Peter Low (1861-1942) explored the Labrador- Ungava Peninsula and discovered large iron deposits. He also explored 1903/4 with Neptune, the Arctic archipelago of Canada. Joseph Tyrrell discovered coal and dinosaurs in the province of Alberta and examined the areas west of Hudson Bay. J. Mackintosh Bell examined in 1900, the area between Lake Athabasca and Great Bear Lake ( he thus made preparations for the discovery of uranium deposits in 1930 by the prospector Gilbert Labine private ).
During the First World War and then the service suffered from financial difficulties, what has changed until the mid- 1930s through the provision of large public funds as part of a Canadian version of the New Deal. A further developement took service in World War II and then in prospecting for oil (caused by an oil industry strike in 1947 ) and uranium. The uranium exploration in the 1950s led to greatly improved knowledge of the Canadian Shield. At the same time the prospecting of aircraft and helicopters from (including new geophysical methods such as geomagnetic exploration from the air) allowed a much more efficient mapping ( 1952-1958 was half as much area as explored throughout the period before). In the later chaired by the Head of the GSC YO Fortier operation Franklin 1955 large parts of the Arctic have been explored.
In 1966, the GSC part of the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources and was charged with the assessment of the mining resources. In the 1970s, environmental expertise were added, for example for large pipeline projects. At the same time exploring the marine shelves began in the 200 mile zone. This continued in the 1980s, particularly in regard to oil and gas deposits in the sea and in the Arctic. The GSC also coordinated the participation of Canada in the international Ocean Drilling Program and from 1984 the geophysical ( seismic ) exploration in Canada's Lithoprobe program. 1986 various geophysical governmental services were integrated ( Earth Physics Division of the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources ).
In the 1990s, the GSC coordinated the National Geoscience Mapping Program ( NATMAP ), the environmental protection activities ( and on climate change ) intensified and in the investigation of risks Geobereich ( floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, landslides, volcanoes, magnetic storms, unstable ground ). Another focus was the digitization and broad provision of geoscientific information.
Mid-1990s, they were part of Natural Resources Canada ( NRCan ). The annual budget was $ 60 million at 550 employees.