Tracy Arsenault

I began my MSc in Biological Sciences at SFU in January of 2002. After having completed a BSc in Geology from the University of New Brunswick in the Spring of 2001 and a brief stint travelling in Europe, I moved to British Columbia and have discovered a province of endless hikes and field work opportunities.

My interest in paleoecology and paleoclimatology began during my undergrad. I spent a summer of my participating in several chironomid based paleoclimate projects, exploring the bogs and lakes of Nova Scotia in search of the Younger Dryas and sifting through the mud of the White Mountains, VT. My interest in Biology during my undergrad made me somewhat of an oddity among "hard rock hopefuls", and my current geological interests put me out of place among some of my biological colleagues. However, the thought of reconstructing past climate from both large scale geological and small scale biological evidence caught my attention and continues to fascinate me.

My thesis project involves the reconstruction of the Neoglacial vegetation and paleoclimatic history of an area in the Coast Range Mountains, British Columbia, near the current terminus of the Tiedemann glacier.

The summer of 2002 will bring my first field season. Few studies have been undertaken in the Tiedemann area, thus coring both a bog and a lake, mapping the moraines and examining the Quaternary geology, will allow me to use palynology to reconstruct the vegetation record. Sediment analysis and radiocarbon dating will hopefully help solidify the chronology for the Neoglacial advance and retreat of the Tiedemann glacier.

Education

B.Sc., Geology 2001 University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB

D.E.C., Pure and Applied Sciences 1998 Dawson College, Montreal, QC

For more information, please send e.mail to: taa@alumni.sfu.ca