Earth Sciences | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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  • Article

    Miguasha Fossils

     In addition to fishes, a few INVERTEBRATES, such as small CRUSTACEANS, worms and eurypterids, which are giant cousins of land scorpions, lived at the bottom of the estuary.

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  • Article

    Mud Lake Stream Archaeological Site

    The Mud Lake Stream archaeological site is located along the Canada/United States border at the northern end of Spednic Lake, in southwestern New Brunswick.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/807e1461-34ef-495f-a85c-f3a2ddcc6a54.jpg Mud Lake Stream Archaeological Site

  • Article

    Muskeg

    Muskeg (from Cree maskek and Ojibwe mashkiig, meaning “grassy bog”) is a type of northern landscape characterized by a wet environment, vegetation and peat deposits. Chiefly used in North America, the term muskeg escapes precise scientific definition. It encompasses various types of wetlands found in the boreal zone, including bogs, fens, swamps and mires. In Canada, muskeg and other peatlands cover up to 1.2 million km2, or 12 per cent of the country’s surface.

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    Natural Gas in Canada

    Natural gas ranks among the fastest-growing energy sources in Canada and is seen by many in the energy industry as a game-changer, a comparatively clean, low-cost and versatile fuel. It can directly generate power and heat and can be chemically altered to produce a wide range of useful commodity chemicals. It burns cleaner and more efficiently than other fossil fuels, releasing significantly fewer harmful pollutants into the atmosphere. Natural gas is colorless, odourless, shapeless, lighter than air and contains a mixture of several hydrocarbon gases, which are organic compounds consisting of some combination of hydrogen and carbon molecules. The primary consumers of natural gas are the industrial (54.1 per cent), residential (26.6 per cent) and commercial sectors (19.3 per cent). Canada is the fifth largest natural gas producer after the United States, Russia, Iran and Qatar. Currently, all of Canada’s natural gas exports go to the United States through a network of pipelines, making Canada the largest foreign source of US natural gas imports. At the end of 2016, Canada had 76.7 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves and had produced 152 billion cubic metres of natural gas that year. It is forecasted that global natural gas consumption will double by 2035.

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  • Article

    Navigation

    Evidence suggests that the Phoenicians, Arabs and ancient Greeks were familiar with the use of nighttime positions of stars and constellations to aid in marine navigation, but this knowledge was lost to Europeans in the Dark Ages and only regained after about the year 1000 from the Arabs.

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  • Article

    Palaeontology

    Palaeontology is the study of fossils, gives us knowledge of past life, helps us understand the nature of ancient organisms and provides information about the composition of the biomass of past times. 

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Palaeontology

  • Article

    Palliser Expedition

    The explorers amassed astronomical, meteorological, geological and magnetic data, and described the country, its fauna and flora, its inhabitants and its "capabilities" for settlement and transportation.

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    Palynology

    Palynology is the study of spores and pollen, has many applications in botany, geology and medicine. 

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  • Article

    Plate Tectonics

    Plate tectonics is the theory proposing that Earth’s outer rocky shell is divided into seven major and several smaller rigid plates. Forces generated by heat losses from the planet’s interior constantly move the plates about. Plate movements, ongoing over millions of years (see Geological History), open and close ocean basins, generate volcanoes, raise mountains, facilitate accumulation of mineral and petroleum deposits, and influence evolution and climate change. Friction between plates prevents steady motion and stores energy that is released in sudden movements, causing earthquakes. This article is the full-length entry about plate tectonics. For a plain-language summary, please see Plate Tectonics (Plain-Language Summary). 

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  • Article

    Plate Tectonics (Plain-Language Summary)

    Plate tectonics is the theory that rocky plates divide Earth’s surface. The plates move as Earth releases heat from its interior. The movement of plates creates volcanoes and mountains and causes earthquakes. This article is a plain-language summary of Plate Tectonics. If you are interested in reading about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry, Plate Tectonics.

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  • Article

    Pointe-du-Buisson Archaeological Sites

    Pointe-du-Buisson is a small point of land (21 ha) extending into the waters of Lake St Louis (a widening of the St-Lawrence River) at the convergence of the Ottawa River.

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  • Article

    River Landform

    A river landform is a feature resulting from the movement of water on the Earth's surface. 

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/57147e84-cc3f-4d2f-8190-209daebb145f.jpg River Landform

  • Article

    Sand and Gravel

    Sand and gravel are unconsolidated, granular mineral materials produced by the natural disintegration of rock caused by weathering. The terms sand, gravel, clay and silt relate to grain size rather than composition. Sand is material passing through a number 4 (4.

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  • Article

    Soil Classification

    Classification involves arranging individual units with similar characteristics into groups. Soils do not occur as discrete entities; thus the unit of measurement for soil is not obvious.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/5ab8defa-319b-47f7-a725-b100a41ab8e1.jpg Soil Classification

  • Article

    Soil Science

    Soil science is the science that deals with soils as a natural resource. Studies focus on soil formation, classification and mapping, and the physical, chemical and biological properties and fertility of soils as such and in relation to their management for crop production.

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