RAQ Speaker Series October 2024

RAQ speaker: Dr. Herb Helmstaedt

Department:  Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering

Date and Time: October 24, 2024, 1:00 – 2:00 pm

Title: A Geological History of the Kingston Area and the Frontenac Arch: How did the Kingston area become part of North America?

We are delighted that Dr. Herwart (Herb) Helmstaedt is returning to talk to us about the very interesting geology around Kingston. Last season he and colleague Dugald Carmichael led us on a wonderful tour of the area. Dr. Helmstaedt is a geologist and Earth historian who studied at Martin-Luther-University, Halle, and the University of Munich, in Germany, before coming to Canada in 1964 for doctoral studies at UNB. He worked as a research associate at Lamont Geological Observatory of Columbia, then joined the Geological Survey of Canada, in Ottawa, then taught for three years at McGill before coming to Queen’s. He continued to work for the Geological Survey of Canada during the summer months, mainly in northern Canada. At Queen’s he taught structural geology and geo-tectonics and supervised more than 60 graduate students as well as being head of the department. His main research interests were Precambrian field studies in the Archean Slave and Superior provinces of the Canadian Shield, structural and tectonic controls of mineral deposits, and all things related to kimberlites and diamonds. He consulted widely in Canada and abroad, and was a leader in the LITHOPROBE project which is the largest Earth science project ever undertaken in Canada. He is now Professor Emeritus.