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W.R. Michael Makahnouk, Ph.D Candidate, University of Waterloo.
Mike was born in Sioux Lookout, Ontario and grew up in Hudson, Ontario. He has completed degrees in Honours Chemistry with a minor in Earth Sciences (B.Sc., 2005), and Solid State Chemistry (M.Sc., 2006), both of which were completed at the University of Waterloo. His interest in geological sciences was sparked while he camped on the Lac Seul waterways, located in the heart of the Superior province of the Canadian Shield. He chose his academic path with the goal of returning to work as a geoscientist in northwestern Ontario.
Mike’s research topic for his Ph.D. dissertation focuses on understanding the role of Ca in fluids within crystalline rock. Techniques utilized in this thesis are stable isotopes geochemistry (Ca, C, O, and Sr) and fluid inclusion petrography of calcite fracture fillings. Mike has received an NSERC industrial postgraduate
scholarship that is sponsored by Nuclear Waste Management Organisation (NWMO).
His talk will be divided into two parts:
1. Lithium-ion batteries and the connections to crystallography:
Lithium-ion batteries are found in every household in Canada; however, most people do not realize that major discoveries in this field over the past 15 years rely heavily on X-ray diffraction and crystallography. Examples from Mike’s M.Sc. thesis will be used to illustrate the use of fundamentals of crystallography to provide solutions for lithium-ion battery advancement.
2. Fracture mineral investigations of crystalline rock - an overview of Mike’s Ph.D. thesis:
Mike’s Ph.D. thesis examines the role of Ca in fluids within crystalline rock, focusing on fracture mineral investigations using isotopic methods. Secondary minerals such as calcite that precipitated in fractures within crystalline rock possess information that can be used to distinguish between paleo-hydrological processes such as metamorphic or glacial events. To date, there is no conclusive example in literature where calcite is shown to be in equilibrium with glacial waters. A chapter of Mike’s Ph.D. thesis will focus on an exhaustive fracture mineral investigation of calcites from Greenland core boreholes that have been drilled near the margin of the continental ice sheet close to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. Furthermore, this thesis will use the Greenland calcites as a case study to determine whether calcium isotopes can be used to elucidate the evolution of paleo-fluids within crystalline rock. This research is associated with the Greenland Analogue Project (GAP), an international collaboration between the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (Canada), Posiva (Finland), and SKB (Sweden).
University of Toronto
Earth Sciences Center
22 Russell Street
Room 2093
8:00 PM
Join us. Guests are always welcome
Dinner with the Speaker;
The Duke of York, at Bedford and Prince Arthur, 6 pm. Please join our speaker and fellow club members for an informal dinner meeting before the main event.
Annual WMC Holiday Extravaganza
This year’s annual holiday event included mini-talks and a silent auction. We hade some great talks lined up:
Frank Ruehlicke spoke on his experiences at the first ever international mineral show in Poland.
Bob Beckett presented an update on the Bancroft Club Museum.
Malcolm Back discussed his thoughts on a career in minerals.
Tony Steede showed a mineral identification made on a specimen collected in Manitoba by the club in 1990!
See above
