Compilation of soil and till geochemical metadata for Canada - an update

Abstract

In Canada systematic regional geochemical sampling of soils and tills have been undertaken since the 1960s (Brummer et al., 1987) primarily for mineral exploration but also for resource assessment and environmental research purposes. The majority of these surveys have been conducted by federal and provincial geological agencies and the mineral exploration industry, but some have been collected by consultancies, universities and other government departments. The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) has developed a catalogue of geochemical metadata which is available as GSC Open File 5085 and on the Natural Resources Canada Geoscience Data Repository Web site (GDR) (http://gdr.gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/geochem/). The catalogue contains metadata for just over 300 surveys, 277 of which were carried out by the GSC and the provincial geological agencies. These geochemical data sets are potentially useful to scientists and regulators in other government agencies who are working on environmental issues. In the catalogue each survey is given a separate html page which lists the survey type, survey year and survey location, a description of the survey, including its geographic extent, the number of samples collected (if available), the types of geochemical analyses and size fractions analyzed, other types of analyses undertaken, publications associated with the survey and the form of the dataset (i.e. digital or paper). There is also a link on the html page to the organization responsible for collecting the data for that survey. Publications associated with the survey can be obtained from that organization. An html page, accessible from the CD-ROM's introductory window directs the user to the appropriate page on the organization's web site. Included on the CD is a 1:7 500 000 map of Canada (~77 x 62 cm) showing the areas covered by the surveys. It can be accessed from a link in Chapter VI of this report or by clicking on the Maps button on the introductory screen of the CD. The Maps button launches a browser-based mapping application which allows the user to search the catalogue geographically, by zooming in on the part of Canada that is of interest. The survey html page described above is displayed by clicking on its corresponding polygon (see Chapter I - Introduction for more details). The abbreviations used in the html pages to describe analytical procedures, etc., are explained in this chapter. This chapter also contains background information on the distribution and compositional characteristics of tills and other surficial sediments and the methodologies used for sample collection and geochemical analysis.