Parry Sound Research Articles

Subject dislocation in Ontario English: Insights from sociolinguistic typology

AbstractSubject dislocation (SD) is common across languages. In French, it is a vernacular norm. In English, it is comparatively rare. This article examines English SD in a unique contrastive situation in Ontario, Canada: two communities where SD is a community norm, one where individuals speak both English and French (Kapuskasing), and the other where the population speaks English only (Parry Sound). Dislocated subjects are produced by the same underlying linguistic mechanisms in both places, with parallel constraints by type of subject and intervening material, suggesting a typological universal. However, SD is age-graded in Kapuskasing, regardless of heritage language. In Parry Sound, it is obsolescent, in steady decline over the twentieth century. We conclude that while typological trends are underlain by universal cognitive processes, locally embedded sociocultural influences are the source of differentiation.

The aquatic environment of Parry Sound, a deep-water embayment complex of Georgian Bay protected from Dreissena

The coastline of eastern Georgian Bay in the Parry Sound region is a distinctive nearshore environment consisting of a large deep-water embayment partially isolated from the open lake and connected with other embayments of diverse morphometric features. The underlying geology of the embayments and their watersheds contrasts with the larger lake basin, resulting in heterogenous water quality stemming from mixing of the high-alkalinity, low phosphorus waters of Georgian Bay with the low-alkalinity and higher phosphorus waters draining watersheds of the Canadian Shield. In 2016, water quality was examined in the deep basin of Parry Sound known as the Big Sound, and six connected embayments to examine the influences of watershed loading and anthropogenic development to enable better detection of changes related to human activity. Inter-basin mixing and river loading accounted for much of the variability in major ions, water clarity and nutrients except for Deep Bay, an embayment exhibiting signs of nutrient enrichment. The oligotrophic conditions in Parry Sound have changed little since 1990 unlike Lake Huron where the dreissenid invasion has correlated with falling phosphorus levels. Low calcium levels may limit dreissenid mussel numbers in Parry Sound and are hypothesized to have pre-empted mussel-related changes in water quality. Apparent productivity, light regime and water column stratification of the Big Sound and connected embayments contrast with the adjacent nearshore of Georgian Bay indicating an aquatic environment distinct from the exposed nearshore of Georgian Bay.

A livelihood to feel good about: Enacting values around animals, land, and food outside of the agricultural core

This paper presents and reflects on findings from ethnographic research conducted with small-scale farmers in the Parry Sound district, Ontario, Canada. The research highlights understandings of what it means to be a “good farmer” and explores how farmers enact their personal values and morals in efforts to produce “good food” for their communities. Central issues that emerge include notions of how to ethically care for animals and the land, as well as how to navigate tensions that can emerge while engaged in agricultural livelihoods. In their agriculturally peripheral location, participants point to how they imagine and embody possibilities about “good farming” and “good food” that challenge in various ways the larger-scale agricultural approaches that dominate agricultural core areas in southern Ontario.

Crustal evolution of the Laurentian continental margin from the Paleo- through Mesoproterozic: A zircon U–Pb and Hf transect through the western Grenville Province, Ontario, Canada

The Great Proterozoic Accretionary Orogeny along the southern and southeastern margin of Laurentia is arguably the first long-lived, modern-style active plate margin on Earth, representing significant crustal growth and reworking. Here, we present new detrital zircon U–Pb and Hf data, along with zircon and monazite metamorphic ages, from tectonic domains in the southwestern Grenville Province that represent depositional basins formed and reworked during a series of events between 2.2 and 1.2 Ga. As such, the data allow a glimpse into the evolution and assembly of this extensive margin. The Nepewassi domain contains Archean basement overlain by mature sandstone characterized by near-unimodal, ca. 2.7–2.6 Ga detrital zircon peaks and likely correlative with Superior Province basement and its Huronian cover. The Nepewassi domain underwent both Archean (ca. 2.65 Ga) and Killarnean (ca. 1.76 Ga) metamorphism. In addition, all units preserve evidence of Grenvillian high-grade metamorphism between ca. 1.05 and 0.99 Ga. The structurally highest parts of the Nepewassi domain also contain younger sedimentary rocks that received detritus from Killarnean sources, with evolved Hf isotopic compositions indicative of reworked Archean crust. Sedimentary rocks in the Tomiko domain preserve detrital zircon of Penokean and Killarnean age (1.9–1.7 Ga) with evolved Hf compositions, along with Labradorian (1.7–1.6 Ga) grains of more juvenile composition. Detrital zircon from the Kiosk domain yield Penokean through Labradorian ages, with Hf compositions ranging from evolved to juvenile. In contrast to the sedimentary rocks found in these Laurentia-derived parautochthonous domains, similar rocks from younger, more allochthonous units, including the Shawanaga and basal Parry Sound domain, dominantly contain zircon ranging from Pinwarian (ca. 1.45 Ga) through ca. 1.20 Ga that show exclusively juvenile isotopic compositions. The data show that sedimentary basins received detritus from nearby active sources as well as from the nearby Superior continent, and that successively younger sources and basins became increasingly less influenced by continental input as the margin grew wider. The data add to a growing database of similar data from other parts of this several thousand-kilometer-long margin that seemingly displayed little along-strike variation in overall evolution, implying the existence of a vast, Pacific-scale ocean.

Orderly Obsolescence: The Decline of /hw/ in Ontario

The loss of /hw/ in English in words like where and wheat is virtually complete in contemporary North American English, though /hw/ has lingered in Ontario, Canada. For vernacular speech from Almonte and Parry Sound, the authors analyze the decline of /hw/ in apparent time among individuals born from the 1880s to the 1950s. They place these observations within the field of language obsolescence and suggest that Parry Sound and Almonte are examples of intermediate isolation, less profound than is typical in studies of dialect loss. Almonte has retained /hw/ much longer than Parry Sound; this pattern parallels the greater share of /hw/-ful Scots and Irish speakers in Almonte’s early immigration and accords with Parry Sound’s increased outside contact due to a rising tourism industry. Both communities uniformly exhibit more /hw/ in content words than in function words as the feature recedes to total absence for speakers born in the 1950s. This pattern is an example of linguistic order persisting during obsolescence.

Analysis of interventions addressing the nutrition status of seniors in Ontario

Analysis of interventions addressing the nutrition status of seniors in Ontario Lauren McKay MPH, Assistant Coordinator COVID-19 Food Program, The Gathering Food Centre Julia Ianiro MPH RD, Public Health Dietitian, North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit Cameron

Washing Machine Filters Reduce Microfiber Emissions: Evidence From a Community-Scale Pilot in Parry Sound, Ontario

Washing clothing is a known pathway for microfibers to reach the environment. Previous research has investigated microfiber capture close to the source (i.e., the washing machine), and demonstrated washing machine filters as a potential mitigation strategy. Widespread deployment into homes may be an effective solution to prevent microfiber emissions. Here, we investigated the effectiveness of washing machine filters at the level of a community. We installed filters in 97 homes in a small town, representing approximately 10% of households connected to the municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). We evaluated treated final effluent and found a significant reduction in microfibers after filter installation. Furthermore, lint samples from filters revealed an average weekly lint capture of 6.4 g, equivalent to 179,200–2,707,200 microfibers. This research shows that microfiber filters on washing machines are effective at scale, and this result can help inform policy decisions to reduce microfiber emissions from laundering textiles.

Agricultural Persistence and Potentials on the Edge of Northern Ontario

AbstractDrawing on farmers’ lived experiences, I explore factors that shape agricultural persistence in the Parry Sound District, Ontario, Canada. Local farming is embedded in broader contexts and is place‐based and specific. Agricultural persistence and resilience are shaped in part through individual factors, such as flexibility in response to change, the valuing of local agricultural heritage, and the determination to farm. However, attention to specific agricultural needs is critically necessary to help ensure agricultural futures in the district. I demonstrate the ways that attention to place‐based experiences pinpoints the need for localized understandings and supports to ensure agricultural viability and contribute to diverse and valued visions of agriculture and food production within the province.

Assessing geographic and industry-related trends in bladder cancer in Ontario: A population-based study.

Bladder cancer (BC) is the fifth most prevalent cancer in Canada, with 9000 Canadians diagnosed each year. While smoking is the most important risk factor, environmental and occupational carcinogens have been found to significantly contribute to BC rates. As Canada is highly reliant on natural resource industries, this study seeks to identify geographical and industry-related trends of BC rates in Ontario. The 1991 and 2001 Canadian Census Health and Environment Cohort (CanCHEC; Statistics Canada) was used, along with individual years of census data. Maps identifying hot and cold spots for BC within Ontario were generated, and the former were assessed for industry patterns between location and BC rates. Cox proportional hazards models were run for each age cohort to predict the likelihood of developing BC by industry of work. Significant geographical and industrial trends in BC rates were identified. For 1991-2001, hot spots included the Cochrane, Manitoulin, Parry Sound, and Sudbury (90% confidence interval [CI]), and Nipissing and Temiskaming (95% CI) regions. Toronto and York were cold spots. Concurrently, metal (p=0.039), paper and publishing (p=0.0062), and wood and furniture (p<0.0001) industries had increased rates of BC. Notably, these industries had high employment density in our hot spot areas and low density in our cold spots. Significant geographical and industrial BC trends were found in Northern Ontario regions reliant on heavy employment in natural resource-based industries, such as forestry, agriculture, and wood/paper. These findings may inform future screening guidelines and aid in identifying individuals at risk of BC development.

Nd isotope mapping of a tectonic window near Chalk River, Ontario: Implications for large-scale Grenvillian tectonics

Over forty new Nd isotope determinations are presented for granitoid orthogneisses from the Chalk River area, on the border between Ontario and Quebec in the SW Grenville Province. TDM model ages provide evidence for a tectonic window through the allochthonous belt into the Grenvillian parautochthon in the Chalk River area. This tectonic window constrains the location of the main ramp of the Allochthon Boundary Thrust southeast of the Chalk River area. However, the structure of the tectonic window has been complicated by down-faulting on the Ontario side of the Ottawa River, due to reactivation of late Precambrian normal faulting associated with the Ottawa–Bonnechere graben. Thus, on the Ontario side of the border, the surface expression of the tectonic window is represented by a strongly sheared tectonic duplex that underlies the main allochthon. However, the lower section of a 1 km-deep borehole drilled by Canadian Nuclear Laboratories has TDM model ages indicating penetration into the underlying parautochthon. The new data, combined with previous Nd isotope mapping and Lithoprobe seismic reflection results, point to a relatively constant thickness for the exhumed Muskoka allochthon. By showing that this exhumation occurred immediately below the Central Metasedimentary Belt boundary, this evidence strongly supports a ramp-flat thrusting model for the SW Grenville province. This model greatly reduces the likelihood of major crustal exhumation to the NW of Parry Sound domain, thus removing the theoretical basis for pervasive southeast directed orogenic collapse across the Ontario gneiss belt.

Challenging the Bleak Climate Forecast for Georgian Bay (Updated)

‘State of the Bay’ is an initiative of the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve (GBBR) which has forecast that water temperatures in Georgian Bay Ontario “are warming” and could rise by “10°C this century within coastal ecosystems”, and warns of “catastrophic events”. These claims are evaluated herein from year-round government records at 11 weather stations surrounding Georgian Bay, and June-October records at the two moored buoys in the water. [Note: Since this paper was first published in 2020 some GBBR claims have been moderated but claims of ‘warming’ have been retained. Air and water temperatures in this study are now updated to include 2020.] From the mid-1940s, Georgian Bay waterfront towns have followed a cycle of cooling to about 1980, warming to the mid-2000s, and then cooling in the last 15-20 years. A rough estimate of cooling rates of air temperatures is -0.20°C/decade since 2005 and -0.40°C/decade since 2010. Surface water in northern Georgian Bay has cooled at -0.10°C/decade since 2005. In the south, cooling was -0.24°C/decade since 2004-2006, cooling in June - July, warming in August - September, and constant in October. ‘Extreme highs’ and ‘extreme lows’ in Wiarton show cooling of -0.31°C/decade and -0.36°C/decade for 2000-2020, and extreme temperatures in Collingwood and Parry Sound have cooled since 2000 and 2005 respectively. There is no sign of warming of air or water over the last 15 years. Forecasts are inherently difficult for natural rhythms, and are critically flawed when linear trends through non-linear cyclical data are extrapolated into the future.

Effects of vessel size and trawling on estimates of pelagic fish backscatter in Lake Huron

Integrated acoustic and netting surveys are conducted in marine and freshwater environments to assess the status of fisheries resources and study fish population dynamics. Vessel avoidance by fish, due to noise generated by the survey vessel or from simultaneous trawl operations, can bias acoustic estimates of fish density. Unlike in marine systems, few studies have assessed vessel avoidance in freshwaters, including the Laurentian Great Lakes. Annual acoustic and netting surveys have been conducted in Parry Sound, a coastal embayment of Georgian Bay, Lake Huron (Ontario, Canada). Parry Sound supports one of the lake’s few rehabilitated native lake trout Salvelinus namaycush populations, as well as abundant pelagic prey fish. In 2014–2017, night-time fisheries acoustic surveys were conducted with a 120 kHz transducer while intermittently deploying a pelagic trawl from an 18.9 m long vessel, a typical size of vessel used for acoustic surveying on the Laurentian Great Lakes. In 2017, a simultaneous acoustic survey was conducted from a 7 m long vessel with a 120 kHz transducer. To assess potential bias associated with trawling, fish backscatter was compared before, during, and after trawl operation. Furthermore, to assess potential bias associated with vessel size, fish backscatter was compared between the large and small vessel surveys. Fish backscatter was significantly lower and deeper during and after trawl deployment compared to immediately before, suggesting fish avoided the trawling vessel. In contrast, there was no significant difference in fish backscatter between the large and small vessel, although mean backscatter depth was slightly deeper from the large vessel. These results show bias from avoidance is possible in the fish density estimates obtained from hydroacoustic and trawling surveys in large freshwater ecosystems.

Avoiding innocence: unsettling white guilt

In this anecdotal article, I employ Eva Mackey’s concept of settler uncertainty to analyse my place in settler colonialism. I grew up in the quintessential Canadian setting of Parry Sound, Ontario ...

Evaluating Benthic Recovery Decades after a Major Oil Spill in the Laurentian Great Lakes.

The long-term effects of oil spills on freshwater organisms have been little studied. In 1950, a large oil spill (10 million L) covered the harbor area of Parry Sound, Ontario, the deepest port in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Ecological impacts were not studied at the time, but 25 years later three-quarters of the Chironomus cucini larvae (Insecta, Diptera, Chironomidae) living in the harbor area were reported to be deformed. We returned six decades after the spill and found that the frequency of deformities had returned to background levels and that the community of burrowing invertebrates has largely recovered. By dating sediment cores and measuring the depth distribution of oils, we conclude that, although the oil persists six decades after the spill, sufficient uncontaminated sediment has covered the oil thereby putting it out of reach of most burrowing animals. Provided that the sediment remains undisturbed, the buried oil is unlikely to exert further negative effects on the biota in spite of the fact that it will likely persist for centuries.

Tectonic and chemical implications of cathodoluminescent microstructures in quartz, Parry Sound domain, Ontario, Canada

Cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging of quartz in orthogneiss of the Parry Sound domain, Grenville Province, Ontario, Canada, reveals four dark microstructures—medium-dark grains, mantles, sinuous lines, and straight lines. The Parry Sound domain experienced granulite-facies deformation and metamorphism followed by variable degrees of amphibolite-facies retrogression associated with the development of retrograde shear zones. We integrate our observations of CL-visible quartz microstructures with structures observable with optical and scanning transmission electron microscopy, analyses of water species concentration, and trace element distribution in quartz, as well as with microstructures in plagioclase, to determine their characteristics and elucidate their timing and mechanisms of formation relative to the deformational history. Medium-dark grains are primarily located in and near kilometer-scale shear zones at the margins of the Parry Sound domain, have notably darker cores than most samples in the interior, and may have higher water contents than other samples in the interior. These grains formed during late shearing, at a lower temperature than CL-bright grains; they thus provide evidence that the large shear system narrowed with time. Dark mantles occur at grain boundaries and correlate with higher concentrations of Fe. They formed after the first shearing event, but while still at amphibolite facies, and they provide evidence for post-kinematic alteration at grain boundaries. Dark sinuous lines correspond to subgrain boundaries that formed after retrograde shearing, but while still at amphibolite facies. Dark straight lines correspond to fluid inclusion trails and most likely formed at low temperatures and pressures during exhumation.

A revised model for the crustal structure of the SW Grenville Province, Ontario, Canada

AbstractThe Grenville Province forms the exhumed remnants of a 1.1 Ga collisional orogeny that telescoped an older continental margin. Terranes with distinct crustal formation ages can be mapped using Nd isotopes, revealing a ramp–flat thrust structure. The ramp is identified by the presence of retrogressed eclogites, and its trajectory is refined using Nd model ages. The main allochthon is locally overlain by the Parry Sound klippe, but is also underlain by a tectonic duplex. Northwest-directed nappes represent remnants of a corrugated thrust sheet, but a ring-shaped remnant was also preserved where the thrust sheet was down-buckled under the dense rocks of Parry Sound domain.

Calcite twinning strain variations across the Proterozoic Grenville orogen and Keweenaw-Kapuskasing inverted foreland, USA and Canada

We report the calcite twinning strain results of a traverse across the Grenville orogen from Parry Sound, Ontario (NW) to Ft. Ann, New York (SE), including the younger, adjacent Ordovician Taconic allochthon. Fifty four carbonates (marbles, calcite veins, Ordovician limestone) were collected resulting in 68 strain analyses on mechanically twinned calcite (n = 2337 grains) across the Central Gneiss Belt (CGB; 3 samples), the Central Metasedimentary Belt (CMB; 27 samples), the Central Granulite Terrane (CGT; Adirondack's; 13 samples) and the Ottawan Orogenic Lid (OOL; 11 samples). Twinning strains in the greenschist-grade OOL marbles preserve N–S shortening and U-Pb titanite ages (∼1150 Ma; n = 4) document these marbles formed during the Shawinigan (1190–1140 Ma) part of the Grenville orogen. From northwest to southeast, the Ottawan (1095–1020 Ma) twinning strain is dominantly a layer-parallel shortening fabric oriented N–S (Parry Sound), then becomes parallel to the Grenville thrust direction (NW–SE) across the CMB to the Adirondack Highlands where the sub-horizontal shortening strain becomes margin-parallel (SW–NE). Within the regional sample suite there are two areas studied in detail, the Bancroft shear zone (n = 11) and a roadcut on the southeast side of the Adirondack Mountains (Ft. Ann, NY; n = 8). Marbles from the Bancroft shear zone contain calcite grains with 2 sets of twin lamellae (e1 and e2). The better-developed e1 sets (n = 406) record a horizontal fabric oriented NW–SE whereas the younger e2 lamellae (n = 146) preserve a margin-parallel (SW–NE) horizontal fabric. Both the e1 and e2 strains record an overprint vertical shortening strain (NEV), perhaps related to extensional orogenic collapse. We also report an Ottawan orogen-aged granoblastic mylonite (1093 Ma, U-Pb zircon; 1102 Ma Ar-Ar biotite) in the Keweenaw thrust hanging wall 500 km inboard of the Grenville front and interpret the relations of Grenville-Keweenaw far-field dynamics.

SketchUp as a Construction Tool for Large-Scale Subsurface Structures: Three-Dimensional Visualization of the Parry Sound Domain, Grenville Province, Ontario

Three-dimensional visualization of subsurface geological boundaries can help researchers gain a better understanding of complex crustal structures in ancient orogenic belts such as the Grenville Province of Ontario, Canada. In this article, the geological structure of the Parry Sound Domain is visualized using SketchUp, with geological control from a regional gravity survey, Lithoprobe seismic transects line 30 and 31, and surface geological boundaries. The multilobed structure of the Parry Sound Domain is part of a tectonic outlier that lies on top of an orogenic thrust stack. Each of the three lobes exhibits a steeper-dipping west side to depth and a shallowly dipping east side to depth. Prior interpretations of the Parry Sound Domain's subsurface structure are modified on the grounds of a multi-disciplinary approach. Three-dimensional visualization of the Parry Sound Domain will improve the current understanding of the subsurface structure in the south-western Grenville Province.

Lake sediments as natural seismographs: Earthquake-related deformations (seismites) in central Canadian lakes

Central Canada experiences numerous intraplate earthquakes but their recurrence and source areas remain obscure due to shortness of the instrumental and historic records. Unconsolidated fine-grained sediments in lake basins are ‘natural seismographs’ with the potential to record ancient earthquakes during the last 10,000years since the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Many lake basins are cut into bedrock and are structurally-controlled by the same Precambrian basement structures (shear zones, terrane boundaries and other lineaments) implicated as the source of ongoing mid-plate earthquake activity. A regional seismic sub-bottom profiling of lakes Gull, Muskoka, Joseph, Rousseau, Ontario, Wanapitei, Fairbanks, Vermilion, Nipissing, Georgian Bay, Mazinaw, Simcoe, Timiskaming, Kipawa, Parry Sound and Lake of Bays, encompassing a total of more than 2000 kilometres of high-resolution track line data supplemented by multibeam and sidescan sonar survey records show a consistent sub-bottom stratigraphy of relatively-thick lowermost lateglacial facies composed of interbedded semi-transparent mass flow facies (debrites, slumps) and rhythmically-laminated silty-clays. Mass flows together with cratered (‘kettled’) lake floors and associated deformations reflect a dynamic ice-contact glaciolacustrine environment. Exceptionally thick mass flow successions in Lake Timiskaming along the floor of the Timiskaming Graben within the seismically-active Western Quebec Seismic Zone (WQSZ), point to a higher frequency of earthquakes and slope failure during deglaciation and rapid glacio-isostatic rebound though faulting continues into the postglacial. Lateglacial faulting, diapiric deformation and slumping of coeval lateglacial sediments is observed in Parry Sound, Lake Muskoka and Lake Joseph, which are all located above prominent Precambrian terrane boundaries. Lateglacial sediments are sharply overlain by relatively-thin rhythmically-laminated and often semi-transparent postglacial silty-clay laminations. Postglacial neotectonic activity is recorded by co-seismic water-escape structures, faults, slumps and debris flows in Lake Simcoe (above a terrane boundary) and especially within lakes Timiskaming and Kipawa, recording ongoing deformation within the WQSZ. High resolution seismo-stratigraphic data presented here support the model that ongoing mid-plate earthquake activity is a consequence of brittle deformation of the upper crust of the North American plate. Such activity appears to have been greatest during deglaciation but continues today.

Nd isotope mapping of allochthonous Grenvillian klippen: Evidence for widespread ‘ramp-flat’ thrust geometry in the SW Grenville Province

Over sixty new Nd isotope analyses are used to constrain the extent of several small Grenvillian lithotectonic domains that form erosional outliers of the Grenvillian Allochthonous Polycyclic Belt. The identification of these tectonic klippen, when combined with previous mapping of large nappes, shows that the Allochthonous Polycyclic Belt forms a mid-upper crustal sub-horizontal thrust sheet that was transported to the NW over the Archean-Proterozoic parautochthon. This thrust sheet was corrugated by folding and dissected by erosion, leaving the klippen as synformal remnants. Nd isotope mapping of these remnants, when coupled with seismic reflection data from the Lithoprobe programme, suggests that these thrust sheets were exhumed on relatively steep crustal-scale ramps before transportation to the NW on sub-horizontal shear zones. This type of thrust geometry, previously observed in the central—eastern Grenville Province was termed ‘ramp-flat geometry’ by Rivers et al. (2012). Re-examination of Lithoprobe seismic data for the Georgian Bay transect shows that reflectors under the Parry Sound klippe have a synformal character in the mid crust, suggesting that this is also part of an undulose sub-horizontal thrust sheet exhumed on a steep crustal-scale ramp, rather than the previous model of a very long ramp with low inclination. Hence we argue that the Georgian Bay section has a geometry resembling the ramp-flat trajectory of the Allochthon Boundary Thrust previously discerned elsewhere in the Grenville Province.