Geological mapping in Greenland – same, same

Geological mapping hasn’t really changed very much in the hundred and fifty odd years that geologists have been producing maps in earnest. Sixteen years ago, the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland published the last remaining 1:500,000 scale geological map of Greenland. It was a milestone marking the culmination of more than fifty years of mapping in some of the remotest parts of the Arctic. A commemorative stamp was released. And a journalist from a Danish magazine came to the Geological Survey with the idea of publishing an article about mapping – then and now – how it had changed over time. The photographs to go alongside the article would feature one of the older mapping geologists who had been working for the survey for decades, and on the facing page would be one of the next generation of mappers. That was me. Back then, I was one of the youngest mapping geologists in the survey. The photographer for the magazine wanted us dressed up in our field clothes, holding equipment we would typically use in the field – my colleague with his traditional mapping equipment from the fifties, and me with mine from the early 2000s. The problem was, we didn’t look much different. The field clothes were pretty much the same. His were just a bit more woolly and mine a bit more Gore-texy. And the basic gear we had – a compass, a hand lens, a hammer – were exactly the same. When the photographer saw us he looked deflated and asked if I could find some modern technology I could add to my outfit. So I slung a GPS around my neck. That was about the best I could do. And despite the fact that rugged field tablet computers are common-place now (they weren’t sixteen years ago), so that one can see exactly where one is on a digital topographic and geological map, or any other kind of map you happen to have. And despite the fact that exploration geologists now often use portable XRF machines to test the chemical composition of rocks in the field (again, they didn’t sixteen years ago), the fact remains that really having a feel for the landscape and geology around you as you stand there in the midst of it, amongst the hills, in the rain, amidst the mosquitoes – that’s something you can’t really solve with technology. You need to solve it with your brain, and with geological mapping skills that, in essence, are exactly the same now as they were decades ago. It takes training – absolutely. But it also takes a certain art that comes from a love of being in the field and trying to solve three dimensional spatial problems. Some people are very talented at this. Some people aren’t.

In the days before field tablet computers and before even hand-held GPS equipment was common, geologists positioned themselves in the field using topographic maps and aerial photographs. You would stand in the field with both, and simply look around to figure out where you were. And then you’d go from there in making a geological map of the rocks you were standing on and that you could see around you. So mornings in field camp often consisted of sorting through aerial photographs, over coffee and cereal, selecting the right ones to cover the ground you expected to walk over during the day. These photographs, or transparent overlays on them, were what you would hand-draw your map onto. There was a certain charm to it, and a pleasure in orienting yourself manually. But I’m not so disappointed that technology has taken us a bit further along the line, and that I can now simply turn on the GPS in my tablet and see exactly where I am. At least this technology solves some of our problems, if not the problem of understanding and mapping the geology properly.

A visiting geologist on one of our mapping programs in Greenland years ago was one of those who did not have that sense of being able to orient himself – someone who a field tablet computer might well benefit. On the first morning in camp, after being given the relevant aerial photographs for the area he should map during the day, his colleague watched as he walked away in completely the wrong direction. During the day, he was spotted on distant hills that he should not have been on. And finally, having returned to camp at the end of the day, he announced vociferously that the aerial photographs he had were wrong.