In the news

2025 | Former LDL research assistant named Director for the Women Geoscientists in Canada

In May 2025, LDL and UFV alumnus Cassandra Shewchuk was elected Director for the Women Geoscientists in Canada organization. We congratulate Cassandra and wish her the best in this new role.

The Women Geoscientist organization advocates and promotes gender diversity within the geosciences. To find out more about the organization check out their website.

2025 | UFV LDL to join Canada-wide research project in Antarctica

In late 2024, UFV’s LDL was invited to be a part of a research project which included the first all-Canadian research expedition to Antarctica in Spring 2025. Thomas James, a scientist for Natural Resources Canada, led a team of  15 scientists from different institutions and disciplines from across Canada to study the Antarctic Ice Sheet and the implications for sea level change, as well as environmental changes connected to a reduction in Antarctic sea ice, the ocean floor and contamination by microplastics in the sea water.

Thomas took several samples from beach ridges along the coastline of the Southern Shetland Islands off the tip off the Antarctic Peninsula which will be sent to UFV for luminescence analysis.

Read more about the project HERE.

2025 | Fieldwork in the interior of BC along the North Thompson River

From April 25 to 29, our postdoctoral fellows, Sam and Maria, and our newest honours student Justine Stoeckly went out in the field to collect modern sand samples along the North Thompson River for Justines honours project. Justine’s project is investigating the relationship between the luminescence properties of modern sediment and the geomorphological characteristics of the river along its length. Being and active and outdoorsy person herself, Justine was super excited to get her first fieldwork experience and learn how to sample for luminescence dating. Before the trip, potential sampling locations were scoped out on Google Earth, leading to a map with 50+ possible stops.

On Friday, they started their journey to drive to Kamloops. First stop was the Blue Moose in Hope - a tradition that has to be honoured every time a fieldtrip goes out into the interior. After petting the moose for good luck and getting breakfast, they continued towards Kamloops. Before the end of the day, Justine had taken her first two samples from east and west of Kamloops Lake. Kamloops Lake plays an important role in Justines project as a major sediment sink for material transported down the North Thompson River.

On Saturday, the group set off towards Valemount and collected six samples from sandbars in the North Thompson River. Some locations were previously marked on Google Earth and were fairly easily accessible. Other locations required some bush whacking and parkouring over logs and branches. The scenery also did not disappoint.

Sunday started off with an early breakfast and bakery visit in Valemount. First stop was slightly further north at the Fraser River where Sam collected a sample for his project and many cool rocks were collected (and smashed). On the way back to Kamloops Justine took four more samples. The official end of fieldwork was celebrated over refreshing drinks at Brown’s and a friendly, but competitive game of Scategories (Maria won).

Justine, Sam and Maria returned to Abbotsford on Monday with ten brand new samples for Justine's honours project, many great photos and good memories of fieldwork in the interior.

2025 | LDL students participate in Student Research Day

Every year the Research Office at UFV organizes Student Research Day where student have the opportunity to present research they have undertaken that semester – either in form of a poster or a 2-min microlecture. In 2024, Nicola Ferguson participated with a poster showcasing her research in the Albany Pine Bush, New Jersey. And in the following year, Sierra Colpitts presented her project for which she analysed different luminescence signals of a potassium-rich feldspar sample from the Thompson River, BC. Both posters were judged highly by faculty judges, but unfortunately neither were awarded a prize.

You can find both posters pinned on the poster boards in the hallway outside the luminescence dating lab (Abbotsford campus, Building A, 4^th floor).

2025 | Postdocs participate in Microlectures event at UFV

Every year the Research Office at UFV organizes the Faculty Microlectures event where staff and faculty can present their research in a 2 min presentation to an audience. This year both our postdocs, Sam and Maria, participated and presented their recent work.

Maria opened the event with a broad overview of what can be achieved with luminescence dating and how collaboration with other researchers, departments and disciplines can enhance the quality of the research conducted by looking at problems from different angles. She explained how luminescence dating can give very detailed answers to research questions and can support the results from other investigations (exp. geology, sedimentology etc.).

Sam presented his latest project where  he is investigating the rate at which river channels migrate across their floodplains.  River migration rate is a key control of how long sediment is stored in floodplains for as it travels on its journey from where it is formed in mountainous areas to where it eventually ends up on the ocean floor. How long sediment is stored for before it is eroded by the river controls the timescales over which chemical weathering to occur, which has important impacts for the carbon cycle. Sam’s project is seeking to decrease the time and cost of dating river sediments so that scientists can make quicker assessments of long-term migration rates and sediment storage timescales. Currently, he is working on the Nordenskiold River in the Yukon, with plans to expand this work to other systems.

Both presentations are uploaded on the Research Office’s YouTube channel.

2024 | Fraser Valley Regional Science Fair

At the end of 2023, the LDL was contacted by a student – Xauni de Figueiroa. She was interested in participating in the Fraser Valley Regional Science Fair in Apil 2024 with a project centered around luminescence dating. After meeting her and seeing how engaged and enthusiastic she was, they agreed to help her with a project.

Xauni prepared two sediment samples from the Pine Barrens in New Jersey, USA, and extracted quartz grains to eventually estimated a burial age for her samples. These samples were part of a bigger project about dune-field mobilization and stabilization near the maximum extent of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Xauni presented her project at UFV together with fellow student researchers. Her project was successful, and she advanced to the National Science Fair in Ottawa, where she enjoyed presenting her research among her peers.