Geography and Environmental Studies

Facilities

Computing Facilities Laboratories

A200 and A237 Loeb Building
For computing advice, direction or problem-solving, please feel free to contact Steve Prashker, Departmental Geoprocessing Applications Analyst, A239 Loeb Building or call 613 520-2600 ext 2709.

The Department of Geography & Environmental Studies has two laboratories for Digital Cartography, Geographic Information Processing, and Remote Sensing. The main undergraduate laboratory, located in room A200 Loeb, contains 30 Pentium class PCs running Windows XP Pro and Linux. Each machine is configured with ArcView 3.3, ArcView 9.1 with Spatial Analyst and Network Analyst, MapInfo 4.1, CorelDraw 12, PCI Geomatica 9.1, Idrisi32 Version 2, CartaLinx and various other geoprocessing utilities. All machines have 120 Gb hard drives, 2 Gb RAM, 17" LCD colour monitors, DVD Burners, Floppy disk drives, USB 2.0 ports and are connected to a high speed network with full internet access. For hardcopy output, the laboratory also contains two laser printers: a Xerox Phaser 7300DN tabloid size colour laser printer and a Hewlett-Packard Laserjet 1200N letter size monochrome printer. Two small format (18" x 12") Summagraphics digitizing tablets are also available.

The graduate student laboratory, located in A237 Loeb, contains 20 Pentium class PCs. The machines have software and hardware configured as above.

The Geomorphology and Soils Laboratory

A120 Loeb Building

This lab is used normally for third and fourth year and graduate level courses.

Research Laboratories and Workshops

Laboratories: A109, A120, A121, A123 Loeb Building
Workshops: A104C, A106 Loeb Building

Research laboratory and workshop facilities include sections for studies in soil chemistry, soil thermodynamics, other geotechnical properties, microclimatology and microscopy and photography. There is a machine workshop and a woodwork shop. Scientific equipment worth special mention is as follows: controlled environment chamber (under construction); soil strength testing and consolidation equipment; thermo-electric freezing control systems; apparatus for the study of soil-water relations; monitoring equipment for microclimatological studies; air and water sampling equipment; and optical surveying and microscopy equipment. In these laboratories research is presently underway, for example, into the chemical properties of Leda clay in relation to landslide dangers and into the fundamental processes in the freezing and thawing of soils.

These facilities are used mainly for graduate student and faculty research although some fourth year honours students with special permission may work there. In addition, these laboratories are used from time to time by research groups from outside the university. Undergraduates interested in these facilities should contact David Bertram or Quang Ngo.

Geomatics and Landscape Ecology Research Laboratory (GLEL)

Nesbitt Building

A Carleton University Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) research laboratory founded in 2004. The focus of the GLEL is to advance habitat modeling/mapping and species conservation science through a synergistic integration of the research experience in Geomatics and Landscape Ecology of its founding members Dr. Lenore Fahrig (Department of Biology), Dr. Doug King (Geography & Environmental Studies), and Dr. Kathryn Lindsay (Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada).

Geomatics and Landscape Ecology Research Laboratory (GLEL) Web site

GSC-OCGS Geocryology Research Laboratory

Laboratories: A124, A125, A129, A139 Loeb Building
Technical Officer: David Bertram (A104C Loeb Building)
(Please contact Professor Burn and/or Carey for details and availability of equipment.)

A facility for laboratory investigations of geocryologic properties of earth materials was established jointly by Terrain Sciences Division of the Geological Survey of Canada and the Ottawa-Carleton Centre for Geoscience Studies in December 1995. The laboratory comprises high-precision equipment for calibration of field instruments and determination of soil and rock thermal properties, a cold room, several controlled-temperature chambers, frost heave test cells, and a range of data acquisition and control modules. The laboratory is intended for joint research on the nature and behaviour of freezing soils, to compliment larger-scale field investigations. The laboratory is located in Department of Geography space, on the first floor of the Loeb Building.

The laboratory can provide determinations of the thermal conductivity of rocks and soils using a divided bar, and of the unfrozen water content characteristics of freezing soils by time domain reflectometry. High-precision calibration of thermistors is a regular activity. Research conducted in the laboratory has considered the permeability of soils below 0º to organic contaminants, ice nucleation in soils, gas hydrate development in frozen soils, hillslope deformation under cyclic freezing and thawing, acid mine drainage under freezing conditions, and the development of electrical potentials during freezing of water.

Graduate students and faculty may use the laboratory to prepare instruments for field installation, to test materials for constituent properties, and to conduct research experiments.

Paleobiogeography Laboratory

A420C, A109 Loeb Building
Professor Pisaric

Includes research facilities for investigations of climate and vegetation change during the past 10,000 years. The laboratory has equipment for the analysis of fossils preserved in lake sediment as well as high resolution paleoecological studies using tree rings. Lake sediment facilities include a wet lab for pollen sample preparation, microscopes for pollen and charcoal analysis, pollen reference collection, Livingstone sediment corer, a surface sediment sampler and walk in cooler for sample storage. Tree ring facilities include Velmex measuring systems, increment borers, and analytic software for data analysis.

Maps and Other Cartographic Services

The Maps, Data and Government Information Centre (MADGIC) is the principal location for maps and other cartographic resources for teaching and research. MADGIC is located in the Extension of the MacOdrum Library on the main floor. The centre provides information service for cartographic resources such as maps, atlases, air photos, and digitized spatial data as well as mapping and graphical software (ArcView, MapInfo and Corel Draw). The Map Collection has extensive resources in both topographic and thematic maps. Ottawa-Carleton and Canadian maps have the strongest emphasis but coverage on a worldwide basis is also very well supported. Government information in all formats is located in MADGIC as is access to extensive Canadian microdata and Census boundary files made available by Carleton's membership in the Data Liberation Initiative. Access to remotely held resources is provided through public use Internet terminals located in the reference area in MADGIC and through the web site at http://www.library.carleton.ca/madgic/.