The Acasta Gneiss stands as one of the most compelling subjects in geoscience, offering a unique perspective on the early Earth. This ancient rock formation, located in the Northwest Territories of Canada, is a key to unlocking the mysteries of our planet’s formative years. Crystal World Founder and Geologist Tom Kapitany undertook a field trip in 2017 to collect museum specimens. ( see field notes below).
“We made it to the site of the oldest rock in the world, the Acasta Gneiss. It’s 4.03 Billion year old crustal rock only found in a small area just south of the Arctic circle. The weather cleared as we flew north. We had to drop off fuel to ensure we could return home and it had to be hidden under a tin boat from one of the outlying fishing cabins.The tin boat protected it from the bears which seem to like drinking aviation gas.
We flew in a de Havilland Beaver float plane, that was build in the 1950’s. They are very reliable in the Arctic weather as long as they are well maintained. Daley, our pilot carried a shot gun to protect us from the bears, it was loaded with rubber bullets in the chamber but he had real live ones as back up. We had bear sprays and bangers which are a bit like flares to scare the bears away. Fortunately we didn’t see any, as we made lots of noise to make them aware we were in the area.
We didn’t have a lot of ground time but we managed to collect some museum specimens as well as hand samples. “
