05/19/2004

Dave McCormack Presents at Northwest Geological Society Meeting

Dave McCormack presented a summary of the quaternary geology of the Brightwater tunnel project to the Northwest Geological Society’s meeting on May 11, 2004. McCormack’s presentation discussed the geologic challenges of the project and the potential implications to the tunnel construction program as well as the overall cost if the geology was not well understood.

Because of the need for good geologic control, a number of geologic techniques were employed for determining the age and origin of the sediments. The result of the geologic analysis was a strong understanding of the type of deposits, their lateral extent, and the type of variability that could be expected for these deposits. Results indicate that there may be deposits from as many as 15 distinct glacial and nonglacial climatic intervals. The recent discovery of possible faults in the area of the project heightened the need for good stratigraphic and age date control for these sediments.

To learn more about the Brightwater Tunnel project, read our case study. To read an abstract of Dave’s talk, click here.