Geology – Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists

Reading the Rocks: A Visit to Almonte’s Metcalfe Geoheritage Park

Wednesday October 25, 2017

250 Almonte St., Almonte, Ontario

The display specimens at Canada’s first municipal geoheritage park, in Almonte, Ontario, collectively illustrate many of the features that allow geologists to unravel Earth’s remarkable geological history. “Reading the rocks” with Neil Carleton, on our visit to Almonte’s Metcalfe Geoheritage Park, will take us on a journey far back in time to colliding continents, towering mountains, tropical ocean depths, and a landscape locked in ice.

Neil, a geologist, naturalist and well-known retired educator, is one of the founding members of MVFN.

Take home a sample of genuine Canadian Shield schist. If your camera phone has an app for scanning QR codes, be sure to bring it along.

Time: 10 AM to noon

Location and directions: the entrance to Metcalfe Geoheritage Park, at 250 Almonte Street, is at the bottom of “Bay Hill” below the lower falls in Almonte. From Hwy 29: turn left onto Almonte St. at the lights (if approaching from Pakenham) or right (if approaching from Carleton Place direction) and proceed down the hill (the geoheritage park is on the left on the river side); if coming from downtown Almonte via Mill Street, turn left from Mill Street onto Almonte Street and follow along a short distance downhill to the Almonte Geoheritage Park on the right.

Difficulty: Easy, even ground, cement walkway; less than 0.5 km of walking; bench available on site and picnic tables nearby, but there will be significant standing; wheel chair accessible.

Cost: no cost

Parking: there is free parking on-site and across the road.

Facilities: there is a washroom on-site at the opposite end of the park closer to the hydro station and another reached via a short walk downtown to the Heritage Mall. There are also picnic tables.

Bring: protection from the sun and inclement weather, drinking water, and a camera.

Pre-Registration: pre-registration is required. To pre-register, or for more information, please contact Gretta Bradley at

Neil Carleton will lead the outing

A few of the rock samples at Metcalfe Geoheritage Park. photo P. Donaldson

Geoheritage Tour with Allan Donaldson

This full day geology tour for MVFN members and friends will be led by Dr. Allan Donaldson. The tour will start at the outdoor display of rock specimens at Almonte’s Metcalfe Geoheritage Park. We will spend the morning there discussing the rocks on display, as well as a suite of additional hand specimens of rocks and fossils representative of local geology.

After lunch (from approx. 11:45 am – 1 pm), the tour will continue with an afternoon drive and visits to outcrops of both Precambrian bedrock and fossil-bearing Paleozoic strata.

Date: Saturday, June 13, 2015

Time: 9:30 am

Location: Meet at the parking lot, Metcalfe Geoheritage Park, Almonte St. (South of Mill St.) in Almonte. In the afternoon we will be going to two other sites, with a return to Almonte at approximately 4:30 pm. Please arrange to car pool to minimize the number of vehicles for travel in the afternoon.

Bring: lunch, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, bug repellant, and hiking boots (the afternoon sites are on open but uneven rocky areas free of brush and boggy areas, so wear hiking boots rather than rubber boots). We will be observing rather than collecting, so also consider bringing a hand lens and camera.

You must pre-register for this event: please contact Gretta Bradley at or 613-256-4202. Please remember to give your name and the event/s you are registering for.

NOTE: Our geoheritage tour leader, Dr.Allan Donaldson (B.Sc. Geol. Eng., Queen’s; Ph.D. Sedimentology, Johns Hopkins), spent 10 years as a Research Scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada investigating Precambrian strata in Canada’s northern Territories. He then joined Carleton University’s Department of Geology, where he taught for 30 years and during this time he and his graduate students continued research work in the north. Soon after retiring in 1996, Allan founded the Ottawa-Gatineau Geoheritage Initiative, an organization devoted to advancing public appreciation of the underpinnings of the landscape: via talks, field excursions and networking with other nature-based groups. In the past, Allan has led several other geology tours for MVFN.

Geodiversity: The Foundation for Biodiversityi a lecture by Allan Donaldson

Press Release

Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists

September 9, 2008

Submitted by Pauline Donaldson

Journey back in geological time with Professor Donaldson to discover the secrets to Lanark County’s astonishing biodiversity, as MVFN celebrates twenty years

The Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists’ (MVFN) new lecture series From the Ground, Up: Celebrating the Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists’ First 20 Years will explore local natural heritage literally from the ground, up beginning September 18th with the presentation Geodiversity: The Foundation for Biodiversity by Professor Allan Donaldson.

Earth Scientists such as Dr. Donaldson study ancient events revealed through patterns in Precambrian rocks (over 4 billion years old) and the sequence of events shown in more recent geological formations to understand present landforms and how life itself arose. While officially retired from a distinguished teaching and research career at Carleton University, Dr. Donaldson continues to inspire newcomers to the field of geology through lectures, local geological tours and as Chair of Friends of Canadian Geoheritage. This group, launched by Donaldson and others in 2002 strives to make geoscience, or how Earth ‘works,’ more accessible. A key aspect is preservation of geoheritage or the ‘rocks that talk’ whether they are in heritage buildings, unique features in road cuts, quarries, or unique sites. For example, earlier this year Donaldson and teacher Neil Carleton spearheaded a successful effort to make Almonte’s Metcalfe Park the first municipal geoheritage park. It should soon be home to fascinating rock specimens ‘georescued’ from Hwy 417 and become a jumping off point for geoscience education and tours.

Did you know that where we walk today whales once swam in arctic-like waters of the Champlain Sea, whose shoreline can still be traced on the local landscape? Learn how the extraordinary geodiversity of Lanark County gave rise to the astonishing diversity of life which now inhabits the Canadian Shield and St. Lawrence Limestone Plains of our Lanark County. To appreciate the rocks that form our landscape, bring your imagination on a journey through time with Professor Donaldson, to ocean depths, colliding continents and a landscape locked in ice, as MVFN celebrates twenty years of natural world enjoyment and education.

The founding meeting of the Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists was held in April of 1988 at the Carleton Place Canoe Club. A Steering Committee, consisting of Steve Coaker, Carleton Place; the late Marilyn Wood, Beckwith; Mike Yee, Neil Carleton, Almonte and Cliff Bennett, Ramsay, presented a comprehensive set of by-laws for approval at this meeting. The first Annual General Meeting of MVFN was held at the Mill of Kintail, June 26, 1988, attended by twenty-nine persons. Following a picnic and nature ramble, a slate of officers was presented and Ken Bennett, Beckwith, became the club’s first president.

Professor Donaldson’s presentation is 7:30 p.m., September 18th at the Almonte United Church, 106 Elgin St., Almonte. All are welcome with a $5 fee for non-MVFN members. For further information, please contact MVFN’s Program Chair Cathy Keddy at 613-257-3089 or see MVFN’s website at www.mvfn.ca .

From the Ground, Up: Celebrating Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists First 20 Years

From the Ground, Up: Celebrating the Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists’ First 20 Years

The Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists’ (MVFN) lecture series this year proudly celebrates the club’s first 20 years by looking at local natural heritage, literally from the ground up! The Fall lecture series gets underway September 18, 2008 with Geodiversity: The Foundation for Biodiversity, a lecture by Allan Donaldson, Chair of the Friends of Canadian Geoheritage, and Professor Emeritus, Carleton University.

Did you know that where we walk today was once the heart of a mountain buried beneath 30 km of rock, or flooded by the sea? From gneiss to marble, hills to valleys, and clay plains to rock barrens… is it any wonder that such extraordinary geodiversity gives rise to Lanark County’s astonishing biodiversity? To appreciate the rocks that form our familiar landscape, bring your imagination to this presentation by Dr. Donaldson for a journey far back in time to the ocean depths, erupting volcanoes, colliding and splitting continents, and a landscape locked in ice.

Then in October the lecture series continues with, Earth, Water, Fire: Our Natural Heritage a lecture by Ecologist, Dr. Paul Keddy, which will explore the unique beauty and ecology of our region- one often overlooked by outsiders and taken for granted by those who live here.

Dates for all the lectures in this years series are listed below and full details for each lecture will be posted here. Lectures are held on the third Thursday of the month (with a break for December) and begin at 7:30 pm at the Almonte United Church. All are welcome, with a $5 charge for non-members. For further information on the lecture series please contact MVFN’s Program Chair, Cathy Kedddy at 613-257-3089.

September 18
October 16
November 20
January 15, 2009
February 19
March 19
April 16