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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Geologist Hendrik Falk completed his master's thesis in Yellowknife in 1987 and has lived in the city for the following 26 years, and now he's being recognized by his peers for his work in Canada's North.

"It was a gratifying surprise," he said, of winning the J.C. Sproule Memorial Plaque. "It was rewarding to see other people on the outside noticing the work we do at the Northwest Territories Geoscience Office."

The J.C. Sproule Memorial Plaque is awarded by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Council to members who are recognized for their work in promoting appreciation for Canada's Arctic resource potential.

In addition to the number of years he has worked in the North, Falk has been involved in mentoring program, where students are placed on projects in the NWT whenever there are "more rocks than there are people to look at them."

"My function is to help (students) understand the work up here," he said. "What kind of camp gear they need, how the bugs and bears really are, how to operate safely in the North, what kind of minerals and rocks we have."

When Falk was a student looking for a master's thesis project in the late 1980s, Yellowknife's wilderness was an appealing opportunity to the Ottawa student, who grew up in Toronto.

The abundance of opportunity and supportive geoscience community were what subsequently kept him here, he said.

"Once you're up here there is a wealth of problems, projects, and things to do," he said. "It really is a land of opportunity."

He added there are other opportunities available when the job market slows. For instance, he briefly taught a computer course through Aurora College when few people were looking for geologists.

While the commodities, tools, and people may have changed since he first arrived in 1987, the quest remains the same, said Falk.

Diamonds may be the new hot commodity and gold the old one, but finding anything in the NWT still requires navigating expanses of unstudied, remote land, he said.

Falk, who has served as president of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists (NAPEG), currently works as a district geologist in Yellowknife for Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.

His job includes, as with many geologist's jobs, piecing together clues to better understand the history of a particular rock mineralization or piece of land.

"It's fascinating," said Falk. "It's like a murder mystery."

Besides well-known mining applications, Falk also works on other projects such as winter road construction.

To study the potential affects of development on or near a particular lake, Falk and his team may drill into lake sediment, when the lake is not frozen, with an aluminium structure containing dry ice. The structure pulls out a slab of frozen sediment.

Years of sediment are piled in layers with about one year per layer, much like tree rings, said Falk.

Through this method, geologists can look back at more than 8,000 years of the lake's history.

The information indicates what the lake was like during warmer and colder periods, and suggests how the lake may react during similar temperature changes.

For instance, if someone was considering building a high-use winter road near the lake, the information may tell you at what temperature the lake will be affected.

"Geology is cool, simple as that," he said.

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