QUINLAN IN CANADA

Jim Quinlan held a teaching post-doctoral fellowship at McMaster University in the early 1970s. His primary undergraduate teaching commitments were in topographic survey methods, which were extended in the summer field seasons with precision surveying of the location of principal cave entrances, sinkholes, springs and other pertinent features in the major alpine karsts at Crowsnest Pass (Alberta/BC) and Castleguard Mountain (Banff National Park, Alberta). As part of a contract between the author and Parks Canada he prepared the first map depicting the distribution of carbonate and sulphate strata in outcrop in Canada, plus the sub-crop of the extensive salt deposits beneath the Prairie Provinces – an exhaustive undertaking: together we then prepared the first written assessment of the nature and extent of karst phenomena in the different geologic regions. Jim also organised the first ‘Friends of Karst’ meeting. His stay with the McMaster karst research group was most stimulating and academically profitable.