THE CANADIAN CORDILLERA GOOGLE EARTH MODEL

The ultimate goal of this project is to create a compiled geological map of the Canadian Cordillera, using available maps combined with unpublished MSc and PhD maps for preservation, research and educational purposes. These geological maps would be draped across topography in Google Earth®, and then transformed into 3-D images using cross-sections, SketchUp and COLLADA® to create custom sliders that drag these cross-sections up-and-down through topography. Some of these cross-sections would be cut-away and made query able using WxAzygy®. Links to Gigapan® images (macro and micro), along with available geochemical and geophysical data would be embedded in these maps for use as virtual field trips and lab exercises.

Our pilot Grotto Creek (McConnell Thrust Sheet, Front Ranges, Trans Canada Highway (TCH)) and Purcell Thrust (Rocky Mountain Trench, TCH) Google Earth® models are presented here to illustrate potential applications for this project. Robin Thompson developed the first draft of the Grotto Creek model from Jonathan Fell’s Introductory Field School Project. Mladen Dordevic refined the custom slider for the cross-section and developed a second custom slider that reconstructs the development of the folds and faults in the Grotto Creek area. Using WxAzygy®, Scott Shipley created a cut-away query able version of one cross-section (cover page for Geoscience Canada 2012). This model has been used to create a Youtube video illustrating the difference between true and apparent thicknesses.

The Purcell Thrust is a regional out-of-sequence thrust fault that juxtaposes the eastern margin of the Selkirk Fan structure (Dogtooth Duplex) of the Omineca Crystalline Belt over the western margin of the Porcupine Creek Anticlinorium of the Foreland Belt. Throughout much of the study area, the Purcell Thrust is offset by the Trench Normal Faults of the Rocky Mountain Trench. An unpublished map of the Purcell Thrust will be presented here, along with a SketchUp model that illustrates the relationship between the Purcell Thrust and the Trench Normal Faults. This Google Earth® model could be used to guide students towards recognizing out-of-sequence thrust faults or for examining the interaction between different fault systems.