Eric Walter Mountjoy (1931 – 18 June 2010) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

geologist, who spent much of his career as a professor at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

. He was a foremost expert on

sedimentology Sedimentology encompasses the study of modern sediments such as sand, silt, and clay, and the processes that result in their formation (erosion and weathering), transport, deposition and diagenesis. Sedimentologists apply their understanding of m ...

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

reefs A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition of sand or wave eros ...

, carbonate diagenesis, porosity development and the

structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

. His research has provided useful applications to the

petroleum industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of hydrocarbon exploration, exploration, extraction of petroleum, extraction, oil refinery, refining, Petroleum transport, transportation (often by oil tankers ...

Early life

Mountjoy was raised near

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, in the 1930s and 1940s. Regular visits to the nearby mountains led him into a career of geological research. He obtained a

B.A.Sc. A Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS or BASc) is an undergraduate academic degree of applied sciences. Usage In Canada, the Netherlands and other places the Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc) is equivalent to the Bachelor of Engineering, and is cl ...

from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

in 1955 and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

in 1960.

Career

From 1957 to 1963, Mountjoy worked for the

Geological Survey of Canada The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC; , CGC) is a Canadian federal government agency responsible for performing geological surveys of the country developing Canada's natural resources and protecting the environment. A branch of the Earth Science ...

, first as a technical officer, then as a geologist. He left the survey to be an assistant professor at McGill University. In 1969, he was promoted to associate professor. In 1974, he was made a full professor. Between 1993 and 1998, Mountjoy was a Logan Professor. At the time of his death (2010), he was professor emeritus in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University. Most of Mountjoy's research has concentrated on

Jasper National Park Jasper National Park, in Alberta, Canada, is the largest national park within Alberta's Rocky Mountains, spanning . It was established as Jasper Forest Park in 1907, renamed as a national park in 1930, and declared a UNESCO world heritage site ...

's Miette area, and in particular on its exposed coral reefs from the

period (395 million to 345 million years ago). Mountjoy, with Queen's University professor Raymond A. Price, mapped most of the Canadian Rockies between Banff and

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...

. This work produced cross-sections, which have become classic representations of the structure of a

thrust Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction, the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction to be applied to that ...

fold Fold, folding or foldable may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Fold'' (album), the debut release by Australian rock band Epicure *Fold (poker), in the game of poker, to discard one's hand and forfeit interest in the current pot *Above ...

mountain belt and have been published in many textbooks. He also studied ancient and modern reef geology, carbonate petrology and diagenesis, carbonate reservoirs and stratigraphy. He visited and applied his knowledge to the geology of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. He directed the research of over 50 master's and doctoral students, many of whom have gone on to become professors. Mountjoy died June 18, 2010, in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada.

Honours

*1960, presented the Best Ph.D. thesis award by the

Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists The Canadian Energy Geoscience Association (CEGA) is a professional geoscience society in Canada. CEGA works to advance the science of geology, foster professional development of members and promote community awareness of the profession. The orga ...

*1985, awarded the R. J. W. Douglas Medal by the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists *1994, 1997, 2001, awarded the Medal of Merit by the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists *1997, awarded the

Logan Medal :::''There is also a Logan Medal of the arts, awarded by the Chicago Arts Institute.'' The Logan Medal is the highest award of the Geological Association of Canada. Named after Sir William Edmond Logan, noted 19th-century Canadian geologist. It i ...

by the

Geological Association of Canada The Geological Association of Canada (GAC) is a learned society that promotes and develops the geological sciences in Canada. The organization holds conferences, meetings and exhibitions for the discussion of geological problems and the exchange o ...

*1998, awarded the David Thompson Award for graduate teaching at McGill University *1998, awarded the F. J. Pettijohn Medal by the

Society for Sedimentary Geology The Society for Sedimentary Geology is an international not-for-profit, scientific society based in the US state of Oklahoma. It is commonly referred to by its acronym SEPM, which refers to its former name, the Society of Economic Paleontologists a ...

*1998, 1999, presented the Service Award by the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists *1999, made a fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

*2001, bestowed Honorary Membership in the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geology In his memory, in 2014 the Geological Association of Canada instituted the Eric Mountjoy Exchange Award. The award is made annually to a student or post-doctoral researcher at a Canadian university, and provides a grant to facilitate travel for research collaboration between their institution and another either within or outside the province of

, depending on their own location.

References

Citations

Other sources

*Qing, H. and Mountjoy, E.W. (2004): ''Petrography and geochemistry of Presqu'ile Dolomite, Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, In Dolomites the Spectrum'', Can. Soc. Petrol. Geol. Seminar and Core Conf., January 13–15, 2004, Calgary, (available on compact disk). *Mountjoy, E.W., Windth, J., Price, R.A., and Douglas, R.J.W., (2001): ''George Creek, 83 C10, Geology and structure cross-section, Alberta'', Geological Survey of Canada. Map no.1990A, scale 1:50,000. *Stevenson, R.K., Whittaker, S. and Mountjoy, E.W. (2000): ''Geochemical and Nd isotopic evidence for sedimentary-source changes in the Devonian miogeocline of the southern Canadian Cordillera'', Geological Society of America Bulletin, 112, 531–539. *Qing, H. and Mountjoy, E.W. (1995): ''Paleohydrology of the Canadian Rockies and origins of brines, Pb-Zn deposits and dolomitization in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin: Comment and reply'', Geology, 23, 189–190. *Qing H. and Mountjoy, E.W. (1994): ''Formation of coarse-crystalline, hydrothermal dolomite reservoirs in the Presqu'ile Barrier, Western Canada Sedimentary Basin'', Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists Bull., 78, 55–77.
McGill Faculty BioEdiacaran reefs and shelly fossils in Miette Group

External links

CSPG- Medal of Merit

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mountjoy, Eric W. 1931 births 2010 deaths Canadian geologists Geological Survey of Canada personnel Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Academic staff of McGill University University of British Columbia alumni University of Toronto alumni Logan Medal recipients