SGS Luncheon talk by Dr. Robert Macdonald: The East African Rift System
The East African Rift System
In this presentation Bob will give an outline of the East African Rift System, with particular attention to its role in passive margin tectonics, its associated highly potassic volcanic assemblages, the unique presence of a major horst block lying within the Uganda section of the rift, and the role of the terrain in the development of the human species. .
Bio
After graduating from the University of London in 1952 Bob was appointed as a Geologist with the British Colonial Service with posting to Uganda, where he spent ten years mapping Archean, Proterozic and rift valley terrains, as well working on his Ph.D program. At Uganda’s independence in 2062 he stayed on as Principal Geologist to lead the Uganda government’s geological mapping program, where he was also responsible for Uganda’s water borehole drilling program. In 1968-69 he was appointed as founding head of a new Department of Geology at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. In 1974 he accepted a position with the Saskatchewan Mineral Resources Department to lead the program to complete mapping of the Shield region of the province at 1:100,000 scale. He continued with the Saskatchewan Geological Survey until his retirement in 1995, after which he did some consulting. Since coming to Saskatchewan Bob has on occasion stood in at the University of Regina teaching classes in structural geology. As an Adjunct Professor, for a number of years until 2015 he joined with Don Kent in designing and delivering a fourth-year class on the Geology of Canada.
