Biography:
Zina Boileau is an M.Sc. student at the University of British Columbia integrating the volcanostratigraphy the Harrison Lake Formation with the archeological and traditional datasets of the Sts’ailes Nation. In her B.Sc. in geological sciences from the University of British Columbia she undertook directed study on tectonometamorphic processes at Rongbuk Valley, Mt. Everest, communicated by garnet Lu-Hf geochronology. With a background in structural geology and tectonics, Zina has found herself across BC, Yukon, and Nunavut working for research institutes, governments, and mineral exploration companies. Her diverse experience lends itself well to her passion for equity, sustainability, and accessibility in the geosciences, and she is consistently striving to bring more voices to the table.
Project: Volcanostratigraphic Mapping and Geochemistry of Toolstone-Grade Lithologies: An Intersection of Geoscience and Indigenous Knowledge in the Territory of the Sts’ailes First Nation
As part of an Indigenous-led research program with the Sts’ailes Nation, and in collaboration with the Geological Survey of Canada, this project aims to refine and recontextualize the Harrison Lake Formation’s volcanic and sedimentary sequence through a historical and cultural lens. Field mapping, stratigraphic assessment, zircon geochronology, and trace element geochemistry of Jurassic volcanic and volcaniclastic lithologies will be employed to establish volcanic facies profiles of the Harrison Lake Formation. In addition, it will aid in determining the composition and distribution of toolstone-grade lithologies that were used in ancestral Sts’ailes settlements for the manufacturing of bifaces tools. By integrating the geological history into the archeological and traditional datasets that the Sts’ailes Nation have built over decades of research in a “two-eyed seeing” approach to combining Western science with Traditional Knowledge, this project considers both volcanic and cultural continuums and how they coalesce into historical resource geology.
