Picture
On the shore of Wholdaia Lake, NWT

Assistant Professor
Memorial University of Newfoundland

Eric Thiessen

I am currently examining tectonics and metamorphic processes in orogenic systems, and their application to critical mineral systems,  in Archean to Proterozoic Canadian Shield, the Mesoproterozoic Grenville terrane, and the Paleozoic Appalachian mountains.  Prior to this work I received a PhD from Simon Fraser University, a MSc from the University of Alberta and a BSc from Queen's University. Please reach out to me if you are interested in pursuing graduate or post-doctoral research.

Email: ethiessen at mun.ca

News

2025 - Good news for rock preparation at MUN. Dr. Hilary Corlett and I were successful in acquiring new thin sectioning equipment, rock saws and polishers in the new "Atlantic Canada Lapidary and Sample Preparation Facility" funded through CFI-JELF
View the article here: "The ancient and the new"
January 2025 - Nicolas Prieto Moreno is now officially a Master of Earth Science. As Nicolas leaves we also welcome new PhD student Alessandro Spinaci who will be working on structure and tectonics of LCT pegmatites in southern NL.

August 2024 - Completed Advanced Regional Mapping field school with a great group of MUN undergraduates. We spent almost two weeks investigating the geology near Baie Verte, Newfoundland.
May 2024 - Welcome new MSc Sam Ghantous joining us from Lakehead U to study the timing of fabric development and emplacement of pegmatites along the Gander-Avalon boundary in Newfoundland.
May 2024 - New article! Detrital zircon basin provenance along the western Rae craton related to 2.1 Ga extension (Precambrian Research, v. 410)
March 2024 - Success! Dr. Donnelly Archibald, Dr. Dave Lowe, and myself were awarded an NSERC Alliance Missions grant to study tectonics and petrology of critical mineral systems (LCT pegmatites) in southern Newfoundland.
January 2024 - We are joined by a new MSc student Ghazaleh Khan Mohammadi from Iran who is will study the structure, age and petrology of volcanic rocks in the Great Slave Lake shear zone, NWT.
May 2023 - Welcome Kiera Hamel who is joining as a MSc student from McGill studying granulite-facies mylonites and tectonics in the Snowbird Tectonic Zone, NWT.
July 2022 - MSc student Nicolas Prieto Moreno joins the team from Columbia to study a polydeformed REE-volcanic belt in southeast Labrador.
April 2022 - New article on lithosphere structure and polydeformation in western Rae craton (Precambrian Research, v. 376)
Oct. 2021 - I received a new recognition for 'Excellence in the Canadian Tectonics Community' from the CTG
Sept. 2021 - Started a new faculty position at Memorial University in Newfoundland
Jan. 2021 - New article by co-author Dani Regis on post-1.9 billion year old tectonics in the Rae craton (Precambrian Research, v. 355)
Nov. 2020 - New article by co-author Ben Neil on 1.8 billion year old sedimentary rocks in the Rae craton, NWT (Precambrian Research, v. 352)
July 2020 – New article published in the Journal of Metamorphic Geology on the 1.9 billion year old Snowbird Orogen in NWT
July 2020 – I received the Jack Henderson best PhD thesis awarded by the Canadian Tectonics Group
May 2020 – I have a new position as post-doctoral fellow at Laurentian University in Sudbury,
December 2019 – I successfully defended my PhD at Simon Fraser University
April 2019 – New article in Geology on the contrasting growth behavior of zircon and garnet in high-pressure mafic-granulites
August 2018 – New article in Lithosphere on the structure and evolution of the 1.9 billion year old Wholdaia Lake shear zone
July 2018 – Recently published interview in PDAC's Core magazine discussing the Mary-Claire Ward geoscience award.