Human history study at Crawford Lake Conservation

Research students and professors at Brock University were at Crawford Lake Conservation in Campbellville on Sunday. They’re on the hunt for samples deep in the water that tell a story about human history.

Research Associate, Nawaf Nassar says they are trying to retrieve mud from the botton of Crawford Lake. He says, “the mud is very special because it’s layered and those layers are very thin and every year you get a new layer.”

Crawford Lake holds a lot of history in its layers of mud, deep underwater. By counting those layers, you can actually go back in time and to a certain date. This lake has been explored before, back in the 70’s researchers found leftover food particles.

Hassaan Basit from Halton Conservation says, “scientists discovered evidence for their having been some sort of a community area here. They found corn pollen.”

The researchers from Brock University will freeze the mud and it will be studied. The frozen layers collected can potentially define a new episode in the geologic time scale. Basically, that means the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.

Professor, Francine McCarthy says the study will show what is different about the world in 1952 and before.

With this research, Crawford Lake could soon be known around the world as the Golden Spike. The place on the planet that could show human history and our impact on it.