For Nanaimo-born geologist Derek Kronmiller, the Yukon has been his home since 2016.
“My wife is from here, and we thought it was a good place to settle down and raise a family,” Kronmiller says.
Now working as a permafrost geologist with the Yukon government, Kronmiller was with University of Calgary students on a separate project when he received an unexpected email about the discovery of a woolly mammoth.
“Just as we were loading the car, an email came from Grant Zazula, a Yukon government paleontologist, asking if there was anyone in the region who could come and help,” Kronmiller says.
It turns out that miners digging into permafrost have discovered the most complete and best-preserved remains of a woolly mammoth in North America.
“It was quite breathtaking just to see this immaculately preserved baby mammoth, it really leaves you speechless,” he said.
READ MORE: Mummified woolly mammoth calf found by gold miners in Yukon
Kronmiller and his team were tasked with further investigating the site where the mammoth was found to help estimate how old the calf was and paint a picture of the geographic makeup of the area at the time of its death.
“We sent people from U of C right along the base of the rock to look for any other fossil materials they could find, and we also had them collect samples of various organic matter in the area,” Kronmiller says.
“We can use radiocarbon dating to find out how old it is … but you can also use it to reconstruct the environment in which the mammoth was found.”
It was a discovery that helped bring scientists, local First Nations and miners together.
“All of their land uses tend to have some overlap and conflict, so it was actually a really great time to come together to celebrate something that’s really unique,” Kronmiller says.
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