John Leslie Jambor (1936 - 2008) was a Canadian geologist and mineralogist. John was an exceptional figure in the field of mineralogy and a major contributor to the Mineralogical Association of Canada (MAC).
Life and Work
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The son of first-generation Slovakian immigrants, John was born in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec where he spent the first decade of his life. At the age of 10, John and his family moved to Burnaby, British Columbia. He developed an interest in the earth sciences at an early age and after graduating from Burnaby South Secondary School enrolled into the University of British Columbia to study Geology. During summers, John took to traveling British Columbia, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories to expand his studies in geology. A major area of study was John’s research on jarosite, a mineral found in the oxidized zones of sulfide deposits formed in groundwater. John began his jarosite related research by studying the occurrence of fault zones at the Keno Hill deposit in Yukon. In 1960, John continued his undergraduate studies at UBC where he completed his M.Sc. work with the focus of his thesis research on veneniferous interlava sediments in the Campbell River area of British Columbia. Shortly after the completion of his M.Sc., John joined the Geological Survey of Canada in Ottawa and published three of his first journal articles in The Canadian Mineralogist. In his first journal article, John discussed his first mineral species discovery, gunningite (a zinc sulfate discovered in the Keno Hill region in the Yukon). This was the first of many discoveries as John went on to discover 34 new minerals over the course of his career. His major success in the field of mineralogy and involvement with The Canadian Mineralogist led him to become the second editor at the helm of this journal.
John was involved in many major mineralogical projects throughout his time with the Geological Survey of Canada. He assisted with the porphyry copper deposits in British Columbia, the Cobalt-Gawganda silver arsenide deposits in Ontario, the Strange Lake rare-earth deposits in Quebec, the VMS-type deposits in Newfoundland, the base metal deposits in New Brunswick, and rare-earth deposits in the Northwest Territories.
In 1966, John submitted his eight new sulfosalt discoveries from the Bancroft, Ontario region to Carleton University for his Ph.D. dissertation. He later became de facto as exclusive member of the “Sulfosalt Club” which consisted of only a few world specialists in the field of mineralogy and the study of some of the most complex atomic systems in nature.
In 1975, John’s expertise was sought after by CANMET (Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology) where he transitioned to working in the field of mine waste mineralogy. He spent the remainder of his career at CANMET where he carried on studying new mineral species until he retired in 1993. Upon retirement from CANMET, John moved back to the Greater Vancouver area and continued his work in applied mineralogy as the head of Leslie Research and Consulting. His work then focused on the mobilization of toxic elements in groundwater supply and studying its consequences at engineering project sites. During this time John was an associate professor at the University of Waterloo and the University of British Columbia.
In addition to his contributions to the Canadian Mineralogist, John also worked with the American Mineralogist on a volunteer basis where he was the New Minerals editor and helped in editing the description of all new mineral species worldwide.
John Leslie Jambor was a major figure in the field of earth sciences, especially in the focused field of sulfate minerals. One of his most significant sulfate discoveries was of the species he named jamborite, in honour of his family name. He was extremely dedicated to his work and was known to be very generous towards the field of mineralogy. He dedicated much of his time assisting colleagues with appropriately conveying their exciting new mineral discoveries. John also provided financial support to his beloved field of study, including gifting the MAC with an endowment to help fund future special publications.
John Leslie Jambor passed away on January 18th, 2008 after a ten-month battle with cancer.
Selected Works
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John received several awards during his career and obtained 134 refereed publications as well as 200 other reports that are credited in his name. Below is a selection of these publications.
General Publications
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• 1967-1968: New lead sulfantimonides from Madoc, Ontario. Part 1-3. In: Canadian Mineralogist Volume 9, pp. 7-24; Pp. 191-213 and pp. 505-521
• 1972: The silver-arsenide deposits of the Cobalt-Gowganda Region, Ontario. In: Canadian Mineralogist. Volume 11, pp. 1-7; Pp. 12-33; Pp. 34-75; Pp. 232-262; Pp. 272-304; Pp. 305-319; Pp. 320-357 and pp. 402-413
• 1999: Nomenclature of the alunite supergroup. In: Canadian Mineralogist. Volume 37, pp. 1323-1441
Books
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• John L. Jambor, TJ Barrett: Seafloor Hydrothermal Mineralization. Mineralogist Association of Canada, Montreal 1988
• John L. Jambor, David J. Vaughan: Advanced Microscopic Studies of Ore Minerals. Mineralogical Association of Canada, Ottawa 1990
• John L. Jambor: VMS and Carbonate-hosted Polymetallic Deposits of Central Mexico. British Columbia and Yukon Chamber of Mines 1999
• Charles N. Alpers, John L. Jambor, Darrell Kirk Nordstrom: Sulfate Minerals: Cyristallography, Geochemistry, and Environmental Significance. Mineralogical Society of America 2000, ISBN 978-0-93995-052-2
Honours
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• “Hawley Medal” for best paper published in The Canadian Mineralogist (1970)
• "Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal" (1977)
• " Leonard G. Berry Medal" for his outstanding contribution and lifetime membership to
the Mineralogical Association of Canada (1992)
• “Barlow medal” & "Julian Boldy Memorial Award" of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) (1993)
• "Peacock Medal" (formerly Past Presidents' Medal) (2002)
=== Mineral Discoveries ===
References
editFred J. Wicks: The Berry Medal for 1992 to John L. Jambor 1992. In: The Canadian Mineralogist., S. 1196–1197
Hawthorne, F.C., Kimata, M., & Eby, R.K. (1993) The crystal structure of spangolite, a complex copper sulfate sheet mineral. American Mineralogist 78, 649-652.
J. L. Jambor: New lead sulfantimonides from Madoc, Ontario. Part 1, The Canadian Mineralogist. Band 9 (1967), S. 7–24
Lynne Jambor, John E. Dutrizac: Memorial of John L. Jambor, 1936–2008, in: American Mineralogist, Band 93 (2008), S. 710–712
Lynne Jambor, John E. Dutrizac: JOHN LESLIE JAMBOR (1936–2008). In: The Canadian Mineralogist Band 46 (2008), S. 287–288
Martin R. F. (2015) The Canadian Mineralogist. 53 (5): 787–789.