early Australian earth scientists in the Antarctic - Geological Society ...

Such submarine volcanoes, mainly onmid-ocean ridges, of course are aby-product of continental drift and thewarmest period the Earth has ever known– the Cretaceous – was also the period ofmaximum continental drift. A significantcoincidence? Also, seismologists tellus that the frequency of large earthquakeshas increased in recent years, ie continentalmovements have increased.The above discoveries of new submarinevolcanoes were all made in the last tenyears, and I think one thing that allgeologists can probably agree on, is thatClimate Science is not settled.The ArithmeticWhile it is probably true that CO 2 helpsto enhance the greenhouse effect (whichis mainly caused by water vapour) theoverall effects of increased CO 2 areminimal. The radiation feedback effect ofCO 2 decreases logarithmically withincreasing CO 2 values, so that even anincrease to 500 ppm would give aradiation feedback effect increase of onlyabout 10%.To put the potential CO 2 -inducedtemperature rise into perspective: only 3%of available free CO 2 is in the atmosphere(97% is in the sea), water vapour accountsfor 95% of the greenhouse effect (Ref 1)and CO 2 about 3% (the remaining 2% isfrom other gases). The anthropogeniccomponent of atmospheric CO 2 is currently3.2%, and Australia’s output is 1.28%of world total, so if we could reduce it bythe proposed 5%, the greenhouse effectreduction would be only 1.8E-8! But,while there is an 800-year lag in the CO 2increase as temperatures rise, thereappears to be a longer delay — probablymore than a thousand years — to wait forthis miniscule reduction (Ref 2).DAVID GELLATLYREFERENCESThe above data can be readily sourced from articleson the internet, most of which in turn refer to peerreviewedarticles, especially the following:1. Global Warming: A closer look at the numbers.www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/greenhouse_data.html2. The 800 Year Lag – Graphed.joannenova.com.au/global-warming/ice-core-graph/3. An Almanac of the Atmosphere or The State of theClimate 2011.www.lavoisier.com.au/.../quirk-2011-almanac-ofthe-atmosphere.pdf4. It’s Not Global Warming, It’s Ocean Warming.www.iceagenow.com/Ocean_Warming.htmGSV in troubleFor the past 160 years the GeologicalSurvey of Victoria has been thegovernment repository for the state’sgeoscience knowledge. Will thiscontinue? Anyone with an interest inthe future of geoscience knowledge inAustralia needs to read this.At the start of 2011, GeoScience Victoria(the fancy new name for the GSV) was ingood shape, benefiting from a restructurein the mid-2000s which gave it a morerigorous science focus. This was soon tochange when the present ExecutiveDirector took over the reins of the EarthResources Development Division of theVictorian Department of PrimaryIndustries, of which GSV was a part.Before the disasterOver the past decade, GSV’s primary aimfocused on converting its vast store ofgeosciences information into digitalformat and providing this, free of charge,to the public. One large investment was inthe GeoData.Vic project, of which themost visible result is the SeamlessGeology project, with an involvement ofnearly a third of the staff, and producingthe first surface geology dataset at1:250 000 scale across the state that hasnone of those annoying map border“faults”. One component of GeoData.Vic isthe GSIML mark-up language project forthe international delivery of geosciencedata, in which GSV was a world leader.As well, Tim Rawling, one of Australia’sforemost 3-D geoscientists, was in chargeof the world-leading 3-D Victoria geologyproject. This project aims for a threedimensionalgeological model of theentire state and was in the final stagesof delivery at the start of 2011. Withstructures modeled down to the Moho,the main data sources were thepmd-crc and AUSCOPE deep seismicprofiles that run across just over a half ofthe state’s Paleozoic basement. Alreadythese profiles had brought about acompletely new interpretation of thestructure of the Paleozoic crust, of thetectonic models that created it, andmodels of ore genesis. With the remainderof the state yet to be done, GSV staffwere excited about what the future wouldhold.The GSV built a dedicated projectionroom in which 3-D models can be viewedby staff and others working on themodels. Clients, especially nongeologists,regularly emerged awestruckfrom the room. A multiplicity of datasources went into building the models;mapping, boreholes, deep and shallowseismic data, which linked offshore andonshore basin models. Although still preliminary,the model is an ideal frameworkfor future work, and has been acclaimedby visiting geologists and managementfrom, amongst others, the British andUS Geological Surveys. They proclaimedit — and the workflow that had producedit — as possibly the best of their type inexistence and were amazed at the smallsize of the project team who had pulled itall together. It was thought so special thatthe President of Hungary insisted on avisit during his recent trip to Australia.Yet another project, the Gold Undercoverinitiative, had produced 25 scientificreports into gold-associated alterationstyles, distribution models, geochemistry,etc. The Rediscover Victoria project sawgovernment funding part of the cost ofgreenfields drilling by private companies.Major papers on these exciting emerginggeological results have been published,with more to come. Areas for targetedmapping by the regional geologymapping team were being planned.And GSV was an outward-lookingorganisation, collaborating with partnerslike Geoscience Australia, CSIRO, ANU,Monash, Melbourne, and Adelaideuniversities, AUSCOPE, CO 2 -CRC, 3D-Geo,ASP, and other state surveys. All this wasdirected to a better understanding ofVictorian mineralisation, which would inturn lead to more discoveries.GSV industry engagement was growing,and was digesting views from the outsidesuch as the results of 2011 Frazer Institutereports which showed that Victoria wasperceived as data-rich but discoverypotential-poor for metals (showing thatmore high quality mapping and researchwere needed), while ranking it amongthe world's best places to operate forpetroleum companies. It was this backgroundand these issues that faced thedivision under the new management.Now fast-forwad to October 2011The GSV is no more. It’s been replaced bythe shortest possible acronym, P&E(Prospectivity and Exploration), intowhich some GSV staff have beenabsorbed with redefined jobs, while othersare scattered across the restructured EarthResources Development Division, alsowith redefined roles. The former actingdirector of GSV is now the leader of theTAG December 2011|7

Z-W Lan & Z-Q Chen: New xenotime ages obtained from thePaleoproterozoic Kimberley Group, NW Australia: implicationsfor regional hydrothermal events.AJES Vol 59/2 Thematic Issue: Planetary Sciences(papers in press)Guest Editors: Marc Norman and Graziella CaprarelliTR Ireland: Oxygen isotope tracing of the Solar System.C O’Neill: Tectonothermal evolution of solid planets and moons.R Salmeron: The environment and physics of the early solarsystemF Jourdan: The 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating technique applied to planetarysciences.EG Jones & CH Lineweaver: Using the phase diagram of liquidwater to search for life.G Caprarelli & BY Wang: Wet Mars implications of revisedscaling calculations for Evros Vallis.D Wacey: Earliest evidence for life on Earth — an Australianperspective.AP Nutman, VC Bennett & CRL Friend: W aves and weatheringat 3.7 Ga: geologic evidence for an equitable terrestrialclimate under the faint early Sun.PA Bland, P Spurny, AWR Bevan, KT Howard, MC Towner,GK Benedix, RC Greenwood, L Shrbený, IA Franchi, G Deacon,J Borovička, Z Ceplecha, D Vaughan & RM Hough: TheAustralian Desert Fireball Network: a new era for planetaryscience.AA Nemchin, ML Grange, RT Pidgeon & C Meyer: Lunarzirconology.MD Norman, KJD Adena & AG Christy: Provenance and Pbisotopic ages of volcanic and impact glasses from theApollo 17 landing site on the Moon.GEOQuizBY TOR MENTORThis time some (palaeo)geographic names(eg Pangea, Gondwana, Tethys) from theplate-tectonic era and from the dark agesbefore then. Can you identify them?iFirstAustralian Journal of Earth SciencesiFirst is Taylor & Francis’ proprietary earlyonline-publication system, which makes newknowledge available to researchers in theshortest possible time.iFirst reduces the time from article submission topublication, making papers available for authorsand readers earlier and for longer.These papers can be published online throughiFirst as soon as the production process iscomplete, ensuring submission-to-publicationtimes are shortened. iFirst articles published withpage spans can be cited as usual, because all finalpublication information (publication year, volumenumber, page spans) is already available. iFirstarticles published as “Forthcoming Articles”can be cited using their DOIs, in addition tothe article and journal titles.To view accepted articles on the AJES websiteclick on the iFirst icon on the right hand side ofthe website: www.ajes.com.auJournal AlertsYou can subscribe to journal alerts to keep up-todatewith AJES and many similar journal titles availablefrom Taylor & Francis.To register for this free service visit:www.informaworld.com/alerting1 Rodinia2 Lemuria3 Avalonia(Answers page 37)4 Laurasia5 Iapetus6 Pannotia7 Kenorland8 Armorica9 Mu10 Atlantis10 | TAG December 2011

SocietyUpdateEducation&OutreachThe last school term is upon us and seniorstudents will soon be leaving school andwondering where they go next. Many willachieve university entrance and some of those whogo for a science degree will enrol in Earth Science courses. Thechallenge to convert science enrolments into Earth Scienceenrolments is now harder than ever because of the way in whichthe choice of other entry level science subjects has expanded.However, that is only half the battle. Anecdotally we know thatin the past many students who took entry level Earth Scienceended up going on to major in some aspect of it, even thoughthat was not their intention at initial enrolment. Whetherstudents will continue to ‘convert’ is not only a function of theteaching staff at the coal face but also a function of theeconomic realities of the time.In the early 1980s many departments graduated recordnumbers of students but by 1983–84 graduates were strugglingto find employment, having hit the market just as a majoreconomic contraction was underway . In its recent AustralianGeoscience Tertiary Education Profile 2010 report, the AustralianGeoscience Council (AGC) noted a substantial growth in thenumbers of Honours students, who have increased nationally by73% to 265 over the period 2008–20 10 compared with the9% decrease in the previous five years and the 60% decrease inthe 15 years leading up to 2007. The concern is that this returnto ‘enrolment prosperity’ may be a function of the perceivedemployment prospects in the sector rather than anything theuniversities are doing to convert entry-level enrolments intomajors. If this is the case, and a substantial downturn doesoccur, today’s students will bear the brunt of the latest cycle inEarth Science employment history and enrolments will dropagain. Let us hope that does not happen.The other good news out of the AGC report is the increasein university teaching and research staff numbers, although thisis against a backdrop of a radical reduction in the number ofuniversities teaching Earth Science over the last 15 years.If another major downturn does occur we will have to bevigilant if we are to protect the remaining groups from furtherdownsizing and possible extinction. If the core teachingcapability were to be reduced much more I am of the opinion itwould be extremely hard for the discipline to rebound to betternumbers, as we have this time, and continue to produce highlysought-after graduates and post-graduates.The other topic high in the mind of EarthScience educators is the Australian Curriculum:Science. The Foundation to Y ear 10 AustralianCurriculum for English, mathematics, scienceand history is now available. This includescurriculum content supported with elaborations; andachievement standards supported with work samples and it candownloaded from: http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/A new version of the Y ear 11–12 Earth and EnvironmentalScience (EES) curriculum document is yet to be released but thiswill be a major change for science at senior level whenimplemented and we will need to engage with the EESimplementation process as much as possible when it happens.See http://consultation.australiancurriculum.edu.au/ for moreon progress towards the Australian Curriculum: Science as wellas the Australian Curriculum: Geography.See http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/geography.htmlI again urge everyone with an interest in education toat least review this material. This is a once-in-a-generationopportunity to shape the future of education in this country!GREG McNAMARAGeoscience Education and Outreach ServicesSend all comments to Greg McNamara atoutreach@gsa.org.auDo youknow yourGeologist?Hint:Recently retired seniorpublic servant.(Answer page 35)TAG December 2011|11

SocietyUpdateStratigraphic ColumnWhat is a publication – for establishing new units?In my last column I discussed the value of unit definitions, butI would like to take a step back this time and consider whetheror not digital publication has changed what we wouldconsider to be a ‘recognised scientific medium’.Establishment or revision of a formal stratigraphic unitrequires that a definition be published in a ‘recognisedscientific medium’. So, how is this determined? Albert Brakeldiscussed this issue in 1999, and although some newpublication media have emerged since then, such as DVDs andUSB memory sticks, and there are new ways to accesspublications from websites, the medium is not really the issue.Availability, permanence and ‘quality’ of the publication, andadequacy of the unit descriptions are more important.The International Stratigraphic Guide says that the mainqualifications of a recognized scientific medium are that it isregularly published and reasonably available to the scientificpublic on request by purchase or through a library . Manyindependent or irregularly issued publications also qualify . InAustralia this clearly includes international and Australianscientific journals, and most State and T erritory Surveypublications. It also includes The Australian Geologist. The factthat in some jurisdictions these publications are available for‘free download’ does not change their status, but it maycomplicate decisions on the status of other material that is alsoavailable for ‘free download’.Media that are not generally publications for stratigraphicpurposes, according to the International Stratigraphic Guide,include informal or restricted sources such as letters, fieldtripguidebooks only available to participants, dissertations,company reports, abstracts, open file reports, newspapers,commercial or trade journals. Some of these media are muchmore available than in the past, if you know how to search forthem, but few are likely to include unit definitions. In the past,legal deposit and exchange arrangements with other librarieshave been used to determine what is deemed a publication, butthis has not worked so well in recent times. There has beensome debate about the status of some ‘open file reports’ andsome ‘extended abstracts’, and there may need to be moredebate. Limited staff resources mean that it is certainlyconvenient for Australian Stratigraphic Units Database (ASUD)staff not to have to seek out or index open file reports orabstract on a routine basis, although exceptions may be madefrom time to time.Another medium that is generally considered to be apublication, and is routinely indexed by ASUD staff is thegeological map (and/or GIS data layer). It may still surprisesome people to know that publication on a map does notformally establish or validate a name because maps do notinclude unit definitions. Maps do, however suggest an intentionto define units formally in explanatory notes or anotherappropriate publication.One of the issues Albert discussed in 1999 was ‘versions’ ofdigital publications. In the last decade I think this issue isbecoming much better understood. Although it is much easierto update or correct a digital publication than the old printversions, the importance of indicating when the last updatewas made is now widely accepted, and there is ofteninformation on what has been updated as well.Where online digital databases like the ASUD fit into the‘publication’ definition is still a bit murky, especially when unitdefinitions are provided for use in the database without a clearintention to publish them in a ‘recognised scientific medium’ .The ASUD database is widely available, to those who knowwhere to look. Information in the database comes either frompublications, or from unpublished definitions that are usuallyboth peer-reviewed and reviewed by members of the AustralianStratigraphy Commission before they get to the database. Isthat sufficient to make the Australian Stratigraphic UnitsDatabase a ‘recognised scientific medium’ for the purposes ofAustralian stratigraphy?Let me know what you think as you gear up over summerfor the 34th IGC.CATHY BROWNNational Convener, Australian Stratigraphy Commissioncathy.brown@ga.gov.au or cathyeb@netspeed.com.auOther Stratigraphy Commission contacts are available at:http://www.gsa.org.au/management/standing_committee.html or throughhttp://www.ga.gov.au/products-services/data-applications/reference-databases/stratigraphic-units.html12 | TAG December 2011

SocietyUpdateHeritage MattersWhile tourism, inspired by the landscape, has beenactive around the world for decades, Geotourism is anew wave of tourist experience that is designed toenhance the visitor experience by including the scientific andcultural elements of our geological heritage.Geotourism has opened up a whole new field of travelexperience, with a plethora of new terms, and partial tounregulated access to areas previously not visited on a ‘touristscale’. Concurrently , geological organizations, communitygroups, conservationists, NGOs and individuals are seeking ameans to protect sites of geoheritage significance, and managegeotourism destinations. To this end the Geological Society ofAustralia has agreed to establish a Heritage Subcommittee forGeotourism.The new Geotourism Subcommittee draft charter issummarised as follows -Recognising that geotourism, in addition to its primary role inpromoting tourism to geosites, raises public awareness andappreciation of geodiversity, the Geotourism Subcommitteeshall provide advice to the Standing Committee about existingand proposed geotourism activities to ensure that suchactivities foster geoheritage conservation through appropriatesustainability measures, and advances sound geologicalunderstanding through interpretation.The Subcommittee will provide advice to the StandingCommittee about how best geotourism can be nurtured withindeclared National Landscape areas as well as within NationalParks and reserves, and within any future areas consideredsuitable for designation as Geoparks. In undertaking its brief,the Subcommittee plans to review and recommend strategiesthat encourage active participation of GSA members ingeotourism and related interpretation activities.Based on the draft charter, the Geotourism Subcommittee isworking on formulating a succinct mission with key objectives.At the 34th IGC Conference in Brisbane next year , in theSymposium on Geoheritage, Geoparks and Geotourism, BernieJoyce will lead a discussion about proposed topics andsuggestions.The Geotourism Subcommittee will also:● review the range of definitions relating to the term'geotourism';● investigate the opportunities for linkages with other learnedsocieties and/or scholarly institutions with an interest ingeotourism and related issues e.g. the Linnean Society ofNSW, Royal Societies, AusIMM, AIG, etc;● review the present status of Geopark development inAustralia and opportunities for advancing future Geoparks;● review the present status of the Australian NationalLandscape Programs and opportunities for geotourismdevelopment and geoscientist engagement.The GSA approved Geotourism Subcommittee consists of thefollowing members:■ Chair: Angus Robinson, Managing Partner,Leisure Solutions, Sydney.■ Jane Ambrose, Director, Natural Heritage North,Heritage & Wildlife Division, Department of Sustainability,Environment, Water, Population & Communities, Canberra.■ Bob Brown, Geologist, NSW Geological Survey,Department of Trade and Investment, Armidale.■ Michael Comfort, Section Leader, Geodiversity Conservationand Management Section, Tasmanian Department ofPrimary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Hobart.■ Bob Conroy, Executive Director Park Management,Park and Wildlife Group, Office of Environment and Heritage,Department of Premier & Cabinet, Sydney.■ Bruce Goleby, Chief Geophysicist and Group LeaderInnovation and Specialist Services Group, GeoscienceAustralia, Canberra.■ Bernie Joyce, Earth Sciences School, The Universityof Melbourne, Melbourne.■ Suzanne Miller, Director, South Australian Museum,Adelaide.■ Rick Murray, Managing Director, Middle Star Pty Ltd, Darwin.■ David Tucker, Principal, Responsible Resources Pty Ltd, Perth.■ Susan Turner, Hon. Research Fellow, Queensland Museum,and Geological Consultant, Brisbane.All States are represented in the Subcommittee, and Icongratulate Angus Robinson for this timely initiative.MARGARET BROCXgeoheritage@iinet.net.auCongratulationsClinton!Dr Clinton Foster, Geoscience Australia and long-termGSA member has been appointed Chief Scientist.TAG December 2011|13

Newsfrom the DivisionsAndreiHunter ValleyThe Hunter Earth Sciences Discussion Group(HEDG) met on 11 October for the EarthScience Week presentation. HEDG issponsored by the Geological Survey of NewSouth Wales and GSA (Hunter Valley Branch).Over 60 people attended the presentation bySilvia Frisia from the University of Newcastle.Her talk was titled ‘ From icehouse to greenhouseto icehouse: what is “normal” in Earth’sclimate?’, and fitted perfectly with the 2011Earth Science Week theme ‘Our everchangingEarth’. The presentation looked atthe dramatic changes in the Earth’s climatefrom predominantly cold (icehouse) topredominantly warm (greenhouse) climatesover time, and the factors that may havebeen responsible for these changes. Theyinclude first-order controls such asinsolation, and second-order controls such asMilankovitch variations and tectonics. Thetalk focussed on the ‘snowball’ Earth climatein the Neoproterozoic (and the sudden onsetand finish of severe glaciation), the warmCretaceous climate and its relationship toeruptions of large igneous provinces, andEocene greenhouse conditions. Silvia Frisiadiscussed limitations in the available dataand geological record, and how speleothemgrowth can be used to determine dry andwet periods.In addition, Earth Science Week wascelebrated in the region by a fossil displayduring October at the East Maitland library,show-casing Permian molluscs, brachiopods,gastropods and plants from various sitesaround the Hunter Valley, as well asgeoscience career information.The last HEDG presentation for 2011 will beon 29 November at Customs House,Newcastle. Phil Seccombe (University ofNewcastle) will be speaking about hisexploration work in British Columbia andthe Yukon over the last few years. The talkcovered the regional and local geology, thechallenges of exploring in bear country, themountains and, no doubt, the skiing.PHIL GILMOREHunter Valley BranchWebb and HowchinMedals, 2011The SA Division held its annual dinner atThe Historian on 18 August during whichthe Bruce Webb Medal was awarded to VicGostin and the Walter Howchin Medal wasawarded to Simon Holford. The dinner wasvery ably organised by Haggis Shackleton.The Bruce Webb Medal is awarded for leadershipthat has advanced the Earth Sciencesand/or for contributions to the advance ofknowledge either within South Australia, orfrom a South Australian base. The 2011winner, Vic Gostin, is an Honorary ResearchFellow at Adelaide University having been afull-time academic for over thirty 30 years.Much of Vic’s earlier research contributed toa broader understanding of the Spencer andSt Vincent gulfs and adjacent areas of thecontinental shelf. However, he is best knownfor his association with the discovery of themeteorite impact ejecta horizon in theEdiacaran Bunyeroo Formation. His ability tocommunicate the drama of this event hasfew parallels in Australian science. Vic is anexcellent scientific communicator and forseveral years has had a regular slot on ABCtalk-back radio in Adelaide, where hedemonstrates a superb general knowledge ofEarth and Planetary sciences.The Walter Howchin Medal is awarded to aresearcher (35 years and younger) in theearly stage of their career and distinguishedby their significant published work in theEarth Sciences within South Australia, orfrom a South Australian base. The 2011winner of the Howchin Medal is SimonHolford (Australian School of Petroleum) forhis research into passive continental marginsand sedimentary basins with particularreference to the southern Australian continentalmargin.Trevor Ireland gave the after-dinner speechentitled ‘What do Exploration Geologistsactually do?’. This excellent talk includeda summary of Trevor’s early years as anexploration geologist as well as his latercareer which has taken him all over theworld including such hardship postings asParis. Kevin Wills gave an excellent vote ofthanks.Gostin standing in for Vic Gostin, speakingafter being presented with the Webb Medal bythe Chair of the GSA South Australian Division,Len Altman. All images courtesy South AustraliaDivision.Simon Holford (right), winner of theHowchin Medal, with Jim Jago.Trevor Ireland giving the after dinner speech.14 | TAG December 2011

South AustralianThe SA Division, via its Field GuideSubcommittee, has started to provide easyto-understandfield information on SouthAustralian geology in the form of brochuresthat are available on the internet to anyoneinterested in geology.This public information is offered in the formof guides to specific localities or regions inSouth Australia that are of special interestfor educational purposes, and each brochurefocuses on a specific region and geologicaltheme.The first three brochures have been preparedand are readily accessible on the internet atwww.sa.gsa.org.au/Field_Guides.htmlThese, with principal authors in brackets,are as follows:Hallett Cove (RB Major)Maslin Bay and Port Willunga (B McGowran)Coorong (JH Cann)All brochures are designed in simple A4sheets that may be conveniently reproducedand readily utilised during field inspections.These sheets are also freely available to anyonewith access to the internet for printingand folding into three for placement in abrochure stand.Currently additional brochures are beingplanned for:Victor Harbor (MN Hiern)Brachina Gorge, Flinders Ranges (GW Krieg)Heysen Walking Trail — Dutchmans Sternsection, Flinders Ranges (N Langsford)The Geological Society of Australia(SA Division) acknowledges the assistance ofthe Minerals Division of Department ofManufacturing, Innovation, Trade andResources, South Australia (formerly PIRSA)in the production of these brochures.Enquiries regarding the field brochures maybe directed to:Chair, Field Guide Subcommittee GeologicalSociety of Australia SA (SA Division)Barry CooperSchool of Natural and Built Environments,University of South Australia,GPO Box 2471Adelaide 5001Email: barry.cooper@unisa.edu.auPhone: (08) 8302 5769QueenslandEKKA 2011Once again the Queensland Division of theGSA and AIG combined forces to host abooth at the Brisbane Exhibition in acontinuing effort to increase public knowledgeabout geology and mining. Supportfrom the members of our two organisationsand students from the universities was veryhigh with over 30 people volunteering theirtime to supervise the booth and answerquestions from the public. On behalf of theAIG and GSA-Qld I would like to thank allthe volunteers.The uncertainties caused by the changesmade to the EKKA ground seems to havedeterred many of the groups that used torent booths around us, resulting in a muchbigger booth than usual for the same priceand allowing us to spread out more andmake it even easier for people to movethrough our booth and examine our displays.Mark Thornton preparing for the rush on theSaturday. All images courtesy QueenslandDivision.The changes did not diminish the public’ sinterest though with huge numbers of peopleattending on the weekend and the publicholiday. The other days were a bit slower, butthe volunteers usually reported a consistentflow of people from about mid-morningonwards.With the focus of our display being the largerock samples that could be handled, ourbooth attracted much interest from thepeople passing through our building. Therewas also interest in the high-qualityminerals, fossils and gems locked in a glasscabinet, posters on the evolution of thelandscape of south-east Queensland, and adarkened cabinet we had to demonstratehow some minerals fluoresce under ultravioletlight. For the kids that showed agenuine interest in rocks and fossils we hadsome agates from Agate Creek to give away,to the delight of the recipients. Thanks toPrue Kobiolke and Cath Ranford of RenisonConsolidated Mines for collecting the agatesand delivering them to Brisbane.The Rocks and Landscapes books sold welland now the Brisbane and Ipswich book issold out (new edition coming in the nearfuture). Official statistics show that just over81 500 people attended the EKKA over10 days, so this was an excellent opportunityto interact with the public and increasepeoples’ knowledge of geology, the workgeologists perform, and mining.PAUL BLAKEVeronique Rose explaining different mineralproperties to students.Some interested members of the public.TAG December 2011|15

Newsfrom the Specialist GroupsEarth SciencesHistory GroupInaugural Tom VallanceMedal AwardTom Valance medal.unexpected light on scientific activity in theyoung colony and ignited his interest in thehistory of geology and early workers in theEarth Sciences. He researched and publishedmany articles and papers on famous,infamous and little-known early pioneers inthis field. He compiled information,memorabilia and jottings on miners,geologists, surveyors, prospectors andmining engineers over a number ofyears from a wide variety of sources —especially from 19th-century miningjournals. After his death this richresource was compiled into a database,which should prove invaluable forresearchers. The 1994 meeting of TheInternational Commission on theHistory of Geological Sciences(INHIGEO) was dedicated to thememory of Tom Vallance, a foundationmember and for some years one of itsVice-Presidents.Nominations for recipients of thisinaugural award should be forwardedto the group's secretary, John Blockley,at 76 Beach Street, Bicton WA 6157,or tiger-eye@iinet.net.au before theend of January, 2012.Biographies – containing images and informationabout prominent geoscientists of thepast;Recognition – with information about theTom Vallance Medal; and finallyLinks – guiding members to other sites ofinterest.Each of these pages has a banner featuringimages of distinguished geoscientists of thepast selected from the collection of photographsand portraits provided by individualmembers or obtained from various libraries,geological surveys and universities. Creditsfor these images are given on theBiographies page.The Committee thanks Sue Fletcher andSinead Moran at Head Office for theirconsiderable patience and assistance insetting up this site, and the unknown boffinamongst the GSA's consultants whose artisticflair turned the page banners from potential‘rogues' galleries” into things of beauty.JOHN BLOCKLEY,Secretary ESHGThe Committee of the ESHG is now callingfor nominations for the inaugural awardof the Tom Vallance Medal, which wasintroduced, at the suggestion of pastChairman Bernie Joyce, to recognise peoplewho have made significant contributions tothe history of the geological sciences inAustralasia. It is intended that the firstaward will be made during the 34thInternational Geological Congress in Brisbanenext year. The presentation is to be made byTom Vallance's widow, Hillary Vallance.Thomas George Vallance (1928–1993),geologist and historian of science, wasformerly Associate Professor at the Universityof Sydney.Originally a petrologist, his work tracinggeological expertise in Sydney during the late18th and early 19th centuries shedNew websiteBy the time that this issue of TAG comes offthe press, the group's new website should beup and running. It is incorporated within theGSA's main website and replaces the old one,which was set up by the previousMelbourne-based committee and hosted bythe Melbourne University server. It can beaccessed by following the links from the GSAsite at www.gsa.org.au or directly atwww.gsa.org.au/specialgroups/eshgThe site has six pages titled:About Us – a general introduction to thegroup with details of contacts;News – with links to copies of recent emailbulletins and other announcements;Publications – giving access to copies of pastnewsletters;GSA andfacebookFor national news and eventsfollow the GSA on facebook:Geological Society of Australia16 |TAG December 2011

The slides will be scanned, with appropriatephoto-editing (cropping, colour correction,contrast, etc) using computer tools, andsorted into categories such as topic(eg, structures in clastic sediments) andlocation (eg Hallett Cove Conservation Park).Thus it will be possible to compile sets ofimages that will have a desired educationalfocus. When the images are filed, withappropriate backup, the original slides can bereturned as required. The next step will beto produce sets of digital images with briefcaptions that will be available on both GSAand UniSA web sites, FREE OF COPYRIGHT forall who wish to use them for educationalpurposes.While my first priority will be to salvage35-mm slides that might otherwise beconsigned to the trash can, there areundoubtedly many digital images that couldbe added subsequently to the collection.There is also the likelihood that the projectwill expand to encompass internationalcontributions and links. I see this project aspotentially ongoing; after my contribution,for which I have nominally allocated threeyears (2012–2014), there will be acontinuing need for a member of GSA totake responsibility for the maintenance andcontinuity of the library of digital images.So, what am I requesting at this time? Asindicated in the headline, please don’t throwyour 35-mm slides away. If you would like tocontribute to this project, please advise meby email of the kinds of content covered byyour slides, and the number of items thatmight be useful. The photographs must beoriginal (ie not purchased and not derivedfrom other illustrations) and for each photoyou should be able to provide a brief caption,a name for photo credit and if desired,affiliation (eg, academic institution). Asindicated above, all images will eventually beavailable for legitimate educational purposesfree of copyright. When I have some idea ofthe amount of material available for theproject I can proceed to more detailedplanning.PLEASE DO NOT SENDPACKAGES OF SLIDES YET.I hope many GSA members will agree thatthis is a worthwhile project and I lookforward to receiving many contributions.JOHN CANNjohn.cann@unisa.edu.auPage 17 shows typical images for thecollection.18 | TAG December 2011Allandale Permianfossil site revisitedThe heritage-listed fossil site in the railwaycutting at Allandale (Runnegar 1979, Percival1985) was excavated in September 2011 aspart of extensions to the Great NorthernRailway. A fully laden coal train passes thissite about every 15 minutes on the way toNewcastle Harbour. An additional railwaytrack is intended to double this traffic and isbeing built to specifications that will alsoallow faster transport. After reviewing theDevelopment Application by Hunter 8Alliance (the construction authority), theDepartment of Planning required thatthe excavation be supervised by apalaeontologist who would ‘…record, retrieveand catalogue fossils…by means of rippingwith an excavator’. The method of extractionwas rather more rugged than collecting witha geology hammer but given the timeconstraints on construction it was gratifyingto see fossils given any recognition at all. Itis unlikely that the coal export trade in NSWwould be permitted to languish because ofinconveniently located 295-million-year-oldfossils.The Allandale cutting has been a significantfossil site since the original railway line wasbuilt in the late nineteenth century, althoughfossils at nearby Harpers Hill were recordedby Mitchell in his 1831 expedition anddescribed by JD Sowerby in 1838. Themolluscan and brachiopod faunas from thisarea are particularly significant as being theoldest Permian macrofossil assemblage ineastern Australia (Runnegar 1969). Theheritage value of both Harpers Hill and theAllandale railway cutting was noted byPercival (1985) in his compilation ofgeological heritage sites in NSW. Runnegar(1979) made a detailed description of therailway cutting, with emphasis on themolluscan part of the fauna, particularly thelarge bivalve Eurydesma cordatum.The fossils were concentrated in a small areaimmediately east of the now-demolishedroad bridge over the railway. Indications arethat the fossiliferous bed extends north andsouth of the expanded railway cutting,following the trend of the enclosingAllandale Formation. The fauna is dominatedby Eurydesma cordatum, many specimenspreserved articulated in the ‘beaks down’living position, but also includes abundantexamples of the gastropod Keeneia ocula.Brachiopods form a minor part of the fauna.Some fossils are quite large, reflectingcold-water conditions at the time.Many specimens from the site will be addedto the GSNSW fossil collection at theWB Clarke Geoscience Centre at Londonderry.Some of the site was excavated and movedto a ‘safe’ area away from busy railway lineswhere there will be a continuing search forfossils as the material is periodically turnedover. The fossils and their environment willbe the subject of a paper by the GSNSW ,with hopefully a contribution on theEurydesma population by Bruce Runnegar,following his visit to the area.The GSNSW organised a ‘fossil-washing BBQlunch’ to clean and sort the vast number ofspecimens collected. About 15 staff attendedand even the non-geologists enjoyedcaressing the impressive ancient beasts.Some specimens went on display as part of aHunter Valley fossil collection at the EastMaitland library for Earth Science Week.[Published with the permission of theExecutive Director (Mineral Resources),Division of Resources and Energy, Departmentof Trade and Investment, RegionalInfrastructure and Services.]LAWRENCE SHERWINAND N SIMONE MEAKINGeological Survey of New South Wales(GSNSW)REFERENCESPercival, IG 1985. The Geological Heritage of NewSouth Wales. Volume 1. National Parks and WildlifeService NSW, for Geological Society of Australia Sitesand Monuments Sub-Committee, NSW Division.Runnegar, B 1969. The Permian faunal succession ineastern Australia. Geological Society of AustraliaSpecial Publication, Vol 2, p 73–98.Runnegar, B 1979. Ecology of Eurydesma and theEurydesma fauna, Permian of eastern Australia.Alcheringa, Vol 3, p 261–285.Sowerby JD 1838 in Mitchell TL. Three expeditions intothe interior of Eastern Australia etc. T & W Boone,London, Vol 1, footnote p 5.Report on AGCPresident’s Travel InSouth AmericaThe EXPOSIBRAM Exposition and Conferencein Belo Horizonte proved to be an excellentopportunity to promote the 34thInternational Geological Congress. Brazil isa real global powerhouse of mining andEXPOSIBRAM attracted exhibitors anddelegates from all around the world and, in

Fossil-cleaning volunteers at the GSNSW office inMaitland. Image courtesy S Meakin.Large Early Permian bivalves (Eurydesma cordatum) and gastropods (Keeneia ocula) from Allandale.Image courtesy G Fleming.Part of the Allandale fossil collection. Imagecourtesy G Fleming.Simone Meakin, Lawrence Sherwin and Katie Field investigate the newly excavated Allandale fossil site.Image courtesy T Moriarty.International Geological Congress exhibit at theEXPOSIBRAM Exposition and Conference in BeloHorizonte. Image courtesy Neil Williams.particular, from South and North Americaregions we hope will be well represented atthe 34th IGC.Belo Horizonte is the capital of the BrazilianProvince of Minas Gerais — the historicmining centre of Brazil and the heartland ofthe IGC’s major sponsor Vale. EXPOSIBRAMwas a huge affair in a vast exhibition areanext to the local showgrounds. In front ofthe main exhibition hall there was a largeopen-air display area, full of heavy miningmachinery, massive trucks and similarequipment. Inside the exhibition hall therewere hundreds of booths promoting everythingfrom smaller trucks and excavatorsthrough to a wide range of mining andmetallurgical products and services andvarious geoscientific goods and services.Visitor numbers were large and on thebusiest day more than 30 000 visits passedthrough the entrance doors.The IGC was promoted by myself and AshleyGordon, the head of Carillon, IGC’s Brisbanebasedprofessional conference organiser (PCO).Our booth was located in the Australian sectionof the exhibition which was organised byAustrade through their office in Sao Paulo.Austrade also contracted a number of localUniversity students specialising in Englishstudies to act as translators and this servicewas a terrific benefit to all Australianparticipants (see accompanying photograph).The IGC booth was well marked with the IGClogo and IGC banners showing a geologistworking in the outback — an image thatproved to be a big draw card to our booth,along with Austrade’s clip-on koala bears.TAG December 2011|19

Many geoscientists (including a number ofAustralians working in the Americas) soughtus out and expressed enthusiasm for the IGC,and to all geoscientists who showed seriousinterest in coming to the IGC in Brisbanewe handed out nearly 1000 postcards(in Portugese) giving important informationabout the Congress. We also fielded manyquestions about the Third Circular and thescientific program, as well as the proposedfield trips to Australian mines. In addition,Ashley Gordon visited all the geoscientificand related exhibitors at EXPOSIBRAM andpromoted the opportunities of exhibiting atthe 34th IGC and again there were some veryenthusiastic responses. As a result of all thisinterest, I am optimistic we will see a strongSouth American contingent in Brisbane in2012 both as delegates and exhibitors.AwardsRon Vernon electedas GSA FellowIn addition to the Exposibram conference, theIGC team visited the company officesof both Vale and Petrobras, where the IGCscientific programme generated considerableinterest and attention.En route home via Buenos Aires, I took theopportunity to visit the ArgentineanGeological Survey which has its headquartersin Buenos Aires. The staff were all wellinformed about the IGC, as the currentPresident of the International Union of theGeological Sciences is the ArgentineanProfessor, Alberto Riccardi, from theUniversidad Nacional de La Plata, who hadalready done a good job promoting the IGC inArgentina, so hopefully we will also see agood attendance from their geoscienceinstitutes, as well as from resource companiesworking in Argentina. .NEIL WILLIAMSPresident, Australian Geoscience Council20 | TAG December 2011Ronald Holden Vernon has been elected as aFellow of the Geological Society of Australia.This award is a fitting and much deservedrecognition of Ron’s outstandingcontributions to geology and the GSA. T racyRushmer and Geoffrey Clark prepared thenomination.Ron received his PhD from the University ofNew England in 1957. He was a Lecturer atthe University of Sydney in the 1960s andwas on the Geology staff of MacquarieUniversity from 1969 until his retirement in1996. In the 1980s, Ron was the CaswellSilver Distinguished Professor of Geology atthe University of New Mexico and held aResearch Fellowship in Earth Sciences at theUniversity of California, Santa Cruz. From2000 to 2006 he held a Research Professorposition at the University of SouthernCalifornia, Los Angeles, and a prestigiousHumboldt Research Award at the Universityof Technology, Munich, Germany. He iscurrently an Emeritus Professor in theDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciencesat Macquarie University.Ron has published over 140 journal articlesand six books, and made many invitedpresentations at short courses and workshops.Much of his early work focused onmetamorphism and structure of the BrokenHill area and processes of hydrous mineralreactions and high-pressure deformation.His classical work on granites, regionalRon’s gift for presenting complex ideas withsimplicity and beauty. His 1976 book,Metamorphic Processes, has beenre-published in Chinese and Russian andreprinted with revision in 1985. Hisbeautifully illustrated book, Beneath our Feet– The Rocks of Planet Earth, published in2000, belongs on every geologist’s coffeetable, and his 2008 book, Principles ofMetamorphic Petrology, with Geoffrey Clark,provides a modern and comprehensive introductionto the study of metamorphic rocks.Ron has received numerous awards, includingFellowship of the Mineralogical Society ofAmerica, Clarke Memorial Lecturer from theRoyal Society NSW, twice voted Lecturer ofthe Year by the Macquarie UniversityGeological Society, the David Syme ResearchPrize from the University of Melbourne, aJoubin-James Invited Lectureship at theUniversity of Toronto, and a VisitingDistinguished Lectureship at The FiveColleges, Massachusetts. He has had threespecial issues (Journal of Structural Geology,the Journal of Metamorphic Geology andLithos) published in honour of his careercontributions, which were also celebrated bythe Ron Vernon Symposium at the AustralianGeological Convention in Sydney, 2000.He has also held many appointments ongovernment committees and advisory boards,both in Australia and overseas. These includethe ARC Grants Committee, which he Chairedin 1987–1988; the Advisory Council of theBureau of Mineral Resources; and as anAustralian representative and advocate withthe Ocean Drilling Program.Ron has made numerous contributions to theGeological Society of Australia since hejoined the society in 1961. He was HonoraryEditor of the Journal of the GSA as well asserving on the National Executive from1980–1983. He has been particularly activein the Tectonics and Structural Geologyspecialist group, serving two terms asChairman and one term as Vice Chairman.He was Chair of the NSW Division of theGSA from 2006–2009 and has served on theFellowships Committee. He is an HonoraryLife Member of the Society.Congratulations Ron!

100 years of Australian Antarctic ExpeditionsLaying the foundation: Early Australian Earth Scientists in the Antarctic:Part 2 Geologists with Scott’s 1911–1912 final expeditionRobert Falcon Scott’ s second and fatal expedition(1911–1912) produced very significant geologicalresults, some by the South P ole party that included nogeologists. These discoveries included new records of coal androcks but very importantly , Glossopteris and possiblyNothofagus (Wilson’s diary refers to ‘beechlike leaves’). Whileoften seen as serendipitous records, Scott had received guidancefrom Marie Stopes, now renowned more for the sexualrevolution than for palaeobotany.This expedition included the geologists Raymond Priestleyon his second expedition, the Australia-born Frank Debenhamand English Thomas Griffith T aylor, both on their first. WhileScott concentrated on the P ole, he arranged three majorexpeditions with geology at their core. T wo parties went west,one early in 1911 to work south from Butter Point, and one overthe 1911–1912 summer to the north. The third (Eastern) partybecame the Northern party for two years and on return,Debenham and Priestley climbed Mt Erebus by a route slightlydifferent from that of Edgeworth David. Geophysics was notpart of the Australians’ role but they cooperated to assist theCanadian physicist/glaciologist Charles Wright with gravity andmagnetic observations in the field.First Western Party—early 1911Following the departure of Scott on his depot-laying journey ,Terra Nova left Cape Evans on 27 January 19 11, deposited thesix-man Western Party including Debenham, Taylor and Wright,before returning briefly to Cape Royds until 29 January, when itset off to the east with the Eastern (Northern) P arty ofCampbell, Priestley et al. Scott’s instructions were to examinethe geology between the Dry V alley and K oettlitz Glaciers.Eventually the party examined and mapped some 130 km ofcoastline.By 6 March, fieldwork was complete and the party began thetrek back to Hut P oint, along the way encountering patcheswith a diverse invertebrate fauna. They arrived back at Hut Pointon 14 March and made their reports to Scott.Second Western Party—Granite Harbour expedition 1911–1912Griffith T aylor, Debenham, Gran and Forde set out on15 November 19 11 to conduct three months of geologicalmapping north of the area covered by the first W estern Party.A depot had been established two days out from Cape Evans andthey also found one of Shackleton’s caches.The track took them via Cape Bernacchi to Cape Robertsthen west to Discovery Bluff, where they set up an encampmentby building Granite House at Cape Geology , the base forfieldwork. A message was left on a pole for Terra Nova. Much ofthe time, the weather was perfect and they even sunbaked on24 November in ‘semi-tropical warmth’ . By 8 December , theeffects of the warm conditions had them working throughwaist-deep snow on sea-ice. So, it was back to Cape Geology!Western Parties tracks. Image courtesy Patrick Quilty.Key to areas visited by Northern Party. Image courtesyPatrick Quilty.TAG December 2011|21

On 15 December , Gran had an accurate premonition thatAmundsen had reached the South P ole. T aylor cut his handbadly. Geology was now the major activity but also records werekept on plant biology and landforms.Conditions continued warm, and they were back at CapeGeology for Christmas. Y oung fossil seashells were found on31 December and next day it was plates of Devonian placodermfish. Coal on 3 January and possible glimpses of the Dry Valleys.They moved further to Cape Roberts, pressed on to ButterPoint, and were close to Blue Glacier when Terra Nova came intosight on 20 January but could not get in until 15 February. Theywere back at Cape Evans 1 0 days later. The group now settleddown for another winter with major questions about theexpeditions of Scott and Campbell.Geological results of theWestern PartiesAlthough responsibilities were divided along the lines inpublished reports, there was considerable collaboration. Taylor’swork is primarily physiographic and he compared the generalfeatures of Australia and Antarctica (while not acceptingWegener’s concept of continental drift). He noted thatAntarctica was much warmer during the Mesozoic and evenearly Tertiary, commented in detail on surface features of the iceand land, discussed the evolution of the current icesheet, andspeculated on variation on precipitation with latitude. Allbeautifully illustrated!A major result was recognition that T aylor Valley also wasdry, hence Dry V alleys. A stake placed in Ferrar Glacier was remeasuredby Scott six months later to show that it had moved9 m in that time. A single stake established on Mackay Glaciermoved about 1 m/day.Panning for gold was unsuccessful.Debenham summarised the geological history of the region inquite modern terms. He noted the Precambrian basement ofschists and gneisses that represent the remnants of sedimentsand granites, from which metamorphism had destroyed anyevidence of fossil life (‘life of the lower forms’). This basementwas compared with that of Australia and Canada. After a longperiod with no record, Cambrian limestone with corals andarchaeocyathids was laid down, the limestone also modified byfaulting and some ‘re-cementation’. This sequence was intrudedby a variety of granites. Later came the ‘Beacon Sandstone’ andDebenham speculated that it was of late Palaeozoic or Mesozoicage and described its characteristics. It was, in turn, intruded bywhat Debenham termed the McMurdo Sill, now the JurassicFerrar Dolerite. The final episode in the mid-T ertiary has beenABOVE: Area mapped by Northern Party at Terra Nova Bay. Image courtesyPatrick Quilty.LEFT: Details of site at Cape Adare. Image courtesy Patrick Quilty.22 | TAG December 2011

Terra Nova arrived on 3 January 19 12 and deposited themfive days later in Terra Nova Bay with rations for the six weeksof geological mapping. The ship was to return having retrievedthe Second W estern Party under Debenham. So much for theplan!Priestly with Campbell headed up the (now) Priestley Glacierand discovered large pieces of T riassic fossil wood related toAraucaria. This was the first discovery of fossil wood in this partof Antarctica and told of times when Antarctica was not so icecovered— and they knew it. They returned to the landing siteon 6 February and explored while waiting for Terra Nova. Herewere abundant young marine fossils that Priestley recognised asevidence of land rising.The ship did not arrive! By mid-March, it was clear that theywere to survive a second winter with only their field gear andone month’s rations. They had to live off the land.Ascent of Mt Erebus by Debenham and Priestley. Image courtesyPatrick Quilty.major faulting (‘further shrinkage of an even kind’) to cause theRoss Sea region to be down-dropped and the T ransantarcticMountains up-lifted, and all associated with extensivevolcanism that is now in its dying phase.The proximity to the South Magnetic P ole meant thatcompasses were very slow and unreliable, and they noted theearlier attempt to reach the Pole.While T aylor rejected continental drift, Debenhamcommented on the value of fossils found by the South Pole Partyon ‘the nature of the former union between Antarctica andAustralasia’.The Northern (Eastern) Party—PriestleyPriestley’s story is a classic. He was a member of the EasternParty under Victor Campbell, which was to study Edward VIILand. The party departed McMurdo Sound on 29 January 19 11,but it could not reach its goal and became the Northern P arty.On the way back to McMurdo Sound, it encounteredAmundsen’s party. At McMurdo Sound, a message was left forScott, they deposited horses, and sailed north, to spend 19 11at Cape Adare where they were to work west to Cape North(180 km). The country beat them. Campbell established the baseadjacent to Borchgrevink’ s (1899) site and its dilapidatedremains stand, in contrast to the Borchgrevink Hut.They took as many opportunities as they could for fieldworkand had many short excursions. Priestley was editor of avolume ( Adélie Mail or Adélie Annual) which was neverpublished.Inexpressible IslandOn 18 March they moved into an ice cave 2.7 x 4 x 1.6 m andlived in it for 7½ months! Space does not permit the story to betold.Campbell drew a line down the middle between ‘officers’and ‘men’ and conducted inspections weekly . T oilet facilitieswere primitive to say the least and the continuing scourge ofdiarrhoea and lack of bladder control are subjects of ongoingcomment.The greatest resource was seal, which provided both meat(and once 36 fish), and blubber for many functions. Reading inthe gloom was an evening occurrence with David Copperfieldthe most popular, and with 64 chapters, enough for two months.Day after dreary day!In the ice cave, they wore one set of clothes and saved a changefor the day they would leave, which was not until 30 September,when they set out for the 230-mile journey ‘home’ with so manyquestions. Fitness? State of the Drygalski Ice Tongue? Will therebe anyone at Cape Evans? Scott? What happened to the TerraNova? The party under Debenham?The Drygalski Ice T ongue proved to be only a minorinconvenience. Near the southern edge of the Ice T ongue, theysaw Mt Erebus — a most heartening sight.On 26 October they reached Depot Island, collected samplesleft there by Edgeworth David in 1908–1909 and felt aconnection with other humans. The week 27 October –2 November was excellent under good conditions and morale.They came across a depot left by Debenham’ s P arty andluxuriated on cocoa or tea, sugar , biscuit and butter but notobacco. There was a letter from T aylor, but it was 1 0 monthsold. They missed one major depot but found another at CapeBernacchi and gorged themselves again. Still no tobacco!TAG December 2011|23

Frank Debenham on the left, the Norwegian Tryggve Gran in the middle and Griffith Taylor onthe right, in their cubicle at Cape Evans.At Butter P oint, less than 40 km from Cape Evans, theydecided to go first to Hut Point and set out on 3 November, afteranother massive feed. No one was at Hut Point but there was aletter saying that a party had left to search for the overdueSouth Pole party. Different food and tobacco!On 7 November they made the last leg to Cape Evans to finda fire blazing but no one home. Later there was a great meal anda bath while all the other news took time to sink in. TheNorthern Party had returned safely.The second ascent of ErebusMt Erebus had been climbed by Edgeworth David and others in1908 but Debenham and Priestly decided to do it againdeparting Cape Royds on 4 December 19 12. The route was alittle different from that chosen earlier and included a visit toDemetri’s P eak where they found basalt instead of theubiquitous kenyte. They surveyed carefully , collected pumice,made more comments on geomorphology and history , notedPele’s Hairs and documented a brief sharp eruption and wereback at Cape Royds on 16 December.ConclusionsGeologists on Scott’s final expedition made major contributionsto our knowledge of the Ross Sea region and established themodern stratigraphic order . The insights into the evolution ofthe region are very modern and have been subject to increasingrefinement since. Nomenclature has changed but they laid thefoundation.24 | TAG December 2011

Worth noting.One odd feature of this triumvirate is that they were closefriends in Britain before going south, and went on to greatcareers. T aylor married Priestley’ s sister . The Canadianphysicist/glaciologist Sir Charles ‘Silas’ Wright married anotherPriestley sister.Priestley became University of Melbourne’ s first paidvice-chancellor before moving as vice-chancellor to theUniversity of Birmingham. He had a distinguished career ineducation, military and the community.[In the early 1990s, I received a call from Bob Krummel,curator in the Geology Department, University of Melbourne. Hehad discovered in the basement, a box of photographic glassplates with what seemed Antarctic images. Whose could theybe? I discussed them with Dr Des Lugg at the Antarctic Divisionand we decided they were Priestley’s. Prof. Chris Wilsonpublished a note about them in Australian Geographic (No. 42,1996). The current (new) director of the Australian AntarcticDivision, Dr Tony Fleming, is Priestley’s grandson.]Frank Debenham had a distinguished military career , wasfirst director of the Scott Polar Research Institute, prolific writer,editor of Bellingshausen’ s two volume diaries and a strongsupporter of John Rymill’ s British Graham Land Expedition of1934–37.Griffith T aylor went on to an illustrious, highly prolificacademic career, mainly in Canada, but ‘retired’ to Australia. Hehad controversial views on race and disagreed with the conceptof continental drift.PATRICK G. QUILTY AM100 years of Australian Antarctic ExpeditionsHeritage expeditions‘Mawson centennial’ expedition1–27 December 2011An Australian geographic society expedition with heritageexpeditions to Mawson’s Huts.Aurora expeditions centenary voyage2–27 December 2011Step onto the ‘Great White’ continent in the footsteps of SirDouglas Mawson, one of the greatest Antarctic explorers ofour time. Two commemorative voyages with AuroraExpeditions will retrace the steps of Mawson’ s historicAustralasian Antarctic Expedition celebrating the centenary ofhis famous departure.Finding Antarctica:Mapping the Last Continent3 December – 19 February 2012Antarctica has always been the subject of much speculation,the idea of an unknown southern land began with the ancientGreeks. They believed that the Earth was a sphere and that asouthern land mass 'Antarcktikos' must exist as acounterweight to balance the northern world which laybeneath the constellation 'Arktos', the Bear. In the 21stcentury, seven countries, including Australia, claim territory inAntarctica, all of these countries have put their claims to oneside and cooperate with other countries in studying andconserving Antarctica for the benefit of the world. Antarcticais now recognised as a key indicator in the debate over globalwarming.The exhibition will showcase the magnificent collection ofrare maps and charts held by the State Library of NSW ,accompanied by rare published accounts and original sketchesfrom Antarctica exploration by Cook, D’Urville, the UnitedState Exploring Expeditions and the Australasian AntarcticExpedition.International Polar HeritageCommittee (IPHC) meeting and openconference9–11 March 2012Conservation Challenges, Solutions and CollaborationOpportunities in Uncontrolled EnvironmentsMore information on the conference, visit the website:www.polarheritage.com/index.cfm/Hobart2012Australian Academy of Science 2012Symposium4 May 2012In 2012 the Australian Academy of Science will commemoratethe Australian Antarctic Expedition’s centenary with a ScienceSymposium highlighting developments in modern AntarcticScience. The Symposium, Antarctic Science: from Mawson'sExpedition to Today celebrates the 100th anniversary ofMawson's expedition to Antarctica.More information contact: savita.khiani@science.org.auStay in touch with all the activitiesduring 100 years of Australian AntarcticExpeditionswww.//centenary.antarctica.gov.au/eventsTAG December 2011|25

Young Earth Science NewsIn the news this issue:■ Top young Earth Scientists■ 5th International EarthScience Olympiad (IESO)Top young Earth ScientistsIn this issue of TAG, we profile two YoungEarth Scientists, Adrian Pittari, University ofWaikato and Erich Fitzgerald, MuseumVictoria.Adrian PittariDepartment of Earth and Ocean Sciences,University of WaikatoTAG: What sparked off your interest in EarthScience?AP: I never really grew out of a childhoodinterest in fossils, planets and generalscience. I belonged to a local ‘Rockhound’club in the mid years of secondary schooland discovered that there was no need totravel too far to find amazing rocks andfossils. From this time I had definite careeraspirations to be a geologist.TAG: Who or what has influenced thedirection of your career/research?AP: Apart from my older brother there arevery few scientists in my family, althoughmy parents have always encouraged me tofollow my interests. My undergraduate yearsand honours research at the University ofMelbourne were very memorable andmy enthusiasm for Earth Science wasmaintained. However, the biggest turningpoint was when I discovered volcanologyat Monash whilst attending a volcanic shortcoursefor students to the south coast ofNSW led by my future PhD supervisor, RayCas. Ray was a key mentor in guiding myearly research career and getting meestablished amongst the internationalvolcanological community.TAG: Where was your best field trip experienceand why?AP: This was probably my first 3-month PhDfield season in Tenerife, which included astopover in Italy. It was my first time overseasand was a steep learning curve frommany perspectives. I saw and climbed myfirst active volcano (Stromboli), visiteddeposits of the 79-AD Vesuvius eruption atHerculaneum, and then went on to visit thediverse and spectacular volcanic features onTenerife. Wandering around the islandmapping and collecting field data from anextensive ignimbrite has burnt a lastingmemory on my mind and formed thefoundation for many of the field applicationsI use now.TAG: Where would you like to go with EarthScience in the future?AP: I now have a permanent lectureship atthe University of Waikato, New Zealand,where I am learning the local geology anddeveloping postgraduate research programs.Volcanology in New Zealand has applicationsin geohazard research and in resources(eg geothermal energy) and these willinfluence my research direction in the future.TAG: How or why is Earth Science importantto society?AP: 1.We are now living in a time with anincreasing need to know more about ourplanet. Many of us are actively involved inresearch, management and providing adviceon Earth’s future resources, hazards andenvironment.2. Regularly we teach and inspire youth andwider public about the dynamic processesand natural wonders of the Earth, so thatthey may make informed decisions andactions on Earth’s future resources, hazardsand environment.3. Our advice is critical to public authoritiesand the community during times of naturaldisaster.TAG: Got anything else to say? Here’s yourchance!AP: I am also involved with the GeoscienceSociety of New Zealand and would like to seecloser ties with the Geological Society ofAustralia in the future. Both countries havedistinct, but complementary, geologicalsettings; one is young with active geologicalprocesses at the edge of the Australian Plate,the other is old, and contains much of thelong history of the Australian Plate.Erich MG FitzgeraldHarold Mitchell Fellow (VertebratePalaeontology), Museum VictoriaResearch Associate, SmithsonianInstitutionTAG: What sparked off your interest inEarth Science?EF: For as long as I can remember I havehad a passion for nature, especiallypalaeontology. As a child, palaeontologyreadily appealed to me because it combinedmy three favorite things: rocks, animals andevolution! When growing up I was fortunateto have an understanding family and parentsthat fostered my interests, never dissuadingme from my fanatical quest to find outeverything I could about the origins of life.One question has always fired my curiosityand still does today: how did the organismsand environments we see around us nowcome to be as they are? If I were to namethe one thing that sparked my seriousinterest in Earth Science it would have to bemy copy of an illustrated edition of Darwin’ sOrigin of Species that I read multiple timesbetween the ages of seven and 13. I wouldspend hours poring over Darwin’s observationson the geology and fossil record ofSouth America, supplemented with theeditor’s discussion of the formation of theIsthmus of Panama and its impact on theevolution of the American mammal fauna. Irecall how stirring it was to contemplate theimmense scale of such tectonic forces andtheir role in shaping the evolution of life.That copy of the Origin still resides on mybookshelf.TAG: Who or what has influenced thedirection of your career/research?EF: When I was eight years old I visited aMuseum of Victoria open day at the grandold museum building on Russell Street. Myimagination was captured by the ‘back ofhouse’ offices and labs of the palaeontologydepartment. There I met the curator ofvertebrate palaeontology, Thomas Rich. I waskeen to learn more about the evolution ofmammals; not dinosaurs like most other kids.Dr Rich suggested I visit the MonashUniversity sciences library and find journalarticles by palaeontologists whose names Ino longer remember. With this advice from a26 | TAG December 2011

Erich Fitzgerald with a blue whale model at theAmerican Museum of Natural History, New York.Photo courtesy Erich Fitzgerald.‘real palaeontologist’, my parents (patiently)agreed one weekend to take me to theuniversity and track down the articles.Following the visit I returned home withphotocopies of several articles from learnedjournals. I don’t recall understanding thetext, but having the technical illustrations offossil bones and tooth anatomy was likebeing granted access to another world.I was hooked, and decided there and thenat the age of 8 to become a vertebratepalaeontologist.TAG: Where was your best field tripexperience and why?EF: Without a doubt the Galapagos Islands(Ecuador), which I visited as a PhD studentwhile attending the World Summit onEvolution in 2005. To explore the ruggedvolcanic terrain and see marine iguanas,giant tortoises, Darwin’s finches and othermarvels of nature—it was like my illustratedOrigin of Species come to life. It was an aweinspiringexperience to stand on the beachwhere Darwin first made landfall in theGalapagos. I hope to return there one day.TAG: In a few words describe yourcareer/research area.EF: I am a vertebrate palaeontologist, whichmeans I study the fossil record and evolutionof animals with backbones, like us!My primary area of expertise and researchinterest is the evolution of marine mammals:whales, dolphins, seals and dugongs.I studied undergraduate Earth Sciences andzoology at the University of Melbourne,followed by a PhD in Earth Sciences(palaeontology) at Monash University wheremy advisors were Patricia Vickers-Rich andThomas Rich. Immediately after my PhDI was awarded a prestigious SmithsonianInstitution Fellowship to undertake postdoctoralresearch in the Department ofVertebrate Zoology at the United StatesNational Museum of Natural History.I returned to Australia in 2009 to take upthe Harold Mitchell Fellowship at MuseumVictoria in Melbourne.TAG: Where would you like to go with EarthScience in the future? What’s your dream job?EF: I am seeking to uncover theevolutionary history of marine vertebrates,especially whales, in Australian seas over thelast 65 million years. Until now, no Australianpalaeontologist has dedicated themselves tothis pursuit. Consequently, we know verylittle about the details of this aspect of ourfossil record. It’s a wide open field.Fortunately, southern Australia in particularis endowed with an excellent record ofCenozoic marine sediments so there is nopractical limit, in terms of outcrop, toexploration for fossils. In addition, there arethousands of marine vertebrate fossilsalready in museum collections, so we knowthat such fossils occur here in abundance.We’re at the bottom of a steep learningcurve, so there are many fundamentaldiscoveries to make in the coming years.I hope to contribute to these discoveriesthrough a research curatorial position ata museum where I can also help train thenext generation of Australian vertebratepalaeontologists.Editor’s note: Erich Fitzgerald has just beenappointed Senior Curator in InvertebratePalaeontology at Museum Victoria.5th International EarthScience Olympiad –Modena, Italy5 – 14 September 2011A student perspectiveThe first Australian team to participate inthe International Earth Science Olympiad(IESO).Students: Eilidh Cassidy, MehreenQayyum, Jack Beard, Nichola Dart (Year 11students from the Australian Science andMathematics School, Adelaide, SouthAustralia)Mentors: Bronte Nicholls (AustralianScience and Mathematics School), Ian Clark –University of South AustraliaSponsors: Australian Geoscience Council,Geological Society of Australia, AustralianSociety of Exploration Geophysicists,Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia,Beach Energy, Pepinnini Minerals, GeologicalSociety of Australia – SA Division, FlindersUniversity, University of South Australia.AwardsIndividual competitionBronze medal — Jack BeardInternational Team Field InvestigationMost Creative InvestigationWinning team member: Jack BeardBest PresentationWinning team member: Eilidh CassidyIn September 2011, four students from theAustralian Science and Mathematics Schoolwere selected to travel to Italy in order tocompete in the International Earth ScienceOlympiad. It was an opportunity forindividuals with a passion for Earth Scienceto come together from a vast selection ofcountries across the globe to share ourknowledge and ideas on the Earth Sciences.Preparing for the IESO was a joint effort byeveryone in the team. We had regular teammeetings over the course of the school yearand worked through the syllabus provided bythe organizers. Working together as a teamwas a great way to learn new, complextopics. Working with our peers was possiblythe greatest contributor to the success of theTAG December 2011|27

team in Italy, because we were alreadyaccustomed to working through problemswith like-minded students.Eilidh: For me, I felt one of the mostbeneficial experiences I had at the Olympiadwas the International Team FieldInvestigation. I found it was one of thoseonce-in-a-lifetime opportunities that reallyhad an impact on your perspective oflearning. The ITFI was based in the Alps’ V alled’Aosta region where we were split intoteams (not based on country). Unfortunately,one of the team members, Nichola Dart,became ill and was unable to participate inmost of the event.I stayed in a place called Saint Barthelemy,where the topic the team was investigatingwas Astronomy. The problem my team wasgiven to investigate was to determine therising time of a star, Algenib, and I mustadmit I wasn’t quite sure if this was somethingthat would interest me.However, my view quickly changed and I leftthere with a completely different attitudeand a new love and interest in Astronomy.In order to find the rising time we firstly hadto design our own instruments as a team,which then allowed us to measure the peakof a mountain where we could calculateangular distance and then eventuallydetermine when the star would be visible.We had to present our findings to a largeaudience, an experience which happened tobe exhilarating and intimidating at the sametime. However, my team and I worked hardand put together a PowerPoint presentationand in the end we must have donesomething right as we came away on thepresentation night with the Best PresentationAward.The Olympiad itself was any geologist’sdream and although the exams themselveswere very difficult, we took it as a learningexperience. I can probably speak for bothmyself and my team when I say thatattending the IESO changed all of us in termsof our confidence and our passion for EarthScience and although we didn’t come homewith gold medals, it was a valuable learningexperience. If Australia sends a team in thefuture, they can learn from our journey andmaybe one day Australia will do EarthScience proud and come home with thatgold medal.Mehreen: I expected the IESO to be verydisciplined and thought that the team workreferred to the country teams. However, theOlympiad was definitely not what I expected.It was more competitive and covered EarthSciences of all spheres to a greater extentthan what we had studied. Despite this, theatmosphere of the Olympiad was friendly,supportive and encouraging. We studied hardthe last few nights in the lead up to theexam to maximise our marks. There werealso a few practical examinations, but thesewere made considerably easier as the guidesshowed us how to use the instrumentswe needed for the practical before theexaminations. I think as a team we did wellaccording to the amount of knowledge wehad in the topics being examined.Overall, I think being a participant of theIESO was a good experience and I was ableto learn a lot from it. W e learned how tocommunicate and interact with people ofmany nationalities, religious and culturalbackgrounds and languages, as well asexplore, develop and present ideas to achievea common goal. Many of the presentation,cultural and Earth Science skills I havelearned will help me in future studies inschool and beyond.Jack: One of the highlights of the trip wasthe International Team Field Investigation(ITFI). I stayed in a place called La Thuile, asmall village near the French–Swiss border atthe base of Mt Blanc — Mehreen and I werein the same group but different teams.Our task was to map the occurrence ofgypsum in a valley near the village and whatimplications it had on the community (suchas sink holes and the ability for incomethrough mining).The team on arrival at Modena University student accommodation.From left: Mehreen Qayyum, Nichola Dart, Jack Beard and Eilidh Cassidy.Image courtesy Bronte Nicholls.IESO Opening ceremony – flag bearers from each of the 26 participatingcountries. Image courtesy Eilidh Cassidy.28 | TAG December 2011

This was one of the highlights as we reallygot to know many team members from othercountries around the globe. After 24 hoursof hard work, we finally presented our findingsto an audience of 200 others. Here theteam I was in won the Most Creativity shownduring the ITFI award.The IESO will have a huge influence on me inthe future. I will never get the opportunity toparticipate in such an event again, so thistruly was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.Not only has it shaped the way I will look atmy career plans, it has also had an impact onthe way I interact with others, for example,my peers at school and in other situations.For further information about the 5th IESOvisit http://www.ieso2011.unimore.it/JACK BEARD, MEHREEN QAYYUM,EILIDH CASSIDY AND NICHOLA DARTEDITED BY BRONTE NICHOLLSAustralian Science and Mathematics SchoolFlinders University, Bedford Park, SABronte.nicholls@flinders.edu.auSummary of the Australian team IESOand extension activitiesDateStudents5 Sept Arrival & Registration, welcome dinner6 Opening ceremony, Excursion: Salse di Nirano7 Excursion: Venice – Hydrosphere practical exam8 Written exam – all topicsExcursion: Civil Protection Centre of Modena9 Geosphere, atmosphere and astronomy practical exam,Excursion: Villa Sorra10 Excursion: Valle d’Aosta International Field Trip Investigation11 Excursion: Valle d’Aosta International Field Trip Investigation12 Local school visit. Plenary conference, Terramare di Montale13 Modena city centre. Award ceremony and Farewell party14 Departure15 Australian team post-Olympiad tour to the Bay of Naples20 and Rome22 Return to AdelaideThe Australian team during the Hydrosphere practicalexamination in the Venice Lagoon. From left – Mehreen Qayyum,Jack Beard, Eilidh Cassidy. Image courtesy Jack Beard.The team enjoying the steep climb to the summit of Vesuvius – part of the post-Olympiad tour to southern Italy. From the left, EIlidh Cassidy, Mehreen Qayyum,Jack Beard. Image courtesy Bronte Nicholls.TAG December 2011|29

FeaturePlanetary DrillingWhy Drill?Drilling is widely used in soil science, resource exploration andextraction, stratigraphy and geophysics. W e drill for manyreasons – to test subsurface targets, sample below the influence ofsurface processes, validate geophysics, and determine otherwiseinaccessible stratigraphy. Substrates range from unconsolidated topartially consolidated materials, rocks, and ice.Drilling is similarly important in planetary exploration andencounters a similar range of target materials. The reasons for drillinginto planetary surfaces are much the same as those on Earth.However, compared to terrestrial drilling, which typically occurs todepths of a few metres to several kilometres, historic planetarydrilling has been on a very small scale, a few centimetres to a fewmetres at most.Planetary drilling has a number of constraints compared todrilling on Earth. These include limited power and mass,the inability to use drilling fluids, the difficulties of samplecollection and handling, unpredictability of surface properties, and, inmany cases, limited time for operations. Unmanned drilling requiressignificant automation because the latency (communications delay ,up to 40 minutes for two-way communications in the case of Mars)prevents direct control. Drilling with direct human presence(ie astronauts) of course does not suffer from this last problem,demonstrated by the success of Apollo astronauts in drilling on theMoon to depths of up to 3 m. Other constraints still apply , andastronaut-operated drilling must also deal with the need to becarried out whilst wearing a space suit. Despite these limitations,autonomous drilling has occurred on both the Moon and V enus and,in the next decade, may be attempted on both Mars and on Mars’ slarger and innermost moon, Phobos.Historic drilling – ApolloThe first holes drilled elsewhere in the solar system were the hammercores, collected by all the crews, that reached a depth of up to 70 cminto the lunar regolith. Much more sophisticated drilling was carriedout during the later Apollo 15, 16 and 17 missions to the Hadley ,Descartes Highlands and T aurus–Littrow regions, respectively . Thiswas carried out using an electrically-powered hollow-stem rotarypercussive auger that retrieved regolith cores up to 3 m long (Figure1) using multiple flights. The regolith proved easy to drill, althoughextracting the core was sometime extremely difficult, especially thefirst Apollo 15 core. The drill was also used to insert heat-flowprobes; this was done on Apollos 15, 16 and 17, with the last twodesigns modified to deal with problems encountered on Apollo 15.Historic drilling – LunaAutomated planetary drilling was developed in the former SovietUnion. They were first flown to the Moon as part of an unmannedsample return campaign. The ingenious system consisted of ahollow-stem auger that stored the regolith core in a flexible tube.This was coiled up and placed into the Earth-return capsule. The firstsuccess came in 1970, when Luna 16 landed at Mare Fercunditatis,retrieved a short core and blasted off on the return journey , allperformed autonomously in the darkness of the lunar night. Othermissions followed: Luna 20 to the Apollonius highlands in 1972 andLuna 24 which landed at Mare Crisium in 1976, the last returning acore 1.6 m long.Historic drilling – VeneraSmall hollow-stem augers were also used on V enus; 30-cm coreswere drilled by Venera 14 and 15 in 1982 and the samples transferredto an on-board XRF system, showing that the surface rocks at NavkaPlanitia were of basaltic and alkali basaltic composition. Anotherautonomous drilling program was successfully undertaken by theVEGA 2 lander in 1985, showing that the rocks at the landing site inAphrodite Montes were also basaltic in composition. Successfulas these missions were, they also indicate the difficultiesassociated with such autonomous operations. Luna 23 was unable toretrieve its core sample before running out of power; V enera 11 and12 were unable to transfer samples from the corer to the analyticalchamber, and unexpected turbulence triggered VEGA 1’ s drillingprogram before landing.Such failures of complex and tightly constrained experimentaland analytical systems are common in unmanned space missionswhen they encounter situations outside their design parameters.Similar problems were encountered by the US Viking and Phoenixmissions with their complex on-board laboratories. These issues area major challenge for the development of sophisticated unmannedFIGURE 1: Earth trials of the Apollo hollow-stem auger drill used to core up to3 m of regolith. Image courtesy NASA.30 | TAG December 2011

spacecraft for planetary surface exploration and the proven ability ofastronauts to cope with such unexpected challenges remains one ofthe great arguments for direct human presence in planetaryexploration.Future drillingTwo more attempts at planetary drilling will be made in 20 11 withthe launch of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and the RussianPhobos Grunt (Phobos Soil) missions. If both of these highlyambitious and very complex missions succeed they will drill into thesurface of Mars and Phobos, respectively . MSL will drill shortdistances (50 cm) into surface rocks with a rotary-percussive drill andthen transfer the sample to a complex on-board laboratory that cancarry out 74 sample analyses with a mass spectrometer , XRF andXRD. Phobos Grunt will drill up to 2-m into the regolith of Phobosusing a hollow-stem auger derived from that used in the Lunaprogram and then load the sample into an Earth-return capsule.However, it will be a long and difficult road for both these missionsbefore they achieve success.The European Space Agency plans to land a rotary-percussivedrill on comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko. This drill is carried by asmall lander which is part of the Rosetta mission. The spacecraft waslaunched in 2004 and will arrive in 20 14. The system is expected tobe able to drill through icy regolith to a depth of 20–30 cm, thesamples will be studied for evolved gases and by spectroscopy . ESAalso intends to land a hollow-stem rotary auger with a 2-m depthcapability on Mars before the end of this decade with the ExoMarsrover mission. The ExoMars drill is designed for soil, rather than rock.Samples from the drill will be analysed on-board by a batteryof instruments including laser Raman, XRD, XRF and biomarkerdetectors. Downhole spectroscopy and imaging will also be carriedout. However the ExoMars mission has suffered from technicalissues, delays, cost overruns, and frequent rescoping. It remains to beseen whether the mission will actually fly . If it does it will be by farthe most ambitious unmanned-drilling mission ever undertaken.Research into future planetary drilling technologies is ongoing,particularly of automated systems. Objectives under study includesampling subsurface ice on the Moon and Mars, emplacement ofgeophysical instruments such as heatflow probes, and stratigraphiccores for return to Earth. One of the challenges is designing smalldrills to cope with very different materials, for example a drill for useon an unmanned Mars lander such as ExoMars or MSL will have tobe able to drill fresh and altered basalt, sulfate-rich sediments, shalesand sandstones. Experience with one prototype autonomous drill fordeeper (several metres) drilling in Utah, the MARTE drill, showed thatwhile sandstone and siltstone were drilled with few difficulties(Figure 3), softer shale proved much more difficult. Other majorchallenges lie in the areas of automation in fault diagnosis andrectification, adding and removing drill rods, and sample extractionand handling, all while working within the previously mentionedconstraints.While there are no specific plans for astronauts to return to theMoon or go on Mars and Near-Earth Asteroids, drilling is assumed tobe part of the mission requirements (Figure 4). Astronaut-operateddrills have the advantage of the more generous margins of crewedmissions, especially power, the availability of compressed air to coolthe bit and remove cuttings (at least on Mars) and the ability of theoperators to deal with problems on the spot in real time, rather thanremotely over a long time lag. Such immediacy was the key to theretrieval of the Apollo 15 core by Dave Scott and Jim Irwin after itjammed, a task probably beyond the capability of any automated orremotely-operated systems then or since. Challenges for designers ofastronaut-operated drills include the human interface maintainingsample cleanliness and sterility during extraction, and ensuringefficient operation whilst wearing space suits, in particular thegloves.Whether automated or operated directly by astronauts, planetarydrilling should have an interesting future.JON CLARKEMars Society AustraliaFIGURE 3: MARTE robotic hollow-stem auger set up at the Mars DesertResearch Station in Utah.FIGURE 4: Hand drill being tested in Antarctica by a researcher wearingthe University of North Dakota’s NDX-1 prototype suit. (Image courtesyJon Rask.TAG December 2011|31

Special ReportEducating the educators with NASA Spaceward Bound.NASA Spaceward Bound is all about getting scientists,engineers and teachers working together in authenticspace-science projects in the field. It is through theexploration of scientifically interesting and remote and extremelocations that NASA is building up a repertoire of skills andknowledge to advance to the next exciting chapter of spaceexploration.NASA Spaceward Bound has been operating since 2006,with 18 expeditions having occurred under the leadership ofChristopher P McKay, NASA planetary scientist. After signing amemorandum of understanding with Mars Society Australia inJuly 200 7, two of these expeditions have been conductedin Australia. In 2009 a team of 30 individuals traversed thenorthern Flinders Ranges and earlier this year a group of 23members travelled to the Pilbara and other sites of geologicaland astrobiological interest throughout Western Australia.So why remote and extreme locations?NASA and worldwide planetary scientists are interesting in conductingfield trials for hardware. Equipment that will one dayplay a part in off-world missions, such as latest generationspace suits, rovers or analytical instruments need to be tested inthe harsh reality of the field. Can they do the job they weredesigned for?Many remote locations, particularly where NASA SpacewardBound has ventured, such as the Atacama, Mojave and Namibdeserts, the Arctic, as well as locations in Australia, have beenchosen for specific scientific reasons. Expedition team membersare interested in conducting research on life on the edge — aridlocations, hypersaline conditions, temperature extremes, lownutrients, areas of exposed high radiation, areas that will allowus to understand how life can exist and flourish in harshenvironments — leading to a greater understanding of where wecame from and of interest to everyone on a NASA SpacewardBound expedition. Is there life elsewhere out there?The most recent expedition saw 23 people, including fiveteachers, traverse remote Western Australia in a quest to betteridentify and understand stromatolites.Why stromatolites?It is believed that the early conditions of the Earth and Marswere similar . In fact, 3–4 billion years ago Mars may haveactually been a better, more stable (less plate tectonic/volcanicactivity, and as Earth is closer to the Sun, more susceptible tobombardment from all the objects floating about) location forlife to start. So it is proposed that if conditions were similar onthe two planets, then there could have been an opportunityfor life to start on Mars. There could be a second place in oursolar system where life may have started. This means thatNASA Spaceward Bound expedition members trial the NDX-1 spacesuit andits effectiveness as a field tool, at all times being monitored and recorded.Image courtesy Matt Reyes, Social Media Coordinator NASA SpacewardBound.scientists need to understand how and where these objects formand engineers need to understand how to build devices that areable to traverse the terrain and be able to identify thesestructures on future Mars missions.What we see when we look at stromatolites are the earliestexamples of what we understand as life. It was the first timethat organic chemicals came together and created somethingthat digested, excreted, reproduced, respired, responded, etc, socyanobacteria are quite special, especially when for survival,with safety in numbers, they accumulated together and formednetworks that used their surroundings to establish a permanentfoothold.So if we go back in time to visit the early Earth, it was quitedifferent to now. Far more landmass, less soil (not enough timeyet for weathering and erosion processes), more impacts fromspace (as the solar system was yet to be stable and there was alot more debris about) and the atmosphere was different. Ifwe consider the early Archean, it is believed that the Earth’ satmosphere was almost ‘alien-like’ with significant amounts ofgases such as methane and ammonia (from volcanoes from theearly turbulent Earth), which are quite toxic substances. Throughchemical processes, via lightning, the methane reacted andcarbon dioxide was produced over a few hundred million years.This was important as it is the CO 2 that was being usedby the earliest bacteria and as a by-product of photosynthesiscreated the oxygen that we all know, love and cherish today. Inaddition, as these stromatolites are found at the water’ s edge,the O 2 was released in the water.32 | TAG December 2011

With the large amount of iron in the water, it freely reactedto form iron oxide, layers of which eventually settled at thebottom of the Earth’s oceans and are now uncovered around theworld, including in the Pilbara, as banded iron formation. Asthe iron levels in the ocean were depleted, this free oxygeneventually made its way up into the atmosphere, helping tomake it hospitable for life.So I can understand the scienceinterest, but why teachers?It is apparent from ongoing worldwide statistics that there is adeclining rate of students taking up the science challenge. Thenumber of students enrolling in tertiary science courses isdropping, fuelled by lower numbers of students sitting physics,chemistry and even biology at senior-school level. Where aretomorrow’s scientists and engineers going to come from if ourdraw area at Years 11, 12 and beyond is already depleting?Researchers, educationalists and those with a vestedinterest (some may argue all of humanity) in retaining andincreasing these science numbers are examining ways to attractthe attention of students before they make those importantdecisions. A variety of new programmes, excursion activities,websites and the like have been created to grab the wanderingeye of the modern teenager , the group that is exposed to somany diverse distractions in the global community . Many ofthese programmes are highly successful — feedback at the endof sessions is very positive, students are invigorated — so whereare they when they get to the senior years? Why are we notgetting them into science?NASA Spaceward Bound has fostered a different approach,with teachers directly involved with the science as it is happening.The process of NASA Spaceward Bound is to encouragemotivated teachers (sometimes self-nominated, other times byan association or even through an application process such asconducted by Mars Society Australia for Australian expeditions)to have a hands-on field science experience. For some teachers,this may be their first out-of-class experience; for others it maybe a chance to see what other science disciplines do.The first step after securing a place is to be involved in rangeof web-based tutorials and discussions. These chats provide allteam members (not just the teachers) with an opportunity tomeet and greet, and then to begin to understand the process ofthe expedition.The attending teachers have the opportunity to gainadditional background knowledge through separate onlineresources to bring them up to speed with the science that hasbeen or may be conducted and where it all fits in the bigpicture. Each of the scientists involved contributes materials,slideshows and background reading that sets the scene for theexpedition. As well as live broadcasts, these resources areavailable to expedition members via the website at any time andare often referred to throughout the experience and after ,especially when putting the training into classroom context.Once the expedition begins, teachers are not merely fieldlaboratory assistants, they are an integral part of the research.Through daily team and science meetings, all members areencouraged to contribute ideas on scientific processes, methodsfor data collections and proposing hypotheses of the relatedscience. When in the field, teachers are receiving instructionsabout the science, often on a one-to-one basis, enhancing theirscientific understanding. Throughout the expedition, teachersare encouraged to record their experiences and share thesethoughts with other teachers present, as throughout theexpedition each individual will have a chance to experience aslittle or as much science as they feel is relevant to them.Mark Gargano being suited-up in the University of North Dakota spacesuitin preparation for field trials, something that all members had theopportunity to experience. Image courtesy Ken Silburn, Mars SocietyAustralia.During NASA Spaceward Bound Pilbara, which ran from10 to 21 July, the main focus was the search for life on the earlyEarth. Members had a chance to understand the 3.4-billionyear-oldstructures in the Pilbara (~1500 km north of P erth),examine the connection to living stromatolite examples aroundShark Bay, with the opportunity to ‘swim with the stromatolites’and to get up close and personal at Carbla Point (~850 km northof P erth). Then to see an additional site of stromatoliteformation in a hypersaline environment at Lake Thetis, nearCervates (~160 km north of Perth), giving a number of contextsfor team members from all persuasions to question theformation processes. It is clear to everyone that stromatolites donot form everywhere. Is it the salinity levels, the temperature,the lack of predators, currents and wave action?TAG December 2011|33

these types of questions. Some may find it daunting that theworld experts do not appear to be able to put the wholestromatolite jigsaw together , but I think it is quite exciting tosee scientists discuss the processes, the factors and hypothesesand that we are all helping to research exactly what is this finalelusive piece of the puzzle. These are also some of the powerfulmessages that can be taken back to the classroom; science is anongoing area of study: we do not know everything, and everyonecan contribute, including today’s teachers and students.A benefit of being a teacher on a NASA Spaceward Bound isto develop some resources that can be taken back to the classroomand used, hopefully sharing this with other teachers in theThis is why NASA Spaceward Bound is here — to answerschool and even within the district. TJanine Slocombe, a teacher from South Australia being filmed andinterviewed by a television news team. Just one of the many additionalexperiences that occur during a NASA Spaceward Bound expedition. Imagecourtesy Mark Gargano, Mars Society Australia.MARK GARGANO, Education DirectorSwimming with the Stromatolites at Shark Bay. A fairly tough research Mars Society Australia www.marssociety.org.au/opportunity! Image courtesy Simon George, Macquarie University. Mark.gargano@curtin.edu.auNASA Spaceward Bound Australiaspaceward – www.bound.nasa.gov/index.html34 | TAG December 2011eachers therefore havea tremendous opportunity to develop resource sheets,investigations, projects or research assignments by being in thefield and having world experts assist with providing an overviewof knowledge. In addition, to take back a range of images totheir students, that show the teacher testing spacesuits, swimmingwith stromatolites, using high-tech hardware; all this hasa certain reality value that is hard to define. All of a suddenstudents realise their teacher is more than just a teacher; whatthey are talking about they have actually done and now we aregoing to be doing the same!Teachers have the chance of going back into their classroomsthe week after a NASA Spaceward Bound with freshclassroom ideas and materials from cutting-edge scienceprojects. Discussions could be centred around the latesttechnology that they have just used, that is being used toidentify trace elements, remotely identify cave features,developing remote vehicles, conducting field science in spacesuits, or even the actual science, examining rocks and minerals,looking at biological interaction with our environment, identifyingmicrobial structures, highlighting the importance ofstromatolites to understanding the early Earth, and perhaps oursearch for life in the universe.If you are a teacher or know a teacher that would beinterested, upcoming expeditions are listed on the NASASpaceward Bound website at www.spacewardbound.nasa.gov/index.htmlThe next field opportunity is being conducted in the MojaveDesert, California from 17 to 25 March 2012, with applications,including from Australians, being called for on the Mars SocietyAustralia website at; www.marssociety.org.au/AcknowledgementsThis project has been possible through a successful Australian ResearchCouncil grant, which brings together Curtin University , the Universityof Western Australia, the Graham (P olly) Farmer Foundation and theGravity Discovery Centre investigating issues of student and teacherengagement in a range of specialist science programs. An elaborationof the GDC Science Education Enrichment project is available at;http://www.seeproject.org.au/

Tech TalkEarthObserverColumbia University(Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory)Free from the iTunes App StoreAccording to www.earth-observer.org ‘EarthObserver App is a mobile application createdat Columbia University in the City of NewYork specifically for the iPhone, iPod touchand iPad…With the Earth Observer App weinvite you to visit and learn about ourplanet’s terrestrial landscapes, oceans andseas, frozen ice caps, atmosphere and clouds,geologic terrains, topography, nautical charts,natural hazards, human impacts, and manyother earth and environmental science topicsas you travel and explore with your fingertips.’The application consists of a number of mapsgrouped under World (Mercator projection),Antarctic and Arctic (polar projection)showing geology, geophysics, ocean floor,natural hazards, and many more categories.Under each category there are variousdetailed maps. For example ocean floor mapsinclude age of crust, heatflow, seafloorspreadingrates, sediment thickness, to namea few. In the geology maps, there are threegeological maps of Australia: Australia(Formation Ages), Australia (Rock Types) andAustralia and New Zealand, the latter showingthe formation ages and the structuralsubdivisions. Clicking on a map area showsinformation relevant to the particular map,eg the age of the unit (geology maps) oractual sediment thickness (ocean floor maps).A few of the maps refer only to the US(eg US topographic maps, average size of USfarms), but most cover the globe. You canzoom in on the maps in the usual iP ad/iPhone way, and you can capture an imageas a jpeg file for subsequent printing.The Earth Observer website gives detailedinstructions as to how the get the most outof this fascinating application—an absolutegift and ‘free’!TONY COCKBAINGot an idea for a geoscience technology review?Please email contributions to tag@gsa.org.auDid you know your Geologist? (From page 11)It is a photo of recently retired Geoscience Australia chief Neil Williams showing one of the perils of working on the west coa stof Tasmania (aggressive tiger snakes). The photo was taken at Lake Dora in the summer of 1969-7 0. Neil was exploring forbase-metal deposits in the rocks north of Mt. Lyell in the employ of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company .Please send your ‘Know your Geologist’ to tag@gsa.org.auTAG December 2011|35

Cam Bryan’s GeojottingsThe name of the roseInever quite understood why Umberto Eco called his bestsellingbook The Name of the Rose. My preferred answer isthat ‘a solution by any other name smells as sweet’ appliesto the convoluted dénouement of the plot (basically MidsomerMurders in a monastery). Whatever: it gives me a snappy titlefor some thoughts on names.We are surrounded by names. Indeed we could not get bywithout them. ‘Hey you!’ is definitely not the same as ‘Hello,John’. On the other hand I prefer ‘a person who sells meat in ashop’ to ‘Family Butcher’ which I have always found confusing.The trouble with names is pronouncing them. The TVprogram Dalziel and Pascoe has made us aware of thepronunciation ‘DL’ instead of ‘Dal zeal. ’ Global tectonics expertIan Dalziel once told me that he responded to eitherpronunciation! The New South W ales town of Scone alsopresents problems. On my only visit to it I asked how the namewas pronounced and was told that Scone could rhyme with‘bon’, ‘stone’ or ‘skoon’. But perhaps the prize for pronunciationgoes to Fetherstonehaugh and Cholmondeley , which arepronounced Fanshaw and Chumlee, respectively.Some names have a poetic ring to them; others do not.I doubt that spelling Death as De’ Ath makes the name anyfriendlier. The eminent Swedish glaciologist V alter Schytt (theSchytt Glacier in Antarctica is named after him) had nomisconceptions as to pronunciation of his name. GeophysicistJohn Jacobs told me that he always pronounced the name torhyme with kite: however , at a conference Schytt came up tohim and introduced himself saying ‘I am Shit’! On the otherhand, JRR T olkien made an art form out of inventing names.Many of them roll off the tongue, like Aragorn, Mordor ,Lothlorien, Gandalf, and are truly poetic.Palaeontologists are keen to give names! Sometimes theirnaming conventions leave many of us perplexed. Why give up agood name like Brontosaurus, which we have all heard of, forApatosaurus? The reasoning goes like this. Othniel CharlesMarsh, Professor of P aleontology at Y ale University namedApatosaurus ajax in 1877. T wo years later he incorrectlyidentified a larger and more complete specimen as Brontosaurusexcelsus: however, the two specimens are of the same species;hence the name Apatosaurus takes precedence overBrontosaurus. While the names of fossils can have interestingmeanings taken from Latin or Greek roots (and beware thescientist who mixes his roots!) — Brontosaurus means ‘thunderlizard’—they can also be taken from other languages (eg, thelobe-finned fish Tiktaalik from the Inuktitut word for afreshwater fish), places (eg the Burgess Shale annelid Canadia),people (eg the brachiopod Muirwoodia named after HelenMuir-Wood) or even suggested by their shape (eg the foraminiferOrbulina, which is a sphere). P erhaps the candidate for inventingthe most intriguing names goes to the Argentinian palaeontologistFlorentino Ameghino, who named many genera of South Americanfossil mammals after the names of eminent scientists using boththeir first name and their surname: hence, Henricosbornia,Thomashuxleyi, Carolodarwinia and Edwardocopeia.For me, petrology has long been a riddle wrapped in amystery inside an enigma (to paraphrase Winston Churchill’ scomments about Russia). In my student days it seemed thatpetrologists loved giving names to rocks, particularly igneousrocks. Nowadays the preference is to use a standard set of rocknames (eg granite, basalt) with mineral prefixes. Spoil sports!There is surely something romantic in reading aboutailsacraigite, conjuring up images of the Scottish island AilsaCraig, rather than riebeckite microgranite. Larvikite is muchmore exotic than ‘a type of monzonite’ — although as studentsin England we called it Montague Burtonite because the shopfronts of Montague Burton T ailors were always covered withslabs of larvikite. Other , probably now forgotten, names thatstick in my memory are phonolite*, lherzolite*, adamellite,vogesite*, litchfieldite and luxullianite.Petrologists have also delighted in naming igneousintrusions according to their shape and this has produced aplethora of names, of which batholith, lopolith and laccolith areprobably best known. But there are many others includingductolith, harpolith, sphenolith, akmolith and ethmolith. Thereis even chonolith for ‘intrusive igneous bodies with anonspecific, irregular shape that does not fit into othercategories of plutonic structure’. However, the prize must go tothe cactolith: ‘a quasi-horizontal chonolith composed ofanastomosing ductoliths, whose distal ends curl like a harpolith,thin out like a sphenolith, or bulge discordantly like an akmolithor ethmolith’.Lest I be accused of denigrating petrological nomenclature, letme finish with geosynclines. What a wealth of terms was developedfor these features, which seem to have disappeared from ourvocabulary now that plate tectonics is in the ascendancy . Just toremind you of some of the names: miogeosyncline, eugeosyncline,orthogeosyncline, zeugogeosyncline, parageosyncline, exogeosyncline,taphrogeosyncline and paraliageosyncline. Thank yourlucky stars for plate tectonics!As for the name of the rose? Well you make up your own mind.*Cam, these are approved igneous rock names. (Editor)36 | TAG December 2011

Books for reviewPlease contact the Geological Society ofAustralia Business Office (info@gsa.org.au)if you would like to review any of thefollowing publications:New publicationsBurke & Wills: the scientific legacy ofthe Victorian exploring expeditionDoug McCann, Bernie Joyceand colleagues have completeda book on the Burkeand Wills expedition, reviewingthe value of its scientificresults and those of the severalrelief expeditions.Burke and Wills left Melbourne on 20 August1860, 150 years ago last year.For more details visit the Royal Society'sB&W site: http://burkeandwills150.info/Purchase from:The Royal Society of Victoriahttp://www.burkeandwills150.info/images/bwpdf/bw_book_order_form.pdfCSIRO Publishing:http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/18/pid/6733.htmVolcanoes of Auckland –the essential guideBruce W. Hayward et alPublished 2011246 pagesISBN 978 1 86940 479 6Re-advertisedDinosaurs in Australia mesozoic lifefrom the southern continentRobert Hamilton-Bruce &Benjamin KearPublished April 2011ISBN 9780643100459CSIRO Publishingwww.publish.csiro.aupublishing.sales@csiro.auSeismic reflection processing withspecial reference to anisotropySK UpadhyayISBN: 3-540-40875-4Published 2004600 pagesskues@iitr.ernet.inFrom the Geological Societyof LondonThe following books are published by theGeological Society of London,www.geolsoc.org.uk/bookshop but areavailable from the GSA for review, contactinfo@gsa.org.auSP337 Petrological evolution of theEuropean lithospheric mantleM Coltori, H Downes, M Gregorie &SY O’ReillyPublished 2010, 236 pages, ₤85 (A$127.60),GSA Member price: ₤51 (A$81.35)SP324 Thermochronologicalmethods: from Palaeotemperatureconstraints to landscape evolutionmodelsF Lisker, B Ventura & UA GlasmacherISBN: 978-1-86239-285-4Published 2009336 pagesPrice: ₤100.00 / $200.00GSA Mem ₤60.00 / $120.00SP313 Underground gas storageDJ Evans & RA ChadwickISBN: 978-1-86239-272-4Published 2009360 pagesPrice: ₤54.00/ $108.00SP308 Geodynamic evolutionof East AntarcticaM Satish-Kumar, Y Motoyoshi, Y Osanai,Y Hiroi & K ShiraishiISBN: 978-1-86239-268-7Published 2008464 pagesPrice: ₤60.00 / $120.00SP303 Biogeochemicalcontrols on Palaeoceanographicenvironmental proxiesWEN Austin & RH JamesISBN: 978-1-86239-257-1Published 2008200 pagesPrice: ₤51.00 / $102.00SP293 Metasomatism in oceanicand continental lithosphericmantleM Coltorti & M GregoireISBN: 978-1-86239-242-7Published 2008368 pagesPrice: ₤54.00/ $108.00SP338 The evolving continents,understanding processes ofcontinental growthTM Kusky, M–G Zhai & W XiaoISBN: 978-1-86239-303-5Published 2010402 pagesSP341 Evolution of the levantmargin and Western Arabia platformC Hombery & M BachmannISBN: 978-1-86239-306-6Published 2010326 pagesSP343 Dinosaurs and other extinctsaurians: an historical perspectiveRTJ Moody, E Buffetaut, D Naish &DM MartillISBN: 978-1-86239-311-0Published 2010380 pagesGEOQuiz ANSWERS(From page 10)1 Neoproterozoic supercontinent2 A hypothetical continent occupying partsof the Atlantic and Indian Oceans (someauthors have extended it to the PacificOcean).3 Palaeozoic microcontinent comprisingsouthwest Great Britain and the eastern coastof North America.4 Palaeozoic supercontinent made up ofthe Northern Hemisphere continents, chieflyLaurentia, Baltica, Siberia, Kazakhstania, andthe North China and East China cratons.5 Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic oceansituated in the southern hemisphere betweenLaurentia, Baltica and Avalonia.6 A supercontinent that existed in the LatePrecambrian and gave rise to the continentsof Gondwana, Laurentia, Siberia, and Balticain the Cambrian.7 Neoarchaean supercontinent8 Palaeozoic microcontinent comprisingpart of southwest Great Britain and northernFrance.9 A hypothetical continent that allegedlydisappeared at the dawn of human history,located in the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans.10 Probably the most wandering of thehypothetical continents, first mentioned byPlato and variously located in theMediterranean, Atlantic, Antarctic, Caribbean,Pacific and Indian Oceans.TAG December 2011 | 37

Book ReviewsAncient Orogens andModern AnaloguesJB Murphy, JD Keppie and AJ Hynes (Eds)Geological Society Special Publication327, London, 2009, 496 pagesISBN: 978-1-86239-289-2This recentpublication by TheGeological Society,London,presents a series ofarticles that dealwith aspects ofsubduction, accretionary, collisionand extensional tectonics across awide geographical range from theNew Zealand to the Andes, centraland north Americas, the Alpine andPalaeozoic orogenic systems inEurope, the Urals and to WesternAustralia. A number of papers highlightthe role of supercontinent(eg Rodinia) assembly and breakup inorogenic and rifting processes.Special Publication 327 contains 18papers and 195 figures in 488 pages.Following an introduction by theeditors, the book is divided into threesections:1) Mesozoic-Cenozoic orogens(7 papers)2) Palaeozoic/Neoproterozoic orogens(7 papers) and3) Proterozoic orogens (4 papers).Cole JW & Spinks KD start off thefirst section with a review ofca 18 Ma – present felsic calderavolcanism in the Taupo Volcanic Zone(New Zealand). The authors highlightthe relationship of calderas withrifting and fault structures. RamosVA & Folguera A illustrate theevolution of the Andean flat-slabsubduction with time and point outthat in the geological record flatslabsubduction is more commonthan previously realised. Indeed, asubstantial part of the Andean continentalmargin was affected by presentand past flat-slab subduction,with volcanic gaps where the Nazcaand J Fernández ridges collide withthe continental margin. Further tothe north, Mandujano-Velaquez JJ &Keppie JD report on the fold-andthrustbelt formed through thecollision of the Tehuantepec Ridgewith a trench system in CentralAmerica (Mexico) as detailed byseismic profiles. The CanadianCordillera is tackled next, by Dostal J,Keppie JD & Ferri F, who, usinggeochemical and Nd–Sr isotopicdata, propose a model of obliqueeastward subduction of the CacheCreek terrane. Stampfli GM &Hochard C give a detailed andwell-illustrated account of thegeodynamic evolution of the Alpineorogenic belts in the Mediterraneanregion, in a comparatively shortpaper. Still in the Mediterraneanregion, Johnston ST & Mazzoli Sprovide a good overview of thepalaeogeographic and tectonicevolution of the Italian peninsula,defined by the Calabrian Orocline.The focus is the transferred eastwardto the Anatolia (Turkey) regionwhere, using GPS velocity vectorsand seismic tomography, Dilek Y &Sandvol E, discuss the Mesozoic toCenozoic geodynamic evolution ofAnatolia, with very interesting modelsshown in their Figures 8 and 1 0.The second section starts with acomprehensive review of the UralianOrogen by Puchkov VN. This orogenextends for more than 4000 km fromNovaya Zemlya in the north to theTianshan in the south. Both theeditors and Puchkov must be creditedfor including the Uralian Orogen, notparticularly well known in westernliterature, in this book. Anotherwelcome paper is by Hofmann H,Linnemann U, Gerdes A, Ullrich B &Schaeur M on the Variscan Orogenyand the Bohemian Massif; unfortunately,their Figure 4 is difficult tofollow, because it has 33 boxes as alegend, all explained in a very longcaption. Pereira FM, Chichorro M,Williams IS, Silva JB, Fernández C,Díáz-Azpíoz, Apraiz A & Castro Acontinue with the Variscan to thesouthwest, in the Iberian Massif,using U–Pb zircon geochronologyand structural studies to stress theimportance of extensional transcurrenttectonics in the final stage oforogenic processes. The usefulness ofdetrital zircon age data comesthrough very nicely with thecontribution by Nance BD, Keppie DJ,Miller BV, Murphy JB & Dostal J whoreconstructed the palaeogeographyof Mexico between the Silurian andthe Triassic, within the framework ofthe Rheic Ocean. A long paper, butwell illustrated with catchy figures oftectonic processes, by Van Staal CR,Whalen IB, Valverde-Vaquero P,Zagoreski A & Rogers N, describesaspects of accretion orogenesis ofthe northern Appalachian. Equallywell illustrated and presented is thecontribution by Sánchez-Martínez S,Arenas R, Fernández-Suárez J &Jeffries TE, on how the ophiolites ofNW Iberia can be used forreconstructing the evolution ofcontinents and oceans, including theRheic and Iapetus Oceans. Theimportance of the Rheic Ocean andresulting ophiolites is taken up againby Murphy JB, Gutiérrez-Alonso G,Nance RD, Fernández-Suárez J,Keppei JD, Quesada C, Dostal J &Braid JA who document theevolution of the Variscan Orogen andthe northern Gondwana margin.The last section of this bookbegins with a paper on a revisedreconstruction of Rodinia usingpalaeomagnetic data, by Evans DAD.Interesting in this contribution is theposition of a remnant sea withevaporite deposits, where sedimenthostedmineral systems may haveformed. Rivers T discusses theGrenville Province in terms of a hotlong-duration orogen (LHO). Wearrive in Western Australia with ashort but revealing contribution byOcchipinti SA & Reddy SM who usedAr–Ar data to document the tectonicreworking of the Capricorn Orogen inthe Neoproterozoic. The last paper inthis book is by Corrigan D, PehrssonS, Wodicka N & De Kemp E, who alsoprovided a short but illuminatingpaper on the geodynamic evolutionof the Trans-Hudson Orogen.A very impressive collection ofcontributions by an equally impressiveline-up of authors. Well worth itfor students of orogenic processesand continental reconstructions andfor geoscientists who would like tolearn more on the theme examinedin this volume.FRANCO PIRAJNOGeological Survey of Western AustraliaSchool of Earth and Environment,University of Western Australiafraco.pirajno@dmp.wa.gov.auEarth Surface Processes,Landforms andSediment DepositsJS Bridge & RV DemiccoCambridge University Press, Cambridge,2008, 815 pagesISBN: 978-0-521-85780-2 hardbackJust glancing atthis work makesone feel dauntedby the huge taskthat must havefaced the authorsin preparing thiswonderful volume.This weighty tome provides a verycomprehensive overview of the disciplinarycoverage of sediment-ology.The book explicitly adopts the perspectiveof examining the depositionalend products ofsedimentation processes within ageomorphological context at a levelof detail not previously attempted(ie in terms of the level of geomorphologicaldetail provided). Bridgeand Demicco attempt to show theclear linkages between sedimentaryenvironments, Earth surface processes(weathering, erosion, transportation)and resultant facies associations.A central concern is the clear interrelationshipof these processes infashioning the depositional products.Following an introduction that setsout the broad scope of the volume,Chapter 2 presents a generalisedoverview of the Earth, partly from aplate-tectonic perspective. Thechapter also examines the physicalattributes and behaviour of theatmosphere and hydrosphere, thenature of early life on the planetand the evolution of the lithosphere,atmosphere, hydrosphere andbiosphere, setting the scene for thedynamic nature of the Earth throughits history. Part 2 of the volumeconcentrates on the production ofsediment on the Earth’s surface.Chapter 3 examines the origin ofterrigenous clastic sediments,the nature of weathering processesand the formation of soils. Theproduction of bioclastic sedimentsas well as sediments derived fromwhat has classically been termedchemical processes (eg siliceous,iron, phosphatic sediments) areconsidered in Chapter 4. In Part 3,38 | TAG December 2011

the fundamentals of fluid flow, sediment transport,erosion and deposition are considered. The natureof unidirectional turbulent flow is examined inChapter 5 as well as the resultant bedforms. Thenature of sediment transport associated withaeolian processes is explored in Chapter 6, withinboth the context of resultant sedimentarystructures and at the larger scale, the nature ofthe physical landscape. Chapter 7 then discussesmultidirectional flow and resultant sedimentarystructures. Sedimentary processes under theinfluence of gravity flows are examined inChapter 8, followed by volcaniclastic processes(Chapter 9), and ice flow (Chapter 10).Sedimentary structures resulting from biologicaland chemical processes are examined in Chapter11. Collectively, these early chapters provide a verydetailed overview of the myriad of sedimentarystructures that form within a diverse range ofsedimentary environments and the discussion veryeffectively demonstrates the relationship ofspecific features to their characteristic depositionalenvironments. Post-depositional modification ofsediments in the context of soft-sedimentdeformation is explored in Chapter 12.Contrasting descriptions of depositionalenvironments are covered in six chapters in P art 4of the book. These chapters are excellent indescribing the nuances of sedimentary processeswithin a geomorphological context. However, thevolume does differ somewhat in its coverage ofthis topic from previous works in the sense thatspecific facies models and the architecture ofresultant sedimentary successions in contrastingdepositional environments seem to be coveredin less detail. Thus, the plethora of verticalstratigraphical profiles of sedimentary faciesassociations seen in other works, are a lesscommonelement of this volume. Part 5 of thework presents a very comprehensive overview ofsediment diagenesis, and finally in Part 6, Chapter20 presents an engaging discussion of the majorinfluences on erosion and sedimentation —tectonism, climate and global sea-level changes.This is a particularly valuable discussion thatserves a major integrative function within thevolume. A disappointing element of this chapter,however, is the somewhat dismissive treatment ofsequence stratigraphy.The overall production quality of the volume isvery good although it is a shame that thepublishers have relegated the only colour photographsin the volume to four insert pages betweenpages 24 and 25. The line drawings are all of veryhigh quality.In summary, this is an excellent purview of thenature of the discipline of sedimentology and willbe of wide appeal, both from the perspective ofstudents becoming familiar with the science forthe first time, and for professionals from a widerange of backgrounds in the Earth andEnvironmental Sciences. It deserves a place on theEarth Science bookshelf next to other great worksin the field of sedimentology such as the classicsby Friedman and Sanders ( Principles ofSedimentology), Walker and James (Facies Models),Blatt, Middleton and Murray ( Origin ofSedimentary Rocks) and Pettijohn (SedimentaryRocks). I highly recommend the work.COLIN V MURRAY-WALLACEUniversity of WollongongThe Geology of ThailandMF Ridd, AJ Barber and MJ Crow (Eds)Geological Society of London, 2011, 626 pagesISBN: 978-1-86239-322-6 (hardback)ISBN: 978-1-86239-319-6 (paperback)Although an excellent andcomprehensive Thai languagesummary of the geology ofThailand was compiled by theThai Department of MineralResources (DMR) in 2001, it wasnot translated into English.An English-language summary of Thailand’sfascinating geology has been needed for manyyears and this is now supplied by the GeologicalSociety of London. The volume is 626 pages longand the paperback version is a weighty 1.85 kg.It consists of 21 geochronologically arrangedchapters written by 26 authors with a usefulappendix of radiometric dates compiled by one ofthe editors (Michael Crow) plus a simplified,pull-out geological map of Thailand. There are alsoseparate chapters on coal, volcanic rocks andgranitic rocks. Most of the authors have writtenextremely good summaries and synthesisedmountains of often obscurely published andunpublished information.Christopher Morley, Andrew Racey, John Booth,and Nares Sattayarak utilise a wealth of mainlyunpublished seismic data to produce superbsyntheses of subsurface geology, ‘Tertiary’stratigraphy and petroleum geology in Chapters 9,10, and 13. Chris Morley, Punya Charusiri and IanWatkinson’s synthesis of the structural geology ofthe Cenozoic is a profusely illustrated tour de forcethat should be absorbed by everyone interested inSE Asian geology. Other highlights are Bent Hansenand Klaus Wemmer’s Chapter 2 on the ‘basement’rocks of Thailand; Katsumi Ueno’s and ThasineeCharoentitirat’s Chapter 5 on the controversialCarboniferous and Permian sequences; MichaelCrow and Khin Zaw’s Chapter 17 on metalliferousmineral deposits; John Milson’s Chapter 18 onregional geophysics; and Kieren Howard’s finalChapter 21 on the fascinating subject of tektitesand the effects of the 800-ka impact event inSE Asia. Useful, thought-provoking, summarytectonic papers are provided by the editors and byChris Morley and Michael Searle (Chapters 19 and20). All the other chapters are interesting, wellwritten and well illustrated.The only quibble I have is that in Chapter 3, on theLower Palaeozoic, Michael Ridd introduces what heclaims to be a new lithostratigraphic group, theSatun Group for the southern Thai LowerPalaeozoic. This term was actually proposed byBurton (1974) and its re-introduction along with are-classification of southern Thai lithostratigraphicunits is unnecessary and will only cause confusion.Similarly confusing is his use of the Nga ChangSupergroup for the overlying sequence whichapparently, at least in this book (p 36), contains noconstituent groups and only one formation.Elsewhere in the volume Ueno and Charoentitiratreview the usage of Nga Chang and write (p 115)“These facts incline us to provisionally regard theNga Chang Group as superfluous.” I agree.The editors must be congratulated for their hardwork assembling such an excellent and usefulcompilation and getting the disparate group of 26authors to submit and finish their articles on time.The list price of the hardback edition is £1 00 butthe paperback version is £50 or £37.50 for Fellowsand for members of other societies and is anaffordable bargain at AU$56 (plus postage). Thisvolume is essential reading for anyone interestedin the geology of SE Asia.CLIVE BURRETTSakon NakhonThailandThe Triassic TimescaleSG Lucas (Ed)Geological Society Special Publication 334, London,514 pagesPrice £95.00ISBN: 978-1-86239-296-0If the time period from 252 to201 million years ago, ie, theTriassic, is your main interestthen the book published lastyear and edited by SpencerLucas of the New MexicoMuseum of Natural History andScience is the one for you.Between the covers, with a death assemblage ofSpathian ammonoids from the USA on the frontone, is nearly everything to bring anyone up todate on early Mesozoic matters. The post-Permian–Triassic extinction era was a time offascinating struggle through 50 million years torecovery for some but further extinction for others;a time affected by the final throws of the assemblyof Pangaea and then the beginnings of its breakup.The global biodiversity collapse allowed a massiveweeding out leading to new evolutionary innovations.Lucas’ book reviews the unfolding of nearlytwo centuries of consideration of Triassic eventsand timescale studies and gives us comprehensiveanalyses of radiometric, magneto-, bio- and otherstratigraphic correlations. Data are based onisotopic, marine and non-marine studies.There have been several well-organised UNESCO:IUGS International Geoscience Programme projectson the Triassic and its boundary problems in thelast decade or so, for instance, IGCP 458Triassic/Jurassic Boundary Events (2001–2005)with leaders J Palfy (Hungary), SP Hesselbo (UK),C McRoberts (USA), and IGCP 467 T riassic time(2002–2006) led by Mike Orchard (Canada), someof whom are authors in this new book. In all,23 authors from 10 countries have co-operated toprovide an integrated approach (palaeontology,stratigraphy, sedimentology, geochemistry,TAG December 2011|39

geochronology, palaeomagnetism and mineralogy)from the basal Triassic to the Triassic/Jurassicboundary at a global level. Major mass-extinctionevents and important volcanic episodes, changesin sea level, are considered in context ofchronostratigraphy.Lucas himself gives us the background to thecurrent IUGS standard stratigraphy and chronostratigraphyshowing the German foundation forwork on the stages back in the 18th century , withthe ‘Trias’ being coined in 1823 for the almost1 km-thick tripartite succession in southwesternGermany by mining engineer Friedrich August vonAlberti (1795–1878). Chronostratigraphy gotunderway with work on the ammonoids (review byM Balini et al) in the 19th century with conodontwork (reviewed by MJ Orchard) providing a furthercomprehensive tool for marine successions inthe 20th century. Radiometric and magnetostratigraphieshave been added on during the lastcentury to give a most refined timescale withseven still-debated stages: R Mundil et al thenprovide an updated Triassic timescale using newPb/U and isotope data; MW Hounslow andG Muttoni also give the historical underpinning forthe still- pioneering geomagnetic correlations.L Tanner investigates environmental change via theisotope record looking at carbon, oxygen, sulfurand strontium and also looks at cyclostratigraphyespecially Milankovitch frequencies. As noted,biostratigraphy still features strongly, withL O’Dogherty et al considering the 30-year historyof radiolarian research and CA Roberts giving abivalve chronology based on the last two decadesof work. Palynology receives two chapters withconcentration on NW Europe by WM Kürchner andW Herngreen, while S Cirelli reviews the UpperTriassic – lowermost Jurassic worldwide.Correlation of marine to non-marine receivesimportant treatment by H Kozur and RE Weemslooking at the chitinous clam shrimp arthropods(conchostracans). Lucas also co-authors chapterson ammonoids (with M Balini, JF Jenks, &JA Spielmann) but the book finishes with hisspeciality, concentrating on the tetrapod workdone in recent decades. Using footprints (withH Klein) as well as dicynodonts and reptiles,including the oldest dinosaurs, they give newcorrelation schemes with five ichno biochrons tocomplement eight Land-Vertebrate faunachrons(LFVs). The latter two chapters make up nearlyone-fifth of the book.Australia, which does not have an extensivemarine record on its landmass, does gainrecognition especially for the palynostratigraphicwork done by Balme, Helby, de Jersey and theircolleagues (p 298–299 in the chapter by S Cirilli)and its tetrapods (Lucas) although the geographicposition (and spelling) of, eg footprint sites(map p 420), is not accurate, with key T riassic sitesmissing. Australia has some of the oldest recordeddinosaurs in the word, based on tracks(eg, Thulborn in Rich & Vickers-Rich 2003); all butone record come from southeastern Queensland.There has been no Australian Triassic overviewsince Balme and Foster’s in the ‘AGSO timescale’(Young & Laurie 1996) as this period was missingin the last compendium on Australasian faunasand floras (Wright et al 2000) so this book makes amost useful and necessary contribution. TheTriassic Timescale gives a detailed framework for abetter assessment of the timing, duration andtempo of extinction events as well as isotopeanomalies and global environmental changes.Despite scant mention but at least recognition oftheir potential for correlation, what I did miss ismuch mention of the fishes. Although not manygroups recovered significantly following the P/Textinction, the actinopterygian (fin-rayed bonyfish) and many sharks did, with one importantclade being the ‘Lazarus’ xenacanths from theSydney Basin that continued to survive well intothe Middle Triassic. The actinopterygians went onto be the dominant fishes on Earth. A ‘robust’Triassic microvertebrate scheme is still needed.Nevertheless, Spencer Lucas has done a fine job inbringing together this volume and as with all GSLproductions it is well produced and reasonablypriced (not least for members of GeologicalSocieties who can get the discount).REFERENCESRich, TH & Vickers-Rich, P 2003. A Century ofAustralian Dinosaurs. Queen Victoria Museum andMonash Science Centre, Australia, 124 p.Wright, AJ, Young, GC, Talent, JA & Laurie, JR (eds)2000. Palaeobiogeography of Australasian Faunas andFloras. Association of Australasian PalaeontologistsMemoir 23, 515 p.Young, GC & Laurie, J (eds) 1996. An AustralianPhanerozoic Timescale. Oxford University Press,Oxford, 279 p (plus box of 12 biostratigraphic charts).SUSAN TURNERBrisbaneGeological Journeys – a travellers’guide to South Africa’s rocks andlandformsNick Norman and Gavin WhitfieldStruick Publishers, Cape Town, 2006, 320 pagesISBN: 978-1-77007-062-2Let me state from thebeginning that I have not beento South Africa, so I looked atthis book with unbiased eyesabout what there is to see, butI did choose to review thisbook to learn something aboutthat nation and its fascinating geology.The book has about 320 pages and is wellillustrated throughout with quality colouredimages; in fact almost every opening has at leastone colour image, the exceptions being theacknowledgements/preface, four-page glossary,bibliography and five-page index. The wholesoft-covered text is a visual delight with plenty ofdiagrams, sections and maps explaining particularaspects of the local geology and captionedphotographs of examples in the field. Forty-onegeological maps are spread throughout the textwith a basic set of colours and symbols relating tothe geological key inside the back cover. Roads,rivers, towns and geographic grid coordinatesprovide good reference to locating the detail.Twenty-four figures are included to explainparticular geological aspects either in cross-sectionor block model.The authors have divided the text into 18 chapterswhich relate to the national roads which radiateout from the population centres at Johannesburg,Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban. The text iswritten in an easy to read format and uses familiar(to the local) landmarks to guide the traveller andhighlight geological aspects. After an introductory24 pages covering background geologicalknowledge, rock-type definitions, plate tectonicsand such, the narrative launches into thegeological guide starting with the fascinatinggeology of the Johannesburg area, focussing onthe gold-rich strata and diamond production, butalso including descriptions of the Archeanbasement of granite and greenstone. A shorthistory of the discovery of gold and thedevelopment of mining and extractiontechnologies complements the geology.The chapter on Cape Town highlights the granitesand deep-weathering history, has a curiousmention of South Africa’s nuclear-power historyand touches on the recent anthropological historyrecorded in fossil footprints.At Durban the dominant sandstone geologycontaining sedimentary structures and fossilswould delight any visitor. In addition, geologicalevidence of the existence and then breakup ofGondwana is related in detailed descriptions. FromJohannesburg to Beitbridge is a trip to thePrecambrian, including mafic intrusives, granites,greenstones, dolomites and the like exposed in theBushveld Complex and the Karoo Basin. Includedhere is a section on the platinum group ofelements, chromium resources and a detaileddescription of the mafic complex. On theJohannesburg to Cape Town road the toweringescarpment known as the Great Karoo exemplifiessome of the tectonics experienced in this region.Inset boxes explain the parts of folds and foldtypes which have classic examples in theLaingsburg area. The trip to Port Elizabeth goesthrough spectacular fold belt mountains, lakedistricts, forests and coastal scenery. While wellvegetated, the geology is not hidden, with plentyof examples of coastal processes. This chapter alsointroduces the petroleum exploration of SouthAfrica.Between Pretoria and Skilpadshek the significanceof platinum resources is highlighted along with thepresence of unusual alkaline rocks of thePilanesberg. East of Pretoria on the way toKomatipoort, South Africa’s main coal fields supplynearby power stations, while further east, dolomitewas previously mined to make lime. The route fromCape Town north to Vioolsdrif crosses complicatedstructure and metamorphism resulting from tightlyfolded mobile belts. The region also comprisesgranites and South Africa’s oldest copper minesnear Springbok.Along the N12 from Johannesburg to George theroute passes more coalfields and theWitwatersrand Supergroup, providing a touch of40 | TAG December 2011

gold from the Witwatersrand and thenintroduction of the Kimberley diamonds, includingsome history of the finds and subsequentdevelopments. Further along the road there areexamples of glacial tillite from the K arooSupergroup. Traversing westward on the N14 fromPretoria to Springbok there are examples ofperfectly preserved fossils and sedimentarystructures in Archean rocks, while further alongthe Roaring Dunes of the Witsand Nature Reserveand site of the massive copper–zinc deposits of theAggeney’s district can be found.The final few chapters highlight specific geologicalfeatures including the Great Escarpment with itsdeeply incised rivers and spectacular geologicalscenery and the magnificent mountain scenery ofthe Drakensberg escarpment and the Little K aroo.Throughout the text, less well known mineralresources of South Africa such as aluminium,titanium, coal, kaolin, manganese and andalusiteare inserted. As previously mentioned the text iswell illustrated and clearly written. It would be auseful companion to any traveller (geologist ornot) to South Africa as a general warm up on thegeology and mining history. In addition, anyonewishing to understand geological principles withgood examples of outcrops (South African),explanatory diagrams (well thought out andcolourful) and geological terms clearly definedwould find this text useful.DON CHERRYCoastal Chalk Cliff InstabilityRN Mortimore & A Duperret (Eds)Geological Society Engineering Geology SpecialPublication 20, London, 2004, 173 pagesISBN 1-86239-150-5Although this publication issome years old, I only receivedit for review earlier this year.Nevertheless it is a very worthwhilepublication with currentrelevance to Australiancarbonate cliffed coasts.Most of the rocky coasts around the world aresubject to active erosion processes and theconsequent cliff retreat and instability pose serioushazards to many coastal communities. This is acollection of 11 multi-authored papers that are theresults of the European funded research programROCC (Risk of Cliff Collapse) presented at aconference in 2001. The ROCC program wasinitiated by a multidisciplinary UK and Frenchteam concerned with the significant cliff collapseissues on the chalk coasts on both side of theEnglish Channel (La Manche).The book is organised in three sections: theprimary geological controls on chalk cliffinstability; the specific marine influences oncoastal cliff erosion and some specific tools andtechniques useful in coastal cliff erosion researchand management. The overall approaches includestandard geological field mapping and laboratoryanalysis, geomechanical analyses, numericalmodeling, laboratory flume experiments andmethods for using historical data and records. Inparticular there is a real attempt to look at a rangeof methods to identify the most important factorswhere multiple processes are involved. There arefive papers based on UK data, four on French data,one theoretical and one interesting Canadianapproach and paper.The basic geology and range of cliff instabilityhazards are identified for the 40 km English coast(Mortimer et al) and the 120 km French coast(Duperret et al). Although the discussions ofproblems and their related causes are at differentscales (1:500 and 1:10 000 scales for the UKand 1:100 000 for France) they are clear andcomparable. The karstic issues are betterelucidated for the French coast. A multi-scaleanalysis of pre-existing fractures in the chalk usingoblique aerial photographs and fieldwork showsthat there is no clear link between recent collapseand regional-scale faulting (Genter et al). Mortimeret al’s investigation of the physical properties ofthe chalk itself shows the strong stratigraphicaland sedimentological controls on the mechanicalperformance of the material and mass in the clifffailures. The marine parameters influencing coastalerosion are discussed in three papers: the role ofwave-energy dispersion inshore (Mitchell & Pope),wave-energy distribution on beaches and cliffbases (Brossard & Duperret) and the role of clifffractures with respect to wave-impact-inducedpressure propagation (Wolters & Muller). The rateof abrasion by different flint gravels was used toestimate residue times of beach materials alongdifferent parts of the chalk coastline (Dornbusch etal). Calculating cliff-line retreat is important formanagement and planning along such coasts.Aerial photogrammetry quantified cliff-line retreaton the French coast over 30 years (Costa et al).Important factors where multiple processes areinvolved are proposed using similar cliffs in Canada(Daigneault et al.).Good references are provided in each article. Thediagrams and photographs are clear and relevantto the various articles and there is a functionalindex. Overall the content despite having manyauthors has been well edited and presents as avery usable whole.The relevance of this volume to Australian may bequestioned, as we do not have such extensive orsignificant chalk-cliffed coasts as Europe orCanada. However, a great deal of useful understandingof the theoretical bases for cliff collapsein relatively poorly consolidated and highlyvariable limestone sea cliffs is provided. Althoughnot identical, the Cretaceous chalk cliffs of Europehave comparable structural and managementchallenges as the Tertiary and Quaternary limestonecliffs of southern Australia. The PortCampbell and Warrnambool area (Victoria), theEyre Peninsula (SA) and the Nullarbor Bunda Cliffs(SA/WA), the Quaternary dune calcarenites of CapeLeeuwin (WA) and the Zuytdorp Cliffs south ofShark Bay (WA) are some examples where similarissues arise. These poorly consolidated, highlypermeable, highly porous limestones in southernand western Australia are subjected to stormy seasand have major road and other infrastructure closeby. The insights this volume gives into theunderstanding of such cliff processes andgeohazards recommend it to any geotechnicalengineer or engineering geologist involved in suchareas of Australia. The ROCC team is to becongratulated on this work and its publication.SUSAN WHITELatrobe UniversityGuide to New South WalesKarst and CavesDepartment of Environment, Climate Change and W aterNSW, Sydney, 2010, 40 pagesISBN: 978-1-74232-547-7Also available as a pdf athttp://www.environment.nsw. gov.au/resources/geodiversity/10104nswkarstcaveguide.pdfThis handsomely produced40-page booklet has beendeveloped by the Department’sKarst and Geodiversity Unit. Asindicated by the accompanyingPublic Relations Story this Unit‘was provided valuable supportby the Karst ManagementAdvisory Committee, relevant operational staff andmembers of the public, who held knowledge of theidentified karst environments and geodiversitymore generally’. In other words it is a committeeeffort. Nevertheless, the results are generally good.The Guide is ‘the first of a series of thematic-basedguides which are likely to be produced by DECCWover the next few years’. It begins with a six page‘Overview’ identifying the value of karst, the roleof topography and mentioning cave systemsrelated to the variations in landscape, theimportance of preserving karst and ending with abrief note on ‘responsible caving’. Then follow, intwo pages each, highlights, with a geo-tourismfocus, of the values, features and locations of 14of the State’s more prominent karst environments.Discussed, briefly, in order are: history, geology andgeomorphology, ecology, access and availableservices. Finally, there is a two-page summary of‘lesser’ sites with mention of non-karst caves,notably some of the two hundred or so sea caves,mostly developed in sandstones by erosion ofdykes, faults, etc.While vertebrate fossils occurring in cavesediments are mentioned, the fossils which helpto date the karst-bearing limestones have beenignored, although the geological ages of thevarious limestone bodies are given, sometimes innumerical form (millions of years) or as geologicalperiod ages. The Bungonia karst gets considerablemention of various stratigraphic units, somewhatout of tune with the less detailed descriptions ofother areas. Reference to Jenolan (p 6) as ‘said tohave the oldest known caves open to the surface’might be clear to others, but not to me. A map ofthe eastern part of the state shows the locationof the 14 areas described, and the booklet isTAG December 2011|41

illustrated with numerous fine colour photos,although one might ask what is the ‘caveresearch’ being recorded in the photo on p 5.The volume, according to the accompanying PR‘blurb’ has ‘a strong educative component, andis likely to be of benefit to schools, tertiaryinstitutions and special interest groups, as anintroduction to karst localities’. A list of e-mailaddresses and web sites at the end of thebooklet offers the opportunity to obtain furtherinformation.While the attractively presented information isgenerally accurate for such an introductory textit is a pity that the unnamed ‘authors/editors’have not identified the sources of the technicalinformation for the geology and ecologysections, which receive no acknowledgement inthe booklet, but are referred to in the PR ‘blurb’only as given in the introduction above. Briefreferences to further reading might also leadthe interested reader on an interestingeducational exploratory trail.The volume is presumably free to anyoneinterested. There are limited hardback copies,which might suit school libraries (if they stillhave any room for books). Contact the DECCWpublic website.DAVID BRANAGANUniversity of SydneyNatural Stone Resources forHistorical MonumentsR Přikryl and Á Török (Eds)Geological Society Special Publication 333, London,2010, 237 pagesISBN: 978-1-86239-291-5This well-edited volume of 21 papers, plusindex, addresses the subjects of: (i) technicalevaluation of building stone, especiallyfollowing subsequent alteration/decay;(ii) assessment of replacement building stonewhere the original stone is unavailable; and(iii) establishment of building-stone databases.The contributors have been sourced exclusivelyfrom countries in western and central Europeexcept for two contributions from Japan. Mostof the papers were initially presented at specialsessions held at the European GeosciencesUnion Conference held in Vienna in 2006–2008.The first paper in this volume provides anessential overview by Editors Richard P řikryl(Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) andÁkos Török (Budapest University of Technologyand Economics, Budapest, Hungary). It stressesthe point that the late 20th century has broughtabout the closure of many longstanding stonequarries and a lack of available stone for buildingrestoration.The bulk of the volume is a suite of papers thatprovide essential case studies. A discussion ofstone databases in Europe concludes the book.With case studies, a paper by Heiner Siedel firstdiscusses alveolar weathering of sandstone inoutcrop and in buildings in Saxony, Germanyand the differing causes of rock breakdown.Following it there are two multi-authoredpapers considering the effects of salinity onFrench limestones. The formation of black crustson French limestone as a consequence ofpollution is the subject of another paper. Thetheme of salt weathering or destruction bysalinity is continued in two papers by fourJapanese researchers in Japan where thebuilding stones are predominately volcanic.A paper by Stephanie Gillhuber and co-workersdeals with stone transformation produced bya fire in 1677 on trachyte used in theconstruction of the Teplá monastery in theCzech Republic. It reflects on the unexpectedenvironments that can subsequently affectnatural stone in construction. Then DoloresPereira and her co-workers reveal the problemsof initially utilising poor quality serpentinite inSpain. Ultimately a new replacement material isneeded because of the poor initial choice ofmaterial.An excellent review paper is provided by MiguelGomez-Heras and co-workers on the historicevolution of stone use at Oxford University andthe surrounding City of Oxford in England. Thebuilding stone is drawn exclusively from a rangeof regionally sourced Jurassic limestones. Asstated by the authors, Oxford provides a fineexample of the ‘historical evolution of thecriteria applied to stone selection’ and ‘thecomplexities of stone decay in response to theavailability of stone’.The search for an alternative stone where theoriginal is no longer available is featured in apaper by Timo Nijland on the Römer tuff, abuilding stone that was once sourced fromGermany for extensive use in the Netherlands.Today replacement volcanic material is beingsourced with variable success from southernItaly. The examination of Italian stone iscontinued with a review of marble characteristicsfrom the Apulian and Campanian regions ofsouthern Italy. Regional stone studies are alsoprovided from Portugal, Slovakia, NE Ireland andwestern Austria.Finally there are three papers that examine building-stonedatabases both past and present. Ofgreat historical interest here is the 19th centuryCorsi collection of building stone that has beenhoused at Oxford University since 1827. Its 1 000polished samples were considered the definitivecollection of building stones in the early 19thcentury. Today, as author Lisa Clark explains,recent provenance studies on heritage stone leadto the collection having increasing value in theearly 21st century.Just as important is the modern electronic databasethat is being created today in the CzechRepublic. As discussed by Hana Kampfová andRichard Přikryl, it is designed for more than65 000 records with the possibility of furtherexpansion. There is also the beginning of asimilar database in the Friuli–Venezia Giuliaregion of north-eastern Italy as explained inanother paper by Ana Francipane.From an Australian perspective this volume providesa suite of well-written case histories thatcan be utilised in Australia when consideringthe degradation of building stone in heritageconstruction. The establishment of and/or participationin a building-stone database is alsoan initiative where Australian geologists couldprofitably consider participation. This book ishighly recommended.BARRY COOPERUniversity of South AustraliaA guide for mineral explorationthrough the regolith in theCobar Region, Lachlan Orogen,New South WalesKen McQueenThe CRC LEME Legacy—Explorers’ Guide SeriesAlso available from:http://crcleme.org.au/Pubs/cobar.htmlHaving worked throughoutAustralia in many differentgeological and regolithenvironments, I haveexperienced first-hand themajor challenges faced whenexploring through theregolith. Ken McQueen’sbook is an important reference to assist withunderstanding the regolith and some methodologiesthat can be used in exploring throughthe regolith particularly in the Cobar district.This is an extensive and highly informative bookabout the regolith in the Cobar district which isvery richly endowed in terms of gold and basemetals including copper. Mines in this districtinclude the CSA Copper Mine, Endeavour Pb–Znmine and the Au–Cu mines just south of theCobar township. Although it is clearly evidentthat in the Cobar district there is a wide varietyof mineral deposits, many of these depositshave a small target footprint which makesexploration through the regolith critical. Thisbook represents a regolith study confined tothe Cobar district but it is clear that many ofconcepts and principles presented within thispublication can be applied elsewhere withinAustralia.As clearly stated on p 1, this guide is ‘basedon current knowledge and best practice butit is not meant to be a foolproof manual forexploration success’, however the A5 or almostpocket size of this guide allows for it to bestored either on person or within a vehicleglove-box comfortably and therefore could beused as a readily available reference guide forany field geoscientist in the Cobar district.The book/guide is subdivided into three parts:(i) introduction and aims of the guide;(ii) description of the regolith and its varieties;and (iii) challenges of the regolith in exploration,how the nature of the regolith can affectthe exploration strategy with some hints andsolutions offered and how these problems thatare encountered can be overcome.42 |TAG December 2011

The first part concentrates ondefining the geology and regolithframework in the Cobar district.The second section encompassesdescribing the nature and types ofthe regolith (with emphasis onmineral exploration), regolithmineralogy, regolith geochemistry andthe geophysical characteristics of theregolith. Additionally this sectioncontains some methodology aboutmapping the regolith and inparticular the importance of alwaysconsidering landforms when mappingthe regolith. The last section dealswith detailing some of the challengesencountered when exploring throughthe regolith and describes how tosample the regolith and whatconstitutes an anomalousgeochemical result.Throughout this publication, theimportant art of description to ageoscientist is exhibited with thebook’s main highlight being KenMcQueen’s ability to describe whathe has observed in the field bothsimply and concisely. Too often, fieldgeoscientists find it difficult todescribe what they see simply.Examples of this clarity are foundwhen describing the geology of theCobar district between p 2 and 10and the landscape history fromp 11 to 14. Ken McQueen’s intimateknowledge, as exemplified by theseefficient descriptions of the Cobardistrict, is everywhere to be seen inthis publication.The book is particularly wellillustrated and contains several clearphotographs. Every opportunity hasbeen afforded to use a photograph,map, profile or diagram to eitherprovide supporting evidence for theissue being discussed in the text or todemonstrate a particular matter. Oneminor criticism which probably arisesas a direct result of the size of thepublication (A5) is that a smallnumber of the illustrations areprobably a little undersized and someof the diagrams are a little ‘busy’.There are numerous examples shownin this book that can be used inpractice but specifically what I foundvery useful is summarising themethodology involved in mapping theregolith, which dealt with the use ofnomenclature and convention and thesort of final result that field mappersshould aspire to. Additionally, I foundthe geophysical characteristics of theregolith, when applying various geophysicaltechniques, were summarisedeffectively.Arguably, the most practical part ofthis book is where the challenges anddifficulties experienced by explorationgeoscientists trying to understand theregolith in the Cobar district arediscussed. Section 3.2 of the bookdeals at a practical level with howthe nature of the regolith willdetermine the best explorationmethods and sampling techniques.As well as detailing some solutionsregarding these issues, this part alsoattempts to outline some of themineral exploration opportunities thatcan arise if the regolith is understoodbetter. An example of this is T able 6which compares in situ versustransported regolith in terms ofdistinguishing these regolith types.Lack of understanding of the regolith,as many field explorationists haveexperienced, has resulted in drillholeswhich end within the regolith. Thishas caused in some cases to apremature cessation of explorationprograms and more significantlyto an incorrect reduction in theapparent exploration potential ofsome projects.The full suite of sampling media isdiscussed in detail by Ken McQueenin this book and it is interesting thatgroundwater, which is often overlookedas a sample, if collectedcorrectly, has some direct potential inthe Cobar district as a samplingmedium in exploration. A commonquestion asked by young geoscientistswhen designing exploration programsis what analyses should be selectedfor a sample and which analyticaltechnique should be used. This isdetailed from p 78 to 80. Additionally,the book details very simply butclearly in both text and appendix howto identify a geochemical anomaly.Clearly, this book represents a veryuseful guide to understanding theregolith in the Cobar district and theimplications of this understandingwith respect to mineral exploration.In addition, the book contains acomprehensive glossary and a quickuser guide that acts to optimise theoverall usability of this publication.The enclosed CD includes severalappendices as well as severalcase-studies in the Cobar district.A CRCLEME Code Breaker aimedfor a geoscientists use in the field,as it is laminated and pocket size, isanother welcome addition to thebook.I commend this publication to anyfield geoscientist who works in theCobar district or who deals with thepractical challenges of exploringthrough the regolith.PHIL CARRELLOGHD AustraliaTAG December 2011|43

O B I T U A R I E SJohn Alexander (Lex) Ferguson12 October 1925 – 20 May 2011The only known groupphotograph of notablegeologists who becamefoundation members ofthe GSA was taken at theANZAAS conference inBrisbane in May 1951.Amongst the serried ranksof suited men (and fivewomen), up the back onthe left, appears one‘L. Ferguson’. Known by allas ‘Lex’, John AlexanderFerguson led a remarkable,eclectic life up until hisdeath in May, from cancer,in his 86th year. When the photograph was taken, Lex hadjust completed his PhD at the University of Illinois, studyingindustrial clays from the Brisbane district. His interest in clayshad been sparked by his old Professor at the University ofQueensland, W. H. Bryan.Chicago was a long way from Lex’s upbringing in Cooran,near Gympie, where his parents ran a dairy farm. He hadScottish ancestors, with his paternal great-grandfatherinvolved in coal mining around Maryborough and goldmining at Gympie in the 1860s, so maybe an interest ingeology was predetermined. His boyhood corresponded withthe 1930s depression, so involved him in hard work on thefarm, but schooling was regarded as highly important as well.It was there that his interest in geology was aroused by aninfluential teacher. Lex’s considerable academic abilities sawhim matriculate from Gympie High School in 1942, fromwhere a Commonwealth Scholarship enabled him to undertakehis university course.Lex graduated with first class honours in geology, thenobtained his MSc in 1948 with a thesis based on geologicalmapping of the country between Monkland and Cooroy.From 1946 to 1948, Lex had been employed by theQueensland Government on a special project mapping theGreat Artesian Basin. This involved using data from 10 400bore logs accumulated since the 1870s to map the undergroundstructure of the aquifers and relate them to intakeoutcrops along the Great Dividing Range. He was successfulin winning a CSIR overseas studentship that took him toChicago for his PhD research.After a few years in the early 1950s working at CSIRO’sDivision of Building Research in Melbourne, Lex spent mostof the next decade at academic posts in the USA, where hisknowledge of clay mineralogy was highly sought after for theceramics industry. He took up a position with the ArmourResearch Foundation in Chicago between 1953 and 1956,44 | TAG December 2011then moved to the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research inPittsburgh until 1962, when he returned to Australia to joinBrick and Pipe Industries. During a career of 28 years with thatcompany, Lex served as chief geologist, research team leaderand director, until his retirement in 1990. During his time, thecompany became the largest brick producer in southeasternAustralia, assisted by Lex’s introduction of modernmanufacturing methods. He maintained his interest in clayresearch by investigating the many deposits found aroundMelbourne. This, in turn, led to an interest in the geologicalhistory of the Yarra River, a project which he wasn’t able tocomplete, but his assembled notes and maps provide the basisfor an interesting and important publication.Lex’s contribution to geology in Victoria isn’t measured interms of scholarly publications or conference abstracts,but more by his input into divisional initiatives andadministration. He served on the divisional committee,including as Chairman (1973), for several decades, andestablished the procedures for the Selwyn Medal to recognisedistinguished contributors to Victorian geology. He was aregular attendee at monthly divisional meetings andsymposia, and also participated in Australian GeologicalConventions, the last occasion in Canberra in 2010. Lex wasjoint editor (with the late Jack Douglas) of the first two volumesof Geology of Victoria (1976 and 1988 respectively) andwas an invaluable member of the editorial committee for thethird edition, produced as Special Publication 23 of the GSAin 2003. Lex assembled both the reference list and the indexfor SP23, as well as contributing a section on industrial clays.Family links were a key part of Lex’s life. He had marriedEva Dreikurs, who he met during his PhD in Illinois, and theyhad four children, who now all live in the USA with theirfamilies. He married his second wife, Rita, who had twochildren, in 1970. Lex and Rita have travelled the world, notjust to the USA for many reunions of the two families, butalso to attend conferences and experience the wonders ofgeology firsthand. Their last trip was to the Hawaiian Islandsin late 2010, where Lex first felt the effects of his illness.I’m sure Lex would be the first to agree that his was a lifewell led, with substantial contributions to scientific knowledgeand industry, balanced by his love of family and hiscommunity activities. He was a real gentleman, whoexpressed his opinions carefully and thoughtfully, and wasalways good company, as I can attest to during our regularlunches, with fellow editorial committeeman Peter Forwood,held since the publication of SP23. Lex has left us all in thegeological community with deep regrets at his passing, butwith great respect and fond memories as a lasting testamentto his remarkable and rewarding life.BILL BIRCH[I have based this commemoration of Lex on family documents kindlysupplied by Rita Ferguson, as well as on an obituary prepared by hisstepson Mark Patrick and published in The Saturday Age (Melbourne) 10September 2011].

Alan Edward Marshall15 October 1938 – 16 July 2011Members of the geological community in Western Australiawere deeply saddened to learn of the death, on 16 July 2011,of Alan Marshall.Alan was born in Victoria Park, a southeastern suburb ofPerth. During the Second World War, his family moved toDarlington and later to Greenmount, where they lived forsome 30 years. Alan won a scholarship to Perth ModernSchool, matriculating there in 1955. He enrolled in science atthe University of Western Australia, initially intending tomajor in chemistry. However, after studying geology as one ofhis first-year subjects, he decided that he wouldprefer to become a geologist, especially because he greatlyenjoyed outdoor activities. At various times when workingtowards his degree he obtained short-term employment withthe Geological Survey of Western Australia and otherorganisations. He then took a year off his studies to work asa field assistant in mineral exploration. That experiencere-affirmed his desire to become a geologist, and he went onto earn a first-class Honours degree in 1963.After working for a year with Westfield Canada, Alandecided to seek a PhD in the United States. He gaineda scholarship to Princeton University in 1964, and wasawarded his PhD degree in 1968 for a thesis on theBangemall Basin.On returning to Western Australia, Alan obtainedsuccessive appointments with Westfield Minerals, Whim CreekConsolidated and Getty Oil (Minerals Division), rising tobecome Exploration Manager for Getty in Western Australia.That company withdrew from exploration in Australia in 1985,so Alan then set up his own consulting company, Qestore,which changed its name in 2001to Xplore Pty Ltd. In theconsulting business hecompleted many assignmentsfor major explorers, smallcompanies and syndicates,mainly in Western Australiaand the Northern Territory. As aresult, Alan became wellknown, highly respected, andwell liked in the Australianmining industry. He was agifted geologist who believedstrongly in the benefits to beobtained ‘on the ground’through field geology, andalso from not-for-profit geological research. He was keenlyinterested in all aspects of the science, and appreciated theway in which the results of geological research can be appliedto exploration techniques. Few geologists had such a broadknowledge of the economic geology of Western Australia.In 1976 Alan married an attractive Irish lass, Marie, withwhom he produced two fine boys, Simon and Derek, both ofwhom followed their father in becoming geologists. Alan andMarie’s lives changed sadly when he developed symptoms ofa rare brain disorder, frontotemporal dementia. His conditionsteadily deteriorated over several years, reaching a low pointduring the last six months of his life. Marie showed greatcourage and devotion in looking after him at home for mostof that time.Alan will always be remembered as one of Australia’smost-respected and well-liked geologists. He will be sadlymissed by his family and many friends and colleagues.PHILLIP PLAYFORDTAG apologies…TAG 160,p 30-31The two figure captions were transposed.P33The representation of the National Geochemical Survey ofAustralia map had legibility issues. A copy of the map canbe obtained from Geoscience Australia: http://ga.gov.au/TAG December 2011|45

Calendar201229 January–3 FebruarySpecialist Group in Tectonicsand Structural Geology, Biennial ConferenceCause and effects of deformation in the lithosphereWaratah Bay, Victoriahttp://www.sgtsg.org.au3–8 FebruarySpecialist Group in Tectonics and Structural GeologyPost Conference Field TripDeformation Zones in the Eastern Lachlan Orogenhttp://www.sgtsg.org.au9–11 MarchConservation Challenges, Solutions & CollaborationOpportunities in Uncontrolled EnvironmentsInternational Polar Heritage CommitteeTasmanian Museum & Art Gallery Hobart, T asmaniahttp://centenary.antarctica.gov.au/events11–22 MarchAustralian Centre For GeomechanicsEnvironmental Geochemistry of Mine Site Pollution,An Introduction- Short Courseacginfo@acg.uwa.edu.auwww.acg.uwa.edu.au27–29 MarchAustralian Centre For GeomechanicsDeep Mining 2012 Sixth International Seminaron Deep and High Stress Miningacginfo@acg.uwa.edu.auwww.deepmining2012.com16–17 JulyCentral Australian Basins Symposium (CABS 3)Petroleum Potential: Conventional and UnconventionalAlice Springs, Northern Territory5–10 August34th International Geological CongressUnearthing our Past and FutureBrisbanehttp://www.34igc.org/46 |TAG December 2011

Geological Society of Australia Inc. Office Bearers 2011/2012MEMBERS OF COUNCILAND EXECUTIVEPresidentBrad PillansAustralian National UniversityVice PresidentLaurie HuttonMines & Energy (DEEDI)SecretaryMichelle CooperGeoscience AustraliaTreasurerChris YeatsCSIROEarth Science and Resource EngineeringPast PresidentPeter CawoodUniversity of St AndrewsHon EditorAustralian Journal of Earth SciencesAnita AndrewCOUNCILLORS OF THEEXECUTIVE DIVISIONIan GrahamUniversity of New South WalesJon HronskyWestern Mining Services, LLCPatrick LyonsLincoln Minerals LtdKen McQueenUniversity of CanberraMarc NormanAustralian National UniversityAnna PettsAdelaide UniversityJim RossSTANDING COMMITTEESGeological HeritageNational ConvenorMargaret BrocxAustralian StratigraphyCommissionNational ConvenorCathy BrownSTATE CONVENORSACT, External TerritoriesAlbert BrakelNew South WalesLawrence SherwinGeological Survey of New South WalesNorthern TerritoryTim MunsonNorthern Territory Geological SurveyQueenslandIan WithnallGeological Survey of QueenslandSouth AustraliaWayne CowleyPrimary Industries & ResourcesSouth AustraliaTasmaniaStephen ForsythVictoriaFons VandenBergWestern AustraliaRoger HockingGeological Survey of Western AustraliaDIVISIONS ANDBRANCHESAustralian Capital TerritoryChair: John RogersAustralian National UniversitySecretary: Michelle CooperGeoscience AustraliaNew South Waleswww.nsw.gsa.org.auChair: Ian GrahamUniversity of New South WalesSecretary: Dioni CendonANSTONorthern TerritoryChair: Christine EdgooseNorthern Territory Geological SurveySecretary: Jo WhelanNorthern Territory Geological SurveyQueenslandwww.qld.gsa.org.auChair: Laurie HuttonGeological Survey of QueenslandSecretary: Friedrich von GnielinskiGeological Survey of QueenslandSouth Australiawww.sa.gsa.org.auChair: Len AltmanMarden Senior CollegeSecretary: Jim JagoUniversity of South AustraliaTasmaniaChair: Garry DavidsonCODESSecretary: Mark DuffettMineral Resources TasmaniaVictoriawww.vic.gsa.org.auChair: David CantrillRoyal Botanic GardensSecretary: Adele SeymonGeoScience VictoriaWestern Australiawww.wa.gsa.org.auChair: Katy EvansCurtin UniversitySecretary: Marcus WilsonIntegra MiningBroken Hill BranchChair: Barney StevensGeological Survey of New South WalesSecretary: Kingsley MillsHunter Valley BranchChair: John GreenfieldGeological Survey of New South WalesSecretary: Phil GilmoreGeological Survey of New South WalesSPECIALIST GROUPSApplied Geochemistry SpecialistGroup (SGAG)www.sgag.gsa.org.auChair: Louisa LawranceSecretary: Craig RuglessAssociation of AustralasianPalaeontologists (AAP)www.es.mq.edu.au/mucep/aap/indexPresident: Guang R. ShiDeakin UniversityVice-President: Alex CookQueensland MuseumSecretary: Elizabeth WeldonDeakin UniversityAustralasian Sedimentologists Group(ASG)Chair: Bradley OpdykeAustralian National UniversitySecretary: Sarah TynanAustralian National UniversityCoal Geology (CGG)www.cgg.gsa.org.auChair: James BeestonSecretary: Joan EsterleEarth Sciences History Group (ESHG)www.vic.gsa.org.au/eshg.htmChair: Peter DunnSecretary: John BlockleyEconomic Geology Specialist Groupsgeg.gsa.org.auChair: Frank BierleinAreva NC AustraliaSecretary: Oliver KreuzerRegalpoint Exploration Pty LtdEnvironmental Engineering &Hydrogeology Specialist Group(EEHSG)Chair: Ken LawrieGeoscience AustraliaSecretary: Steven LewisGeoscience AustraliaGeochemistry, Mineralogy &Petrology Specialist Group(SGGMP)www.gsa.org.au/specialgroups/sggmp.htmlChair: Hugh O'NeillAustralian National UniversitySecretary: Greg YaxleyAustralian National UniversityGeological Education (SGE)Chair: Greg McNamaraGeoscience Education & OutreachServicesPlanetary Geoscience SpecialistGroup (SGPG)Chair: Graziella CaprarelliUniversity of TechnologySolid Earth Geophysics SpecialistGroup (SGSEG)www.gsa.org.au/specialgroups/sgseg.htmlChair: Nick RawlinsonGeoscience AustraliaSecretary: Richard ChoppingGeoscience AustraliaTectonics & Structural GeologySpecialist Group (SGTSG)www.sgtsg.gsa.org.auChair: Peter BettsMonash UniversitySecretary: Tim RawlingVolcanology (LAVA)www.es.mq.edu.au/geology/volcan/hmpg.htmChair: Rick SquireMonash UniversitySecretary: Karin OrthUniversity of TasmaniaTAG December 2011 | 47

Publishing DetailsThe Australian Geologist48 | TAG December 2011 Background InformationGENERAL NOTEThe Australian Geologist (TAG) is a quarterly member magazine which includes society news,conference details, special reports, feature articles, book reviews and other items of interest to EarthScientists. Each issue has a long shelf-life and is read by more than 3000 geologists, geophysicists,palaeontologists, hydrologists, geochemists, cartographers and geoscience educators from Australia COPYRIGHTand around the world.Schedule and Deadlines for 2011/2012I SSUE C OPY F INISHED A RT I NSERTSMarch 2012 28 January 3 February 2 MarchJune 2012 30 April 4 May 29 MaySeptember 2012 30 July 10 August 24 AugustDecember 2011 26 October 2 November 9 NovemberArtworkMaterial can be supplied electronically via Email or mail CD (MAC or PC). The advertisements or apologies are offered.photographs can be sent as jpeg, eps or tiff. W ord files are not accepted as finished art (pleaseconvert to pdf). 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