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October 2009
NEWSBREAKERS
The Pacific Ring of Fire makes the news again and again and again
Recent weeks have seen a spate of events triggered by tectonic movements on the ‘ring of fire’. A series of tsunami hit the islands of Samoa, Tonga and American Samoa after a massive submarine earthquake. In addition the island of Sumatra has been rocked by massive earthquakes that directly damaged buildings and other infrastructure and triggered multiple landslides. Tragically, each event has resulted in death and suffering for many local communities.
Samoan earthquake and tsunami: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/30/2700115.htm
Vanuatu earthquake and tsunami warning: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/08/2708428.htm
Southern Sumatra earthquake:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2009mebz.php
Wait, there's more...
The ubiquitous presence in modern society of video cameras and mobile phones with built-in cameras and video recorders has provided the public and researchers with unprecedented access to images of unfolding disasters, including the recent tsunami and earthquake-generated landslides.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0uCyMzF2z0
http://daveslandslideblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/more-images-of-earthquake-triggered.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/01/second-earthquake-sumatra-indonesia
Membership Renewals
It is 2010 Member Renewal time at the GSA. You can pay your fees online through the GSA website Members Login Area. If you have any queries about your renewal, would like to add a Specialist Group, or update your details please contact the Business Office.
Email: info@gsa.org.au or Phone: (02) 9290 2194
FROM THE DIVISIONS
Divisional information is regularly updated at http://gsa.org.au/events/divisionmeetings.html
Check this site for more recent information on the following events:
Australian Capital Territory
17th November 2009 GSA ACT meeting
John Wilford, Geoscience Australia
David Brown Building (Building 47), Linnaeus Way, ANU 5pm for 5:30pm
Queensland
11th November 2009, GSAQ Seminar and
John Draper
Injecting carbon dioxide into Queensland basins: geological issues
The Theodore Club, 333 Adelaide St, Brisbane. 5:15pm for 6pm
South Australia
3rd December 2009, GSA-SA Annual Students night
contact Secretary for further details - jim.jago@unisa.edu.au
Tasmania
19th November 2009
Dr David Leaman
Some of Earth’s secrets
School of Earth Sciences, Lecture Theatre, University of Tasmania, 6pm
Victoria
29th October 2009 GSAV meeting
Dr Peter Baines
Ash Clouds and climate consequences from supervolcanic eruptions
Fritz Loewe Theatre, Earth Science Building, University of Melbourne, 5.30pm for 6.15pm
Western Australia
Wednesday 4th November
Moyra Wilson, Department of Applied Geology, Curtin University
Carbonate platforms and climate change in SE Asia
Irish Club of WA (Inc), 61 Townshend Rd, Subiaco, 5.30pm
GSA EVENTS
2009 Clarke Memorial Lecture, 30 October 2009
Climate change through the lens of the geological record: the example of sea level
Professor Kurt Lambeck, AO, FAA, FRS
Distinguished Professor of Geophysics at the Australian National University, President of the Australian Academy of Science
Venue: Eastern Avenue Auditorium, University of Sydney (enter from City Road)
Booking essential Email: royalsoc@usyd.edu.au
Phone: 02 9036 5282
http://nsw.royalsoc.org.au/talks_2009/talk_Oct2009_Clarke.html
Specialist Group in Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Petrology
Kangaroo Island 2009 Biennial Conference, 8-13 November 2009
Acacia Hotel, Kangaroo Island, SA
http://sggmp.gsa.org.au/events.html
South Australian Explorers Conference, 27 November 2009
Adelaide Convention Centre, North Terrace Adelaide
Register before 20th November
$150 registration (GST inclusive) includes DVD of presentations, coffee breaks, lunch and closing drinks).
http://www.gsa.org.au/pdfdocuments/events/SAE2009flyer_s.pdf
Specialist Group in Tectonics & Structural Geology
Biennial field conference, 1-5 February 2010
The Glasshouse, Port Macquarie, NSW
http://www.sgtsg.gsa.org.au/events/index.html
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS:
Australian Earth Sciences Convention 2010
Earth Systems: change, sustainability, vulnerability
Speaker Abstract Deadline: 15th January 2010
4–8 July 2010, Canberra, ACT
http://www.aesc2010.gsa.org.au
http://www.aesc2010.gsa.org.au/abstracts.html
IN THE NEWS
New probe launched in Western Australia
A world-first facility that can detect signs of weapons-grade uranium, new ore deposits and evidence of early life on Earth has opened at the University of Western Australia. Launching the Ion Probe Facility, the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr, said the ultra-sensitive microprobe will boost the power of the Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis to carry out world-leading research.
http://www.cmca.uwa.edu.au/
Credit: The Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, UWA.
Getting the tsunami message out there
Exercise ‘Indian Ocean Wave 09’ recently tested tsunami warning systems and preparedness in nations in Asia, Australasia, the Middle East and Africa.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8306059.stm
The Caribbean island of Montserrat goes off again
Recently, NASA’s Terra spacecraft imaged a plume of ash extending westward from Soufrière Hills volcano on Montserrat, a week after eruptive activity resumed on October 5th
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=40743&src=nha
Just adze scoria!
Easter Island statues had hats made of rock. Researchers now believe they know how the hats were made and how they were put in place..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8236349.stm
Even the far north western Pacific threatens us with tsunami
A tsunami generated by an earthquake on the scale of the great 1964 Alaskan earthquake could devastate the southern Pacific rim
http://geology.com/press-release/pacific-tsunami-threat/
ON THE WEB
AESC is on-line: Get your abstracts in early!
Abstracts for the 2010 AESC can now be submitted on-line. Visit the new AESC website for all the information you need to help make this a great conference.
http://www.aesc2010.gsa.org.au/index.html
MIT goes on-line with OpenCourseWare for all
MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. It is now on-line and available to the world for FREE. The course materials available reflect almost all the undergraduate and graduate subjects taught at MIT. A great resource for all to explore!
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/about/about/index.htm
National Science Week wrap up
National Science Week successfully connected our local communities, schools and businesses with the excitement of science and scientific pursuits in Australia.
http://www.vision6.com.au/download/files/23674/954949/NSW096_Newsletter_OCTOBER%20_2_.pdf
The good oil on platinum and nickel
A new national map by Geoscience Australia (comprising two sheets) shows, for the first time, the geographic extent and age relationships of Archean mafic and ultramafic rocks and associated mineral deposits.
https://www.ga.gov.au/products/servlet/controller?event=GEOCAT_DETAILS&catno=69347
Before and after a tsunami from space
NASA have one image of Samoa that shows the area after the tsunami, and another image that shows the same area five years earlier. The most obvious differences between the two images occur in small patches along the coastline.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=40745&src=nha
More dust, this time Turkey
The recent dust storms in Australia raised further community fears about climate change and the threat of wild fires this summer but, as this image shows, dust storms are common wherever wind and aridity meet.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=40756&src=nha
The Phanerozoic exposed
A new report from Geoscience Australia presents the results of a geodynamic synthesis of the Phanerozoic of Eastern Australia.
https://www.ga.gov.au/products/servlet/controller?event=GEOCAT_DETAILS&catno=68866
IN THE MEDIA
Women in science report backed by the government
Senator Kim Carr recently released the government's 'Women in Science' report. Highlighting the need to enable more flexible career pathways for women in science, the report has provided government with recommendations that it says it is adopting.
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/no-progress-for-women-in-science-report-20091019-h4gb.html
Discover the early Earth in Western Australia
A new book, Discovery Trails to early Earth – a traveller's guide to the east Pilbara of Western Australia, from the Geological Survey of Western Australia, has just made your next trip to the Pilbara more enjoyable for the whole family or given you a great Christmas present for that special someone who likes to travel. Without doubt one of the best books of its type available, it is very informative, accurate and easy to read.
http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/4726.aspx
Young Earth Scientists say YES
The Y.E.S. Congress 2009 Roundtable Symposia occurred on 27 and 28 October 2009. The roundtable sessions aimed to get senior and young scientists talking about science, policy and research.
http://www.yescongress2009.org/RoundtableDetails/Roundtables.html
Go forth and discover
Jon Hronsky, a member of the executive committee of the Geological Society of Australia, and a director of Western Mining Services (Australia), was recently featured in the Australian newspaper explaining why we need to continue exploring for resources in Australia.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,26195006-5014020,00.html
Martian lava flows revealed
Orbiting the ‘Red Planet’, Mars Express, recently imaged Daedalia Planum, a sparsely cratered, untextured plain featuring solidified lava flows of varying ages.
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEM5TDF280G_0.html
COMING UP IN AJES
Volume 56 Issue No.8
RESEARCH PAPERS
C. J. Adams, D. Cluzel and W. L. Griffin
Detrital-zircon ages and geochemistry of sedimentary rocks in basement Mesozoic terranes and their cover rocks in New Caledonia, and provenances at the Eastern Gondwanaland margin
N. Herold, Y. You, R. D. Mu¨ller and M. Seton
Climate model sensitivity to changes in Miocene paleotopography
W. K. Witt, D. R. Mason and D. P. Hammond
Archean Karari gold deposit, Eastern Goldfields Province, Western Australia: a monzonite-associated disseminated gold deposit
J. D. Gorter
Enigmatic seafloor structures in the Perth Basin (Houtman Sub-basin), offshore Western Australia: deep-water carbonate mounds or volcanic cones?
P. W. Haines, S. P. Turner, J. D. Foden and J. B. Jago
Isotopic and geochemical characterisation of the Cambrian Kanmantoo Group, South Australia: implications for stratigraphy and provenance
N. C. Williams
Mass and magnetic properties for 3D geological and geophysical modelling of the southern Agnew–Wiluna Greenstone Belt and Leinster nickel deposits, Western Australia
C. J. L. Wilson, S. W. McKnight, A. L. Dugdale, T. J. Rawling, A. D. Farrar, M. J. McKenzie and W. D. Melling
Illite crystallinity and the b-spacing values of white micas and their implications for gold mineralisation in the Lachlan Orogen
H. Carey, M. K. Lenkopane, A. D. Werner, L. Li and D. A. Lockington
Tidal controls on coastal groundwater conditions: field investigation of a macrotidal system
WHAT'S ON
Science EXPOsed, 28–31 October 2009
Free event for Year 8 & 9 students to explore the latest in science and technology and learn more about careers in science.
http://www.osmr.nsw.gov.au/science_exposed
Kangaroo Island 2009, 8–13 November 2009
Biannual conference of the GSA Specialist Group in Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Petrology
http://sggmp.gsa.org.au/KI09/index.html
38th Groundwater School, 9-13 November 2009
http://shortcourses.groundwater.com.au/
NewGenGold Conference, 23-24 November 2009
The Sheraton Hotel Perth
Download Program
www.newgengold.com
Geoscience 09, 23–27 November 2009
Joint NZ Geological and Geophysical Societies Conference
http://www.gns.cri.nz/geosciences09/index.html
South Australian Explorers Conference, 27 November 2009
Adelaide Convention Centre, North Terrance Adelaide
http://www.gsa.org.au/pdfdocuments/events/SAE2009flyer_s.pdf
17th annual World Congress of Science and Factual Producers, 1–4 December, 2009
10th Australasian Environmental Isotope Conference, 1-3 December 2009
with the 3rd Australasian Hydrogeology Research Conference
http://www.wa-oigc.curtin.edu.au/conference.cfm
Brisbane Minerals Exploration Industry Christmas ’09, 4 December 2009
Where: Tattersalls Club, 215 Queen St, Brisbane
Cost: Free, includes free drinks – all members are welcome
The Queensland Branch of the AIG is once again organising the Annual Brisbane Minerals Exploration Industry Christmas Party.
The GSA is a $1000 silver sponsor.
Contact: michele@emenem.com.au or d.young@findex.net.au
CONTACTS
Head Office
Suite 61, 104 Bathurst Street
Sydney NSW 2000
ph 02-9290 2194
fax 02-9290 2198
www.gsa.org.au
Executive
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The Australian Journal of Earth Sciences (AJES)
The Australian Geologist (TAG)
Education and Outreach
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