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geoz 60 December 2012
NEWSBREAKERS
SAM says it like it is
It is soil but not quite as we know it! The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite on NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has found a complex chemistry in Martian soil. Heating the soil released water vapour, carbon dioxide, oxygen and sulphur dioxide. Analysis also revealed a variety of chlorinated hydrocarbons but no life-marking organics compounds. NASA is confident the chlorine is of Martian origin but suspects the carbon component may be a contaminant. The rover's CheMin instrument has found the soil is about half common volcanic minerals and half non-crystalline materials such as glass.
Report from NASA: http://1.usa.gov/VrNWHW
News report: http://bit.ly/TEdJcY
New Zealand erupts and gets ready for more
New Zealand's North Island volcano, Mount Tongariro, erupted for the second time this year after remaining dormant for more than 100 years. Ash clouds disrupted airline flights while scientists warned that this volcano as well as near by Mount Ruapehu could both erupt again at any time.
http://bit.ly/10wyVnw
FROM THE DIVISIONS
Divisional information is regularly updated at http://gsa.junctionworld.com/events/divisionmeetings.html
Check this site for more recent information on the following events:
Australian Capital Territory
Tuesday 11th December 2012
Geo-Societies Christmas BBQ
RSVP to Michelle michelle.cooper@ga.gov.au by Friday 7th December. See flyer for more details!
Geoscience Australia, Symonston. 5.00 pm
New South Wales
2013 meeting dates to be advised
For more information: meetings@nsw.gsa.org.au
Queensland
2013 meeting dates to be advised
For more information: info@qld.gsa.org.au
South Australia
Friday 7th December 2012
9th South Australian Exploration and Mining Conference
Adelaide Convention Centre North Terrace, Adelaide
http://bit.ly/pZh2hF
Thursday 7th February 2013
Geonight at the pub
The Griffith's Head, Grenfell Street, Adelaide (Front Bar), 5 pm
Thursday 21st February 2013
Speaker to be confirmed
Mawson Theatre, University of Adelaide. 5.30 pm for 6.15 pm
Tasmania
6-7 December 2012
Tasmanian Geoscience Forum (jointly with Aus.IMM)
Strahan Village. For more information contact andrew.mcneill@utas.edu.au
Victoria
2013 meeting dates to be advised
For more information: secretary@vic.gsa.org.au
Western Australia
Friday 7th December 2012
AIG-GSA Christmas Cruise
On board the M.V. Captain Cook
Click here for booking form
GSA EVENTS
GSA Revised Rules and Governance News
Members were recently emailed advice that the Revised Rules of the GSA are now online and available for feedback, via member's affiliated Division, Branch or Specialist Group, by 14 December. However, it is important that members first read the article, available on the GSA web site, which will also be published in the December TAG.
GSA membership
Member renewals have been mailed; if you haven't received your renewal notice contact the office. Membership is due 1st January 2013. Members can update their details or renew their membership online. Need help? Don't know your membership number, not sure if you have renewed? If in doubt, please contact the GSA office: info@gsa.org.au.
Mega Memoir Sale
Memoirs 1 - 34 at heavily discounted rates for all of our Members. Limited time only, Sale ends 28 February 2013. Click here for the Order Form
The National Rock Garden - a rock solid idea
The National Rock Garden (NRG) now qualifies for Deductible Gift Recipient status (DGR). In other words, donations to the NRG are now tax deductible so now donating to the NRG can be a win-win!
The National Rock Garden will have up to 100 large specimens of the country's most iconic rocks.
Each specimen will weigh approximately 10–15 tonnes. To find out how you can contribute follow
this link to the NRG web site: http://www.nationalrockgarden.org.au/
If you would like to join the Friends of the National Rock Garden and receive
newsletters and information directly by email please send a request to rockgarden@gsa.org.au
Image courtesy of Friedrich Von Gnielinski
IN THE NEWS
Evolution pays
New rules in the United Kingdom, that come into effect in 2013, instruct all free schools in England to teach evolution as a comprehensive and coherent scientific theory as part of their science curriculum. Failure to follow the rules could see a school loose its funding. Free schools are funded directly by the government but unlike other state-funded schools are run by groups of parents, teachers, charities and religious groups and do not have to abide by the national curriculum.
http://bbc.in/YdsaJP
Is Mount Doom doomed?
New Zealand's Mount Ruapehu, otherwise depicted as Mount Doom in the films of Lord of the Rings, is showing signs of a potential new eruption. It is New Zealand's largest active volcano and last erupted in 2007. Indications are there is a partially blocked vent, leading to increased pressure that make eruptions more likely in the near future.
http://bit.ly/10btRVc
ON THE WEB
The sky didn't fall this time
Near-Earth asteroid 2007 PA8 is approximately 1.6 kilometres wide so it is worth keeping an eye on in case it gets too close. It recently passed by at a distance of about 6.5 million kilometres enabling this collage of images to be assembled. It also enabled asteroid watchers in Near-Earth Object Observations Program, also known as 'Spaceguard', to refine details of its orbit, confirming this is its closest passage to Earth since 1880 and it is not a threat in the foreseeable future. The next close passage of 2007 PA8 will be in the year 2488.
http://1.usa.gov/UXt1GB
Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Water where they said it was
Planet Mercury has a reputation for being hot but evidence from the Messenger space probe has confirmed that craters in constant shadow at the north pole host water ice, much of it insulated beneath a layer organic molecules. This new information sheds light on the origin of organic rich water throughout the solar system and also confirms earlier speculation about the presence of water on Mercury.
Research abstract: http://bit.ly/Viwx4x
NASA report: http://1.usa.gov/WyfO8x
News report: http://bbc.in/Vah3tK
IN THE MEDIA
Something to Bragg about
November 2012 marks the centenary of the founding of X-ray crystallography by Lawrence Bragg. To celebrate this milestone, so fundamental to our understanding of crystallography, why not attend the Bragg Symposium at the University of Adelaide on the 6th of December to explore some of the historical context and personal links to the Braggs' work?
http://bit.ly/SHQQE6.
Talk of the town
Geotourism received a boost recently when Angus Robinson was interviewed by the ABC during the Sustainable Economic Growth for Regional Australia (SEGRA) network November meeting.
SEGRA: http://bit.ly/dnHOIH.
ABC interview MP3: Click to listen.
Diatryma a gentle giant?
With a beak that would give anybody a fright Diatryma, the huge bird once thought to fill the niche left by predatory dinosaurs, has been given a make-over with the discovery of footprints in Eocene sandstone of the Chuckanut Formation in northwest Washington, USA. The trace fossil evidence, assuming the prints were made by Diatryma, indicates the giant bird did not have raptor-like talons but short claws more typical of a herbivore.
Abstract: http://bit.ly/TyyLHq
News report: http://bbc.in/RY0v9A
Mars: the field trip (continued)
On the road again (after weeks of sampling and testing in one spot).
http://1.usa.gov/Vrv9g5
Touch and go a piece of cake.
http://1.usa.gov/Udi9Ij
Day 84: Rocknest Wind Drift soil sampling.
http://1.usa.gov/UlbqKp
Up close with sand from Rocknest.
http://1.usa.gov/Uc6HrZ
Video report on what's next: Drilling here we come!
http://1.usa.gov/Vs1hAd
Image: Mosaic panorama taken by the Mast Camera on Curiosity while the rover was working at Rocknest, October and November 2012. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems.
http://1.usa.gov/ToYrGP.
What's in AJES
The Australian Journal of Earth Sciences online is available through the Taylor & Francis' website: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/taje20. It is very easy to navigate and use.
Volume 59 Issue No.7
F. L. Sutherland, I. T. Graham, S. Meffre, H. Zwingmann and R.E. Pogson
Passive-margin prolonged volcanism, East Australian Plate: outbursts, progressions, plate controls and suggested causes.
R. M. Chmielowski and R. F. Berry
The Cambrian metamorphic history of Tasmania: the Metapelites
L. B. Reid, G. Bloomfield, L. Ricard, C. Botman and P. Wilkes
Shallow Geothermal regime in the Perth metropolitan area.
E. Prendergast, R. Offler and H. Zwingmann
Adaminaby Group west of Batemans Bay: Deformation and Metamorphism of the Narooma Accretionary Complex, NSW
A. Abduriyim, F. L. Sutherland and E. A. Belousova
U-Pb age and origin of gem zircon from the New England sapphire fields, New South Wales, Australia
E. J. Heidecker Discussion of Gorter and Glikson
Talundilly, Western Queensland, Australia: geophysical and petrological evidence for a 84 km-large structure and an Early Cretaceous impact cluster
J. Gorter and A. Glikson
Response to: E.J. Heidecker's discussion of Talundilly, Western Queensland, Australia: geophysical and petrologic evidence for an 84 km-large impact structure and an Early Cretaceous impact cluster by J. D. Gorter and A.Y. Glikson (2012)
Erratum to J. R. Hunt and G. C. Young
Depositional environment, stratigraphy, structure and paleobiology of the Hatchery Creek Group (Early-?Middle Devonian) near Wee Jasper, New South Wales
Volume 59 Issue No.8
B. L. N. Kennett and M. Salmon
AuSREM: Australian Seismological Reference Model
D. F. Lascelles
Banded iron formation to high-grade iron ore: a critical review of supergene enrichment models
J. H. Cann and C. V. Murray-Wallace
Interstadial age (MIS5c) beach-dune barrier deposits in the Coorong Lagoon, South Australia
M. Honda, D. Phillips, M. A. Kendrick, M. K. Gagan and W. R. Taylor
Noble gas and carbon isotope ratios in Argyle diamonds, Western Australia: Evidence for a deeply-subducted volatile component
Discussion and Reply:
D. F. Lascelles Discussion on Microplaty hematite - its varied nature and genesis by R. C. Morris and Genesis modeling for the Hamersley BIF-hosted iron ores of Western Australia: a critical review by R.C. Morris and M. Kneeshaw.
Reply: R. C. Morris and M. Kneeshaw
Coming up in TAG
December TAG
December TAG is on its way. Make sure you get your submission in for the first issue of 2013, do it now!
Make TAG contributions via the web at:
http://gsa.junctionworld.com/publications/tag.html or email tag@gsa.org.au
WHAT'S ON
DEADLINES:
The David Syme Research Prize 2012 - Applications close Thursday 13 December 2012
for the best original research work in Biology, Physics, Chemistry or Geology produced in Australia during the past 2 years.
http://bit.ly/XU0IiE
SMEDG Xmas Harbour Cruise 2012 - Early bird bookings close Friday 14 December 2012
Late bookings will cost a lot more!
Download PDF flyer here
Call for Papers - Abstract deadline December 15 2012
2nd Australian Tertiary Geoscience Teaching Workshop:
Townsville, 16-17 January, 2013
Registration is FREE
http://bit.ly/TyzkRo
EVENTS:
Joint SSA and NZSSS Soil Science Conference, Hobart, 2 – 7 December 2012
http://www.soilscience2012.com/
Mine site reconciliation 2012, Gold Coast, 4 – 6 December 2012
10% Discount for GSA members
http://bit.ly/PxYPjN
9th SA Exploration and Mining Conference, Adelaide, 7 December 2012
Water Essentials, Brisbane, 10 December 2012
5% Discount for GSA members on all ICE WaRM Professional Short Courses
Download PDF flyer here
SMEDG Xmas Harbour Cruise, Sydney, 21 December 2012
Early bird registration closes December 14
Download PDF flyer here
Snowden Professional Development Courses, 2013 programme
10% Discount for GSA members
Download PDF flyer here
2nd Australian Tertiary Geoscience Teaching Workshop, Townsville, 16 – 17 January 2013
Registration is FREE
http://bit.ly/TyzkRo
Environmental Geochemistry of Mine Site Pollution - An Introduction, Perth, 18 – 19 March 2013
Geology of Gold course, Melbourne, 18 – 22 March 2013
10% Discount for GSA members
Download PDF flyer here
Total Tailings Management Seminar, Perth, 20 – 21 March 2013
Advanced Tailings Management Seminar, Perth, 22 March 2013
CONTACTS
Head Office
Suite 61, 104 Bathurst Street
Sydney NSW 2000
ph 02-9290 2194
fax 02-9290 2198
www.gsa.org.au
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