geoz 72 June 2013

NEWSBREAKERS

Geoscience scores big data boost

NICTA, Australia's Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Research Centre of Excellence, is leading a ground-breaking, multi-million-dollar project that will use big data and machine learning to deliver new insights to the natural sciences. This $12M, three-year research endeavour will advance fundamental mathematics and statistics to provide a framework, methodologies and tools for data-enabled scientific insight and discovery. Part of the project will combine publicly available geological data from Geoscience Australia with SIRCA technology that helps predict stockmarket movements, to help picture what Australia was like 1.5 billion years ago, and how its rich metal deposits were formed. Professor Dietmar Muller from The University of Sydney will lead the Geosciences Team.
http://bit.ly/15hH4wc

Central Australia rocked by shallow quake

A shallow magnitude 5.7 earthquake shook a remote area on the South Australia - Northern Territory border recently. Minor damage to some local infrastructure has been reported.
News report: http://bit.ly/176js4m
Geoscience Australia: http://bit.ly/11GS311

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

Regular meetings: Third Tuesday of each month (Except January)
Jaeger Lecture Theatre, Jaeger Building (Building 61), Australian National University.
For more information: emma.mathews@ga.gov.au

New South Wales

Tuesday 2nd July 2013
Presenter TBA
Mine subsidence - mapping, monitoring and managing
Customs House, Newcastle, 6.00 pm for 6.30 pm

Tuesday 13th August 2013
Presenter TBA
A century of NSW Earth Science
Customs House, Newcastle, 6.00 pm for 6.30 pm

Queensland

2013 meeting dates to be advised
For more information: info@qld.gsa.org.au

South Australia

Thursday 20th June 2013
PhD Candidates Ben Van Der Hoek & Verity Normington
Advances in Exploration Geochemistry
Mawson Theatre, University of Adelaide. 5.30 pm for 6.15 pm

GeoNight at the Pub: First Thursday of each month (except January and June 2013)
The Griffins Head, Hindmarsh Square, Grenfell Street, Adelaide (Front Bar), 5.00pm to 7.30pm
For more information: apetts@flindersmines.com

Tasmania

2013 meeting dates to be advised
For more information: mduffett@mrt.tas.gov.au

Victoria

Thursday 27th June 2013
AW Howitt Annual Lecture, GSAV - Royal Society of Victoria Joint Lecture
Dr Erich Fitzgerald, Museum Victoria
Last Frontier in the Quest for Whale Origins
Royal Society building, entry via 8 LaTrobe Street, 7.00pm

Western Australia

Wednesday 3rd July 2013
Campbell McCuaig, Centre for Exploration Targeting and ARC Centre of Excellence for Core to Crust Fluid Systems, UWA
Multiscale structural controls on mineral systems
Irish Club of WA (Inc), 61 Townshend Rd, Subiaco, 5.30 pm for 6.00 pm

GSA EVENTS

The Australian Earth Sciences Convention 2014: Web site now live.

The Australian Earth Sciences Convention 2014 web site is now live at http://aesc2014.gsa.org.au/, Check it out! The First Circular is available here.

The convention themes are:
  •  Energy
  •  Resources
  •  Environment
  •  Service & Community
  •  Dynamic Planet
  •  Living Earth

Dedicated symposia include:
• 9th Symposium on the Advances in the Study of the Sydney Basin
• Comparisons & Contrasts in Circum-Pacific Orogens

Please distribute information about the AESC 2014 to your colleagues within the geoscience community:
Australian Earth Sciences Convention
AESC 2014: Sustainable Australia
7-10 July 2014
Newcastle NSW

The organising committee looks forward to welcoming you in Newcastle and if you want any information about the AESC do not hesitate to contact the GSA office: info@gsa.org.au. and if you would like to receive notifications when registration or call for papers is open for the AESC, please click here.

Biennial Conference of the Specialist Group in Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Petrology: Rocks, Reef and Rainforest (R³)

Following the format of the successful Kangaroo Island (2009) and Murramarang (2011) SGGMP conferences, this Gordon-style conference held in tropical North Queensland will combine oral and poster presentations, field trips, and a packed social program.
Mission Beach, QLD, July 14th to 19th 2013.
Places are limited!
http://sggmp2013.webs.com/
Click here for the Second Circular

The National Rock Garden - a rock solid idea

The National Rock Garden (NRG) qualifies for Deductible Gift Recipient status (DGR). In other words, donations to the NRG are 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 Brad Pillans

Out of this world offer

To celebrate the launch of Dr Andrew Glikson's book:

The Asteroid Impact Connection of Planetary Evolution,

the publisher - Springer - is offering Geological Society of Australia members a 30% discount off the list price of the work.

GSA members wishing to benefit from the special 30% discount should download this form and submit orders to Rebecca.Chong@springer.com before 30th June 2013.

IN THE NEWS

Winton's sauropod bonanza

A two week dig near Winton Queensland has unearthed a cache of sauropod remains believed to be about 98 million years old. Scientists and volunteers involved in the recovery report the haul will be too big to house in the Australian Dinosaur Museum preparation laboratory where the task of retrieving the bones from the surrounding matrix will be undertaken.
http://bit.ly/18P1JyZ

The Lizard King honoured

The late Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors and otherwise known as the Lizard King, has had a fossil lizard named in his honour. The large palaeogene terrestrial lizard is formally named Barbaturex morrisoni.
News report: http://bit.ly/16cK92S
Research abstract: http://bit.ly/14g6UDR

Archean carbon conundrum

Carbonaceous material deposited in Pilbara Craton rocks has been shown to be multi-generational and not from a single source as previously thought. Researchers have shown the sources of the carbonaceous material range in age from 100 million to 1 billion years younger than the rocks of the Apex Chert that they analysed. While not showing a biogenic origin for this carbon the technique used will prove useful in establishing the biogenic origins of ancient carbon when it is found.
News report: http://bit.ly/11uFPc1
Research abstract: http://bit.ly/11VBAsZ

ON THE WEB

Vanuatu lets off steam

Gaua Island (also known as Santa Maria Island), is the subaerial cone and summit of a stratovolcano rising 3,000 metres from the seafloor. It is part of the Vanuatu Archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean and has been recently letting off a bit of steam and spreading ash over this tropical paradise.

This image was acquired on May 31 from the International Space Station and was taken by the Expedition 36 crew.
Image supplied courtesy of NASA's Earth Observatory

http://1.usa.gov/19HeOtP

New maps reveal an improved water outlook for some in the USA

Last year the continental United States suffered through an extreme drought with almost 80 percent of the arable land affected and 28 percent experiencing extreme dryness. Now maps from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) combined with other satellite and ground-based measurements are being produced that show changes in water storage related to weather, climate, and seasonal patterns. Surface water conditions have improved in many places but in some places the situation has worsened and underground water resources show little sign of recovery. Changes from 2012 to 2013 can be viewed as an animation.
http://1.usa.gov/16B3dsn

IN THE MEDIA

Antarctica as never seen before

Antarctica's mountains, hidden for 30 million years under snow and ice, are revealed in a new map and video released June 5 by NASA. Researchers created the map by compiling decades worth of geophysical measurements utilising the British Antarctic Survey tool called Bedmap2.

Image courtesy of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

News report: http://nbcnews.to/18WJbfi
NASA: http://1.usa.gov/11C6EcK

STOP PRESS: New studies of melting of the ice shelves from underneath have found that the basal melt accounted for 55 percent of all Antarctic ice shelf mass loss from 2003 to 2008, an amount much higher than previously thought.
NASA report: http://1.usa.gov/175OAkG

Pliocene dryness over-estimated?

Oxygen and carbon isotope ratios in fossil kangaroo teeth reveal that the Pliocene diet for three macropod species was a mixed one of leaves and grass. This result is used to infer the Pliocene landscape of southeastern Queensland was a mosaic of tropical forests, wetlands and grasslands.
News report: http://bit.ly/11usFvF
Research paper: http://bit.ly/14XCsLF

Mars: the 2013 field trip - Continued

This image shows the texture of the patch of flat-lying bedrock called Cumberland. The concretions probably formed when water soaked the rock long ago. Drilling has been undertaken here to find out more.

Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
http://1.usa.gov/15DhcNt.

Switching gears (Video report)
http://bit.ly/14GhHnn

A point to visit
http://1.usa.gov/15BBpmA

Shaler mosaic
http://1.usa.gov/15BBwyv

Cross-bedding at shaler
http://1.usa.gov/TYu3Ge

Meanwhile, elsewhere on Mars ...
http://bbc.in/16cAIBb

What's in AJES

The Australian Journal of Earth Sciences online is available through the Taylor & Francis website. It is very easy to navigate and use.

AJES is available to financial members of the GSA. Don't miss the next issue because your membership has lapsed!

Volume 60 Issue No.3

P. F. Rey
Opalisation of the Great Artesian Basin (central Australia): An Australian Story with a Martian twist.^*

R. A. Glen
Refining accretionary orogen models for the Tasmanides of eastern Australia.

R. A. Glen, R. J. Korsch, R. Hegarty, A. Saeed, Y. Poudjom Djomani, R. D. Costelloe and E. Belousova
Geodynamic significance of the boundary between the Thomson Orogen and the Lachlan Orogen, northwestern New South Wales and implications for Tasmanide tectonics.

F. R. Fontaine, H. Tkalcic and B. L. N. Kennett
Crustal complexity in the Lachlan Orogen revealed from teleseismic receiver functions.

^*This paper is on open access (no login required) for the next month. Note: This paper was the 3rd most accessed article on Taylor & Francis on-line, with 2 abstract views and 54 full-text downloads since its public release 2 weeks ago.

Coming up in TAG

TAG for June 2013

The June TAG is not far from your mailbox! If you have a contribution for the next edition, the deadline for general copy for the September edition is 29 July. Content received after the 29 July will be held over till the December issue. Don't be disappointed, get your Letter to the Editor or a news item in now to: tag@gsa.org.au. If you are submitting a Feature or Special Report please send your article by mid-July. Need information about word lengths and submitting? Contact: tag@gsa.org.au

JOB VACANCIES

Advertising space now available

Advertising positions are now available in Geoz. Be the first to advertise here.
Word length: 40-50 words (the shorter the more effective) plus link to a web site.
Text and a small logo linking to your online advert or business.
Logo a maximum of 180 pixels wide x 90 pixels high.
Adverts will run in Geoz for two issues.
Fee: $150.00
For more information: info@gsa.org.au

WHAT'S ON

DEADLINES:

Bookings open - event date 23 June 2013

Geology Train!

Experience the excitement of a rugged, narrow-gauge, coal-fired, steam-powered mountain train ride and view great outcrops. GeoTourism at its steamy best!

http://bit.ly/WquBIh

SMEDG winter cruise - bookings now open for 5 July 2013 cruise

Feast on gourmet food and sip on wine aboard the Radar

Get in quick, space is limited.

http://bit.ly/10OMRb1

2014 Haddon Forrester King Medal nominations - closing date 29 July 2013

The 2014 Haddon Forrester King Medal for research in mineral exploration is now open for nominations

The Medal is a prestigious career award for life-long achievement and outstanding contribution to science.

http://bit.ly/kxMZnD

Call for papers - closing date 16 September 2013

Ninth International Mining Geology Conference 2014

Mining Geology through the value chain

http://bit.ly/19LFsSl

Top GeoShot 2013 photographic competition is now open - closing date 23 September 2013

The theme for this year's competition is Exposed to the Elements.

To participate, take and submit a photograph that captures the essence of Earth Science.

http://bit.ly/10taE4I

EVENTS:

Minerals Week, Canberra, 26 June 2013

You are invited to represent your organisation at Minerals Week 2013.
Download PDF program here

SMEDG winter cruise, Sydney, 5 July 2013

Feast on gourmet food and sip on wine aboard the Radar
http://bit.ly/10OMRb1

Introduction to the Oil & Gas Industry, Perth, 9 – 10 July 2013

For non-technical personnel who work in the petroleum industry or in related activities.
Download PDF flyer here

Rocks, Reef and Rainforest, Mission Beach, 14 – 19 July 2013

Biennial Conference of the Specialist Group in Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Petrology.
http://bit.ly/16Jcq4t

Practical Aspects of Reservoir Engineering, Perth, 15 – 19 July 2013

Download PDF flyer here

NSW Mineral Exploration & Investment Conference, Sydney, 17 – 18 July 2013

http://bit.ly/12o8U9L

Geology of Australia: how a continent shaped a nation, Sydney, 18 July 2013

Australian Museum Night Talk. 6.30pm for 7.00pm
http://bit.ly/194FDrw

Fundamentals of the Oil & Gas industry, Sydney, 22 – 26 July 2013

Download PDF flyer here

GIS in Mining and Exploration 2013, Perth, 31 July – 1 August 2013

Managing Big Data, Creation of 3D Spatial Models, and Enabling Mobile Interactions with Field Workers.
10% Discount for GSA Members
http://bit.ly/16tKaUo

International Petroleum Contracts, Sydney, 7– 9 August 2013

Download PDF flyer here

23rd International Geophysical Conference and Exhibition, Melbourne, 11 – 14 August 2013

The Eureka Moment
http://bit.ly/16o6U7S

Mines & Wines 2013, Orange NSW, 11 – 14 September 2013

Download PDF flyer here

Instrumentation and Slope Monitoring Workshop, Brisbane, 23 September 2013

http://bit.ly/128bv5N

Slope Analysis and Design in Anisotropic Materials Workshop, Brisbane, 24 September 2013

http://bit.ly/128bv5N

International Symposium on Slope Stability in Open Pit Mining and Civil Engineering, Brisbane, 25 – 27 September 2013

http://bit.ly/11uKJFU