geoz 88 April 2014

NEWSBREAKERS

How Plate Tectonics started?

New modelling demonstrates that Earth-like planets need to accumulate sufficient lithospheric damage concomitant with transient mantle flow and migrating proto-subduction to form weak plate boundaries. Eventually this leads to fully formed tectonic plates driven by subduction alone. This work also demonstrates why Venus could not develop Plate Tectonics.
News report: http://bit.ly/1iKZHPJ
Research abstract: http://bit.ly/1kPuIJx

Plate Tectonics in motion

Using the Tasmanides of eastern Australia as a template, new modelling illustrates how the significant curvature of the orogenic systems develops and also provides a mechanism for tectonic escape of the back-arc region.
News report: http://ab.co/1gVvvjJ
Research abstract: http://bit.ly/1sYVPTC

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 2014: Third Tuesday of each month (Except January)
Jaeger Lecture Theatre, Jaeger Building (Building 61), Australian National University. 5.00pm for 5.30pm start.
For more information: emma.mathews@ga.gov.au

Tuesday 20th May 2014
Laurie Hutton, President Geological Society of Australia
Linking mineral systems with geodynamics and tectonics at Mount Isa - a whole of geology model to the establishment of a geological history
Jaeger Lecture Theatre, Jaeger Building (Building 61), ANU. 5.00 pm for 5.30 pm

New South Wales

Thursday 22nd May 2014
Laurie Hutton, President Geological Society of Australia
Title TBA
Venue details TBA

Ten scholarships of $500 are available for NSW students who wish to attend the AESC
   •  The applicant must be currently enrolled as a student at any university
      (or other educational institution) in NSW.
   •  Preference will be given to applicants presenting either a poster or oral presentation (or both)
      at the convention. However, students who are not presenting may also apply
      but must be currently enrolled in an earth science related degree.
   •  If the applicant is already receiving financial assistance to attend the convention
      they won't be able to apply for the scholarship.
   •  The applicant should be a member of the GSA.
To find out more click here

Queensland

2014 meeting dates to be advised
For more information: info@qld.gsa.org.au

South Australia

Thursday 22nd May 2014
Dr. Simon Holford, Australian School of Petroleum
The origin of the Ceduna sub-basin, Great Australian Bight
Mawson Theatre, University of Adelaide. 5.30 pm for 6.15 pm

GeoNight at the Pub: First Thursday of each month (starting 6th February)
The Griffins Head, Hindmarsh Square, Grenfell Street, Adelaide (Front Bar), 5.00pm to 7.30pm
For more information: anna_petts@yahoo.com.au

Tasmania

Thursday 8th May 2014
Laurie Hutton, President Geological Society of Australia
Title TBA
Main Lecture Theatre School of Earth Sciences University of Tasmania. 6.00 pm

Victoria

Annual General Meeting - Tuesday 24th April 2014
Laurie Hutton, President Geological Society of Australia
Linking mineral systems with geodynamics and tectonics at Mount Isa - a whole of geology model to the establishment of a geological history
Venue details TBA. 6.15 pm

Western Australia

Regular meetings: First Wednesday of each month (except December and January)
Irish Club of WA, 61 Townshend Road, Subiaco, 5.30pm
For more information: info@wa.gsa.org.au

GSA EVENTS

GSA Council Elections: Call for General Councillors

In July 2014, the Governing Council will be implemented. Leading up to this historic event, there will be general ballots and Division-specific ballots held across Australia.

The process of electing the new Governing Council of GSA is now in progress. Two of the four inaugural Divisional Councillors have been elected at the Divisional AGM's of the Northern Territory and WA Divisions. The third should be elected at the ACT Division's AGM on 15th April and the fourth should be elected at the Victorian Division's AGM on 24th April.

The Executive is now calling for nominations for the five positions of General Councillor to complete the inaugural nine person Council. As advised in numerous communications, the Governing Council will combine the authority of the current Executive and the biennial Council meeting. The five General Councillors will be determined by a ballot of all members and the new Council will be endorsed on 8th July 2014, at the 2014 AGM of the Society, to be held in association with the AESC in Newcastle.

The Nomination process: Nominations are open to almost all membership categories (click here for full details), subject to endorsement by two Full or Retired Members. They close on 21st May, 2014, and ballot papers will be mailed to all Members by 31st May with voting to close by 30th June. The General Councillor Nomination form is available here.

Your Nomination should include:
A summary of qualifications to serve as a Councillor (maximum of 400 words) which includes:
   a.  Academic, professional and community qualifications and recognition;
   b.  Relevant work and board/committee experience;
   c.  Portrait image of yourself (optional)
   d.  Contributions to GSA and
   e.  Key issues that you believe that GSA needs to address.

It should be forwarded to: info@gsa.org.au by no later than 21st May, 2014.

Additional Information:
The new governance model has been developed to strengthen the strategic decision making and development of the GSA, and to revitalise an organisation that has hardly grown its membership during the recent period of increased interest and enrolments in geoscience. It will meet quarterly by teleconference with one face to face meeting each year. Substantial authority will be delegated to the CEO and a smaller Executive, drawn from within Council, to ensure prompt response to opportunities and issues. The President will be appointed from the elected Council.

Membership of the new Council will be a significant, national, professional responsibility, and an exciting opportunity for any Member committed to our profession, its standing and its growth. An ideal Council will include a mix of attributes such as: vision and a national perspective; energy and enthusiasm; wisdom; business acumen and management experience; experience in GSA committees; and recognition within the profession. We are starting an exciting new chapter in the evolution of GSA and here is your opportunity to shape the future of the Society.

If you have any queries about the nomination process, or what may be involved in becoming a Councillor, please contact sue@gsa.org.au or one of the Governance committee members: Jim Ross, Chris Yeats, Laurie Hutton laurie.hutton@dnrm.qld.gov.au or Ian Graham i.graham@unsw.edu.au

The Australian Earth Sciences Convention 2014
Newcastle accommodation filling fast!

There is another event on in Newcastle during the AESC which means accommodation will be extremely hard to come by. The Secretariat has block bookings in place at a number of hotels. However, all unsold rooms must be released back to the hotels 30 days prior to the convention. We highly recommend you book your accommodation sooner rather than later to avoid disappointment.

The convention themes are:
  •  Energy
  •  Resources
  •  Environment
  •  Infrastructure, Service and Community
  •  Dynamic Planet
  •  Living Planet.

Dedicated symposia include:
• 39th 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

Registration updates

• GSNZ members receive GSA member rates to the AESC.

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.

GSA membership

Have you renewed your GSA membership for 2014? 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.

IN THE NEWS

Queensland fossil flora tells a wet tale

An analysis of plant fossils found at Lark Quarry, central Queensland, reveals the climate in this area during the late Cretaceous period was warmer and wetter than previously thought.
News report: http://ab.co/1lMcqZ5
Research abstract: http://bit.ly/1sZ36mv

Permian extinction blamed on methanogenic archaea

New research suggests that the Permian extinction event was triggered by the methane producing archaea, Methanosarcina. Genetic evidence indicates Methanosarcina gained the ability to produce methane just prior to the extinction event. The huge reservoirs of organic carbon known to be present at the time could have been rapidly utilised, flooding the planet with methane and driving the climate-related mass extinction event.
News report: http://bit.ly/1i2snTZ
Research abstract: http://bit.ly/1pPuwsu

ON THE WEB

Plate Tectonics comes to Westeros and Essos

A group of geo-enthusiasts at Stanford's Generation Anthropocene blog have used the text of George Martin's novels, fan wikis and known dynamic Earth processes to produce a map that demonstrates what kinds of rocks and metals can be found in the Game of Thrones land masses, the likely climates for each region and the geological history of the planet.
http://stanford.io/1ep5jhx

Top GeoShot competition open for entries

Geoscience Australia's 2014 Top GeoShot photographic competition is now open. This year's theme is "Great Southern Land". Entries close 12 September 2014. To participate, simply take a photograph that demonstrates a geological or geographical feature of Australia's landscape that represents our great southern land.
There are two categories for this year's competition:
Open Category and Student Category (up to Year 12).
http://bit.ly/1gVh0ws

IN THE MEDIA

Forget 3D cinema, go for 3D dinosaur chases

A set of well known prehistoric footprints, from the Paluxy River site in Dinosaur Valley State Park Texas, involves predatory dinosaurs chasing dinosaur prey. Unfortunately the blocks were removed from site in the 1940s and sent to various locations and/or lost but now, thanks to impressive digital reconstruction work using original photographs the entire trackway can now be viewed in 3D and a seen in a fly-through visualisation.
News report: http://ab.co/1knjIAd
Research abstract: http://bit.ly/1kWwap2

When is a meteorite not a meteorite? When it's a meteorwrong!

Staff at the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis USA have documented the amazing variety of rocks and other things people think might be meteorites. Sometimes they even are!
http://bit.ly/1gVvD2M

Mars: The field trip continued

Is that a Martian signalling from the horizon? Probably not. Bright spots are seen in images most weeks and are best attributed to sunlight glinting off polished rock surfaces or a cosmic ray registering on the camera's detector.

http://1.usa.gov/1ezpL54

Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech

Curiosity at The Kimberley way point.
http://1.usa.gov/1ih50df

Location mapped
http://1.usa.gov/1nmclc9

Differential erosion at the way point
http://1.usa.gov/1kWyAEe

More news from Mars ...

Martian atmospheric pressure too small to keep water flowing
http://ab.co/1hDCT9A

Lake Gusev really did exist
http://bit.ly/1i2g7qo

Opportunity all clean and shiny
http://bit.ly/1sYMlaU

Citizen science to map Mars
http://bit.ly/1sYMlaU

More news from the solar system ...

One last close look at Titan
http://bit.ly/1n5wtSz

LADEE moon crash for one more bit of data
http://ab.co/1kPjnch

An ocean found beneath the icy surface of Enceladus
http://bit.ly/1eziuSH

No apatite for water on the moon
http://bbc.in/1rBpv8B

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!

Activate your 2014 on-line access
To activate your 2014 online access to the Australian Journal of Earth Sciences please click on the following link: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/customerActivation
You will be taken to the Taylor & Francis Online platform and invited to "Sign In".

STEP ONE: Your Taylor & Francis Online account

a) If you already have a Taylor & Francis Online account you will be required to "Sign in". If you have forgotten your password, please click on 'Forgot password' enter your email address and you will be sent an email containing a link to create a new password. Please check your spam folder if it does not arrive.

OR:

b) If you do not already have an account on Taylor & Francis Online, please click "Register" at the top of the page and follow the prompts. Note: Once you have submitted your registration form, a confirmation email will be sent to the email address that you registered and this email will contain a validation link to activate your account. Unfortunately these emails can be caught in spam filters; please check this and add @tandfonline.com to your safe senders list.

STEP TWO: Activating your AJES access

When you have registered/signed in, the following prompts appear and these actions are required:
   •  Society drop down menu = please select Geological Society of Australia
   •  Membership number, please enter your GSA membership number
   •  Activation code, please enter the code recently sent by email. If you did not receive this email contact info@gsa.org.au for advice but please check your spam filter first.

To access the AJES please click on "My Account" at the top of the page near your name and then click the blue "Access" button and choose Australian Journal of Earth Sciences. Once you activate this Access, please ignore if an error message arises (as your access will be active - please ignore error message and proceed to My Account) - or if still not available please contact Taylor & Francis at: enquiries@tandf.com.au

Volume 61 No.1 - published on-line, hard copy out soon

Using Research to Benefit Mineral Exploration: Examples of Recent Research Conducted at the Centre of Exploration Targeting (CET)
Hagemann, Witt & Fiorentini eds.

R. R. Loucks
Distinctive composition of copper-ore-forming arc magmas.

W. K. Witt, S. G. Hagemann & C. Villanes
Geochemistry and geology of spatially and temporally associated calc-alkaline (I-type) and K-rich (A-type) magmatism in a Carboniferous continental arc setting, Pataz gold mining district, northern Peru.

W. K. Witt, S. G. Hagemann, J. Ojala, C. Laukamp, T. Vennemann, Villanes, C. & V. Nykanen
Multiple methods for regional- to mine-scale targeting, Pataz gold field, northern Peru.

C. Nyakecho & S. G. Hagemann
An Overview of Gold Systems in Uganda.

L. Bagas, R. Boucher, B. Li, J. Miller, P. Hill, G. Depauw, J. Pascoe & B. Eggers
Paleoproterozoic stratigraphy and gold mineralisation in the Granites-Tanami Orogen, North Australian Craton.

S. J. Nichols & S. G. Hagemann
Structural and hydrothermal alteration evidence for early and late stages of gold mineralisation at the New Celebration Gold deposit in Western Australia.

S. S. Romano, N. J. M. Thébaud, D. R. Mole, M. T. D. Wingate, C. L. Kirkland & M. P. Doublier
Age constraints on komatiites in the Southern Cross Domain, Yilgarn Craton.

J. Martindale, S. Hagemann, D. Huston & L. Danyushevsky
Integrated stratigraphic-structural-hydrothermal alteration and mineralisation model for the Kangaroo Caves zinc-copper deposit, Western Australia.

A. S. D. Maskell, P. Duuring & S. G. Hagemann
Hydrothermal alteration events controlling magnetite-rich iron ore at the Matthew Ridge prospect, Jack Hills greenstone belt, Yilgarn Craton.

Volume 61 No.2 - all papers published on-line

M. Rexer & C. Hirt
Comparison of free high resolution digital elevation data sets (ASTER GDEM2, SRTM v2.1/v4.1) and validation against accurate heights from the Australian National Gravity Database

R. H. Vernon
Microstructures of microgranitoid enclaves and the origin of S-type granitoids

F. L. Sutherland, I. T. Graham, J. D. Hollis, S. Meffre, H. Zwingmann, F. Jourdan & R. E. Pogson
Multiple felsic events within post-10 Ma volcanism, Southeast Australia: inputs in appraising proposed magmatic models

Stephen J. Barnes, L. A. Fisher, R. Anand & T. Uemoto
Mapping bedrock lithologies through in situ regolith using retained element ratios: a case study from the Agnew-Lawlers area, Western Australia

M. J. Cracknell, A. M. Reading & A. W. McNeill
Mapping geology and volcanic-hosted massive sulfide alteration in the Hellyer-Mt Charter region, Tasmania, using Random Forests™ and Self-Organising Maps.

A. S. A. A. Abu Sharib
Switching bulk horizontal shortening and regional-scale partitioning of deformation during the Isan Orogeny in the Eastern Fold Belt, Mount Isa Inlier, Australia.

M. A. Short, S. Lamontagne, P. G. Cook & R. Cranswick
Characterising the distribution of near-shore submarine groundwater discharge along a coastline using ²²²Rn and electrical conductivity

Other papers published on-line recently

Follow this link to see the most recent papers published on-line.

P. G. Lennox, M. A. Forster & I. S. Williams
Emplacement and deformation ages of the Wyangala Granite, Cowra, NSW

M. M. Ma, X. M. Liu, B. J. Pillans, P. Y. Li, B. Lu & S. Y. Hu
Magnetic properties and particle-size analysis of dust-storm samples collected in Lanzhou and Sydney

Coming up in TAG

TAG for June 2014

The June copy deadline is 28 April. Have you got something to say in 2014? Get your Letter to the Editor or a news item published in TAG by sending it to: tag@gsa.org.au. If you are submitting a Feature or Special Report please send your article in as soon as possible. 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:

The Australian Museum Eureka Prizes - applications close 7pm AEST Friday 2 May 2014

The prizes reward excellence in the fields of research & innovation, leadership & commercialisation, school science and science journalism & communication.

http://bit.ly/1fMCYF3

Exploration in the House & NSW Minerals Council Exploration Forum - Register by 12 May 2014

http://bit.ly/1p5ninf.

Call for Papers - Abstract deadline June 30 2014

Bowen Basin Symposium 7-10 October, 2015

Bowen Basin and Beyond
Click here for flyer

Geoscience Australia's 2014 Top GeoShot photographic competition - entries close 12 September 2014

Winners receive a professionally framed enlargement of their image and their image will be displayed in Geoscience Australia's foyer in Canberra for the year.

http://bit.ly/1gVh0ws

EVENTS:

RIU Sydney Resources Roundup, Sydney, 13 - 15 May 2014

http://bit.ly/1dcb1IF.

Best Practices in Mine Backfill Technologies Workshop, Perth, 19 May 2014

http://bit.ly/1p9H7o3.

Exploration in the House 2014, Sydney, 20 May 2014

http://bit.ly/1p5ninf.

NSW Minerals Council Exploration Forum 2014, Sydney, 21 May 2014

http://bit.ly/1p5ninf.

11th International Symposium on Mining with Backfill, Perth, 20 - 22 May 2014

http://bit.ly/1p9H7o3.