SOUTH AUSTRALIAN GEOLOGIST Newsletter of the Geological Society of Australia (South Australia Division) Chair (SA Division) Prof Alan Collins June 2021 Email: [email protected] http://bit.ly/GSA_SA_Division Fieldtrip to Magpie Creek – Sturt Gorge Friday, 18th June 2021, 2 ‒ 4 pm 32 Gorge Road, Bellevue Heights, SA 5050 Please register here via Eventbrite Ralph Tate Memorial Lecture: Heather Handley Into the Volcano: From Source to Surface and Beyond Thursday, 1st July 2021, 5:30 ‒ 8 pm Braggs Lecture Theatre, University of Adelaide Please register here via Eventbrite 1 News & Announcements Fieldtrip to Magpie Creek Sturt Gorge Recreation Park The GSA SA Division would like to invite GSA members and guests to participate in an excursion to Sturt Gorge/Magpie Creek. This will be led by Colin Conor. Adelaide is fortunate enough to have a spectacular Sturt Gorge that provides a snapshot into when Earth experienced a major glaciation. This site is one of the first places in the world to show evidence of glaciation during the Neoproterozoic. Please come along and walk back in time with expert Colin Conor and learn about the geology in our backyard. This event will be weather dependant, we plan to run it from 2 to 4 pm. This trip will have a maximum of 20 people, however, if we have more than 20 people Colin has kindly offered to run it twice. Upon registration you will receive an email with more details. Date and time: Friday, 18th June 2021, 2:00 – 4:00 PM ACST Location: Magpie Creek Geological Trail, 32 Gorge Road, Bellevue Heights, SA 5050 Cost: Free for GSA Members / Non-GSA Members $15 Please register here via Eventbrite 2 Ralph Tate Memorial Lecture 2021 Please join the Geological Society of Australia (SA Division), the Field Geology Club of South Australia and the Royal Society of South Australia for our annual Ralph Tate Memorial Lecture. This year we have distinguished Associate Professor Heather Handley delivering a talk “Into the volcano: from source to surface and beyond”. Please join us for drinks at 5:30 pm for a 6:30 pm start in the Braggs Lecture Theatre. We look forward to seeing you. Date and time: Thursday, 1st July 2021, 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM ACST Location: Braggs Lecture Theatre, University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus Cost: Free event Please register here via Eventbrite Abstract: There are over 800 million people in the world that live close to active volcanoes and so understanding how volcanoes work and what triggers volcanic eruptions is crucial in order to reduce risk to humans from volcanic hazards. In the lecture we'll take a journey deep into the volcano to explore why and where we get volcanoes on Earth and what makes some explosive and others not. We'll look at how science can help us to understand how fast molten rock moves to the surface beneath volcanoes. We'll also delve deep into Australia's rich and fascinating volcanic history to determine how likely a future eruption is in Australia, what the warning signals might look like and how much time we may have to prepare should we detect signs of activity. Bio: Heather Handley’s research unravels the secrets held in the chemistry of volcanic rocks and their minerals to answer questions such as what triggers volcanic eruptions? and how fast does magma travel from its source to the Earth’s surface? Heather holds a PhD in Volcano Geochemistry from Durham University, UK and 1st Class Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Geology from The University of Edinburgh, UK. In 2012, Heather was awarded an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship to advance our understanding of the timescales of Earth-system process. She is Co-Founder and President of the Women in Earth and Environmental Sciences Australasia Network (WOMEESA) and was recently appointed as a Co Editor-in-Chief for Earth and Planetary Science Letters. Heather received a NSW Young Tall Poppy Award in 2014 in recognition of her research excellence and passion for science communication and has led more than 40 outreach events and workshops. She frequently writes for The Conversation, has given over 60 television, radio and print interviews and has featured in documentaries for National Geographic and Discovery Science. She is also mum to two very curious young girls. 3 Impressions from our last month’s AGM Last month we have held our Annual General Meeting in the Mawson Lecture Theatre at the University of Adelaide. Our GSA SA Division chair Alan Collins led us through the evening, welcoming new and thanking outgoing committee and subcommittee members, giving a retrospective of the last year’s activities, and handing over award medals and prizes to Barry Cooper, Caroline Tiddy, Alice Clement, Tom Burke, and Isabella Clarke. Alan received his S.W. Carey Medal from John Foden. Chris Mays, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Swedish Museum of Natural History Stockholm, then gave a fantastic talk about the end-Permian mass extinction. The evening continued with a sumptuous dinner at Amalfi (followed by some tasty cocktails, THANX Morgan!!!). 4 GSA GOLD The GSA GOLD speaker for Tuesday, 1st June 2021 is Professor John Foden, Associate Head of the School of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Adelaide. He will present a talk entitled: Lessons from Fe isotopes in the understanding of magmas and hydrothermal ores. Please register here. Following registration, you will be sent a link to attend GSA GOLD on Zoom. Registration for GSA GOLD is free for all GSA members. Non-members can also register for just $10.00. John Foden is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Adelaide. After an undergraduate degree at ANU, where he was inspired by the teaching and research of Alan White and Bruce Chappell, John briefly entered the minerals industry with a spell working with ESSO Minerals prospecting for copper in Queensland’s Bowen Basin. John then went to Tasmania and completed an honours degree under the supervision of Mike Solomon and Rick Varne. After another year or so as a research assistant both in Tasmania and for a while at Macquarie University, he headed back to Tasmania and did a PhD under the supervision of Rick Varne on the geochemistry and petrology of modern arc volcanics from the eastern Sunda Arc, Indonesia. Since completing his PhD, John has been at the University of Adelaide, first as a post-doc and then as a member of the academic faculty where he was promoted to Professor in 2006. John has twice been Head of the Department Geology and Geophysics (1995-1998 and 2003) and is currently Associate Head of the School of Earth and Environmental Science and head the School’s Post- graduate school (Research Education Committee). Throughout his career, John has maintained an active research interest in the issues of the geochemistry and the source of arc magmatism and on the application of geochemical and isotopic methods to the understanding of magma genesis both in ancient and modern subduction settings as well as to intra-crustal magma genesis (granites). Watch past GSA GOLD lectures on GSA’s YouTube channel here! 5 GSA Specialist Group in Economic Geology ‘Facets of Exploration’ Webinar The GSA Specialist Group in Economic Geology invites you to attend the Facets of Exploration Webinar on Wednesday, 16 June 2021. Speaker is Franco Pirajno from the Centre for Exploration Targeting, The University of Western Australia, who will be presenting the talk 'Alkaline complexes and carbonatites'. Time: 1.30 pm - 2.30 pm (ACST: SA, NT) Following registration, you will be sent a link to attend Facets of Exploration on Zoom. GSA Members attend for free and non-members can register for just $10.00. Please register here via Eventbrite Abstract: Intracontinental alkaline complexes and carbonatites commonly occur in rift-related settings, best exemplified by the Cenozoic-present day East African Rift System. Examples in the ancient geological record are more difficult to unravel due to subsequent overprinting during tectono-thermal events unrelated to the original rifting. In the present paper, with the exception of the Bayan Obo carbonatite, I have used examples of anorogenic alkaline complexes and carbonatites that are effectively pristine and unaffected by later geological events. In this context, I report on two alkaline complexes and associated mineralisation in Namibia (Brandberg and Erongo) related to the opening of the South Atlantic and the Paraná-Etendeka large igneous province. With regards to carbonatites and associated mineralisation, I discuss the exceptionally well-preserved Kruidfontein and Goudini in South Africa, Mount Weld and Gifford Creek ferrocarbonatite complex in Western Australia, the controversial Bayan Obo in northern China and the carbonatites of the Mianning- Dechang belt in SW China. It is proposed that all these igneous systems are formed by processes of partial melting in metasomatised lithospheric mantle, induced by upwelling mantle plumes. Furthermore, it is contended that these alkaline and carbonatite igneous systems are formed in the distal sectors of a mantle plume due to lateral transfer of volatiles, resulting in low degrees of partial melting in the metasomatised sub-continental mantle lithosphere. 6 WOMEESA Virtual Seminar Series On the first Wednesday of each month a woman in Earth or Environmental science In Australasia will present a seminar about their research and their career pathway. The seminar series aims to increase the visibility of women scientists and provide inspiring role models for other scientists and science educators. Seminars will be hosted live via zoom. Next seminar: Wednesday 2nd June 2021, 1:30 pm ACST (Adelaide time) Dr. Rachelle Kernen (The University of Adelaide): Creating and Promoting Gender Equity and Diversity in Professional Geological Societies.