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Earth Sciences, University of Tasmania

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25.01.2022 Rockstars Johanna and Cameron. Thanks for sharing your stories!

25.01.2022 Assoc. Prof. Jo Whittaker, Lecturer Karin Orth and student Chantelle Ridley are onboard the RV Investigator searching for the origins of the Tasmantid volcanic chain off the eastern Australian coast. After a few days of dredges with little volcanic material it looks as if theyve hit the jackpot this time around! Well done team!

23.01.2022 Well done Adam on a great story of your discovery of a geologists paradise! We think so too! https://www.facebook.com/136334910007/posts/10162243561225008?s=560746585&v=e&sfns=xmwa

23.01.2022 In last week's tutorials, Karin Orth helped KEA101 visualize geological time... so much tiiiime!

22.01.2022 Here is the link to access our digital tea room group. This group is closed and is only for current staff/students.

22.01.2022 Update from Karin Orth from somewhere in the Coral Sea Letter from the Coral Sea Hi all from out here in the Coral Sea.... Having an amazing time on the RV Investigator. You guys should be here! We have dredged a seamount chain, a plateau, pulled rocks from the jaws of a trench and are preparing to haul up some deep sea beauties from an ancient spreading centre. Plate tectonics in action and it is just like those lectures and textbooks but much better in person. Here are some of the slippery green and red rocks from the last few days. See more

21.01.2022 Who knew there was a volcano in Lower Sandy Bay?! The 2020 KEA101 class got to check it out in Week 1!

19.01.2022 The Annual UTAS Geology Dinner is back for another year! We know you’ve all been tucked away in your houses and offices furiously lithifying over the last few months of this anomalous year, so its time to let loose a little and catch up with everyone at our famous ANNUAL GEOLOGY DINNER! This year we’ll be hosting it at the Crowne Plaza Hobart, a fantastic new venue with great food and an open bar. See the link below for more details! https://fb.me/e/g90qvQqAW It’ll be a great... night, hope to see everybody there! PS: psst, join us for some drinks at the scenic Deck Bar beforehand https://www.facebook.com/events/687660142093760/

19.01.2022 The final lecture of KEA102 Earth Resources Environment and Evolution finished with a visit by Rosie the Utah Raptor. The students were in the midst of their prac tests. We hope Rosie provided a boost to their morale.

19.01.2022 http://www.imas.utas.edu.au//coral-sea-voyage-uncovers-vol

18.01.2022 Only a few geo dinner tickets left, you’ve got till Monday to get them folks!Only a few geo dinner tickets left, you’ve got till Monday to get them folks!

17.01.2022 Many Earth Science field trips are heading off to all over Tasmania in the lead up to Semester 1, 2020. Last week Earth Sciences marked an historic occasion with our first ever all female student field trip. Hope everyone has a great time looking at the wonderful geology of Tasmania. Photo of Karin with the group at Coles Bay. What is this? Piccininny Point

17.01.2022 Considering studying Honours in Earth Sciences? Have you considered the beautiful island state and CODES world renowned research centre? We have a stack of great projects on offer this year, check out what's available in our honours program here: https://www.utas.edu.au/natural-sc/earth-sciences/research or contact honours co-ordinator [email protected] to chat about your options.

15.01.2022 Rosie welcomes first year KEA102 Earth Resources, Environments and Evolution students. Students commenced some face to face practicals on the Hobart Campus last Friday and today. Rosie the Utahraptor was happy to welcome them back and hope they enjoy looking at some rocks, observing all the COVID19 safety measures that have been put in place.

14.01.2022 Reconstruction of the volcanic architecture of the host rocks at E41, Lake Cowal Volcanic Complex, Central NSW, Australia Justin Burns-Nichols, Honours student in Earth Sciences and CODES Lake Cowal sits in a dry and sparse but beautiful environment, in Central NSW, approximately two hours’ drive north of Wagga Wagga. The Lake Cowal Volcanic Complex or LCVC is an Ordovician age volcanic complex comprised of a multitude of different volcanic rocks, including sills, dykes, mono...mictic and polymictic volcanic and volcaniclastic breccias and conglomerates. The LCVC contains several rich deposits of precious metals, namely gold. The most well known of these deposits, E42 is currently being mined for gold by Evolution Mining, who generously sponsored this honours project. The focus of my honours project has been to reconstruct the volcanic architecture from a suite of 5 large drill holes and identify rock units that might match up with rocks within the E42 gold mine nearby. It is anticipated that this will enable the crack team of exploration geologists at Lake Cowal to potentially correlate gold-bearing rock units in the existing gold mine with those from my study area. Reconstruction of volcanic architecture can be complicated by tectonic events shifting the rocks around as well as different intrusions interacting variably between the two areas. For this study I collected (too) many core samples after spending approximately 3 weeks on site at the Lake Cowal mine site where I logged core and learnt more about the geology of the area. I later used the core samples to study the different minerals in the core as well as more importantly the shapes of the minerals and the overall volcanic textures present in the core. This allowed me to make interpretations about the volcanic environments that the rocks formed in. For example, the colourful core sample seen below caused a few headaches when I first came across it, but by using the techniques above I eventually interpreted the rock unit as a pseudobreccia. Just by looking at the core you would expect it to be a fairly simple breccia, however after much head scratching and many discussions it could be seen that the darker patches and the lighter patches aren’t separate clasts but actually one whole coherent rock type and that the unit had not been brecciated at all. While this project was definitely a challenge, it was an enjoyable challenge to unravel exactly how all the different types of rocks I had sampled formed and ended up where they are today.

14.01.2022 The 2nd years in Earth Sciences (KEA208) went for a field trip!

14.01.2022 Dr Matt Cracknell stomping up and down during some geophysics outreach with Mountain Heights school in Queenstown. https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/bD2CC71Zl7fw2prRi8dKF-

13.01.2022 Congratulations to Dr. Rebecca Carey who won the Young Tall Poppy Scientist of the year award from the Australian Institute of Policy & Science !! This is a major recognition for her relentless work in Earth Sciences. https://aips.net.au/tall-poppy-campaign/

13.01.2022 Over the weekend the Earth Sciences department had around 300 Cub Scouts participate in learning about geology! They looked at gemstones, earthquakes, fossils, microscopes and the geological time series! #geology #UTAS #earth #science #cubs #scouts

13.01.2022 GSA talk tonight, 7 pm !!!!

12.01.2022 Honours students Claudia Jenkins and Justin Burns-Nichols started their honours field work at Cowal with Evolution Mining this week. Their rocks are gorgeous! Good luck with the rest of the field time!

12.01.2022 Ian McDougall Memorial Scholarship in Geology closing date is in two days! Emeritus Professor Ian McDougall, FAA was a distinguished University of Tasmanian alumnus who graduated with Honours in 1956 having majored in Geology and Chemistry. While at the University of Tasmania, Ians research directions were stimulated and encouraged by both Prof Sam Warren Carey and J C Jaeger. He was awarded an ANU PhD scholarship and studied the mineralogy and petrology of the Tasmanian do...lerites. Working at ANU for his entire career, Ian focussed on radiometric dating of rocks using the natural decay of a potassium isotope to argon. He built and maintained facilities recognised internationally for their excellence and for their application to major research controversies. A second major contribution was Ians dating of hominid fossil material from central Africa. His appointments at ANU included Research Fellow, Fellow, Senior Fellow, then Professor in the early 1990s. Retiring in 2000 Ian was awarded an honorary DSc from the University of Glasgow in 2009. Ians long association with the University started with his grandfather, Prof McDougall who was Professor of Law from 1908 to 1932. It is hoped this scholarship will encourage students to develop a lifelong interest in Geology. Eligibility Available to a student commencing the Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Science Catalyst Program and enrolled in units KEA101 (Understanding Earth Systems) and KEA102 (Earth Resources, Environments and Evolution) in 2020. Preference is for a student interested in completing a major in Geology. Selection will be based on academic merit and financial need. More info: https://info.scholarships.utas.edu.au/AwardDetails.aspx

11.01.2022 Volcanic Architecture of GRE46, Cowal, New South Wales Claudia Jenkins reflects on her honours project with Earth Sciences My project was based in Cowal located in rural New South Wales. It was sponsored through Evolution Mining who have been operating there since 2015. There are three economically important gold centres in the Cowal district, with epithermal and porphyry deposit styles of alteration causing mineralisation. My project was based on addressing one of these cen...Continue reading

11.01.2022 Public lecture tomorrow night: The 2018 explosive events at Kilauea Volcano: Two faces of an expensive eruption. Details on the flyer below. All welcome!!

11.01.2022 Volcanoes come in all shapes and sizes: perfectly depicted in these wonderful drawings!

09.01.2022 UTAS Superstar Volcanologist Karin Orth talking volcanoes with ABC recently. Karin and Izzy visited Sandy Bay volcano this week with our new first year undergraduate geology students. https://www.abc.net.au///drive/sandy-bay-volcano/12010168

09.01.2022 On Thursday 17th of October at 6 PM, CODES Research Fellow, Dr Jonathan Cloutier will present on his work on the Lemarchant Volcanic Hosted Massive Sulfide (VHMS) deposit in Newfoundland in Canada. This deposit in hosted in Cambrian rocks, just like our western Tasmanian VHMS deposits of the Mt Read Volcanics. Come along to hear about this deposit and some of the modern techniques that Jonathan applied to characterise it. Is it really comparable to western Tasmania? Perhaps you can help us decide.

08.01.2022 We had a great time with the 3rd years on the West Coast excursion!!

07.01.2022 15 minutes of fun facts about volcanoes for kids. I had a great a great time chatting Tasmanian ancient volcanoes, sapphires, and robots to find underwater volcanoes! Thanks @abchobart.

07.01.2022 27 hi vis vests hanging on a line. Our curator Izzy does not only take good care of our rocks - she also has the great idea to wash our hi-vis vests once in a while. They will be just ready for our 'Volcanology and Mineralisation in Volcanic Terrains' Masters course in New Zealand in two weeks ! Thanks Izzy !

07.01.2022 Don’t be fooled, not all fool’s gold is the same! Reflecting on honours: Verity Kameniar-Sandery You may have thought that knowing the difference between real gold and fool’s gold was the only important distinction you needed to know if you were looking for gold in Victoria. University of Tasmania is here to tell you that not all fool’s gold is the same! Five types of pyrite the geological name for fool’s gold were found in very fine-grained sediments at Costerfield in ce...ntral Victoria. So, it is possible that there can be five types of fool’s gold, but what makes each one different from the others? Four types of pyrite were produced in sediment shortly after deposition in the Early Silurian (about 443.8 433.4 million years ago), prior to hardening of sediments to rock. Type 1 and Type 2 pyrite were made up of compact and loose spherical clusters of pyrite microcrystals (framboidal pyrite), while Type 3 and Type 4 were aggregates and single crystals containing round to angular and hexagonal to octahedral shaped pyrite respectively. Type 3 and 4 are similar to another mineral, marcasite, which is chemically the same as pyrite but structurally different, and only forms when temperatures are low (<240C) and when pH conditions of fluids flowing through spaces between grains becomes acidic (pH < 5). Type 5 pyrite was produced long after the hardening of sediments into rock in hydrothermal quartz bearing veins. Type 1 spherical clusters of very small pyrite microcrystals formed first, prior to all other pyrite types. Type 2 formed after Type 1 microcrystals, with Type 2 clusters growing from Type 1 microcrystals to form large pyrite framboids. Some of these Type 1 and Type 2 microcrystal and framboid clusters were then overprinted (where one pyrite type grows over or around another) and overgrown by aggregates of spherical to angular Type 3 pyrite. Though Type 4 pyrite did not occur in the vicinity of framboidal Types 1 and 2, it is the only early forming pyrite type to be located outside preserved worm burrows and trails preserved in very fine-grained sediments. The structure of Type 4 hexagonal to octahedral pyrite appeared to contain very small radiating crystals in its rim that can extend to the edge of its inner cloverleaf/Maltese cross shaped zone. Type 3 round to angular pyrite appeared to occur before the less common Type 4 hexagonal to octahedral pyrite. So, don’t be fooled, not all fool’s gold is the same.

07.01.2022 Earth Sciences student Chantelle Ridley at sea on the RV Investigator describing folding in volcanic rocks. Note suitably punned T-shirt!

05.01.2022 Buy your tickets before Wednesday folks!

05.01.2022 How to start a career in Earth Sciences?? Simply join our BBQs! KEA101 - Understanding Earth Systems students enjoyed a BBQ at Lower Sandy Bay Beach before their excursion around the corner to Blinking Billy Point and Darwin's Cliff.

04.01.2022 Ian McDougall Memorial Scholarship in Geology Emeritus Professor Ian McDougall, FAA was a distinguished University of Tasmanian alumnus who graduated with Honours in 1956 having majored in Geology and Chemistry. While at the University of Tasmania, Ians research directions were stimulated and encouraged by both Prof Sam Warren Carey and J C Jaeger. He was awarded an ANU PhD scholarship and studied the mineralogy and petrology of the Tasmanian dolerites. Working at ANU for hi...s entire career, Ian focussed on radiometric dating of rocks using the natural decay of a potassium isotope to argon. He built and maintained facilities recognised internationally for their excellence and for their application to major research controversies. A second major contribution was Ians dating of hominid fossil material from central Africa. His appointments at ANU included Research Fellow, Fellow, Senior Fellow, then Professor in the early 1990s. Retiring in 2000 Ian was awarded an honorary DSc from the University of Glasgow in 2009. Ians long association with the University started with his grandfather, Prof McDougall who was Professor of Law from 1908 to 1932. It is hoped this scholarship will encourage students to develop a lifelong interest in Geology. Eligibility Available to a student commencing the Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Science Catalyst Program and enrolled in units KEA101 (Understanding Earth Systems) and KEA102 (Earth Resources, Environments and Evolution) in 2020. Preference is for a student interested in completing a major in Geology. Selection will be based on academic merit and financial need. More info: https://info.scholarships.utas.edu.au/AwardDetails.aspx

04.01.2022 ANZIC Masterclass opportunity In marine geosciences. Talk to myself or Martin Jutzeler if you have questions!

04.01.2022 Big congratulations to our volcanologist Dr Rebecca Carey to have been awarded the Dorothy Hill Medal from the Australian Academy of Science, 2020! This is a huge, inspiring and very well deserved accomplishment for her research in the Earth Sciences including the reconstruction of the 2012 Havre submarine eruption. https://twitter.com/i/status/1234618236441972736 https://www.science.org.au//academy-awards-reflect-excelle

04.01.2022 For those of you who want to find out more about the volcano science that Karin and Chantelle are conducting on the RV Investigator voyage then tune in here: https://www.abc.net.au//hunt-for-coral-sea-underw/11382630 You can also track where they are in real time here: https://www.cmar.csiro.au/data/underway/ And see what sea conditions they are experiencing here: https://www.csiro.au//Marine-National-Faci/RV-Investigator... That should keep you busy!

04.01.2022 Interested in our research at CODES and Earth Sciences?? Here is our newsletter!

04.01.2022 Looks like theyve had a casualty at sea on the RV Investigator (see below). Will be sorely missed by all.