2007 Annual Report - School of Geosciences - The University of ...

Contents
Message from the Head of School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Staff List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Teaching Staff Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Research Staff Profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2007 Units of Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Grants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Honours Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Postgraduate Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
School Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Scholarships and Prizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Seminars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Field Trips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3

4
2007 represented the final year in which the
School of Geosciences was physically divided
between two buildings, the Madsen Building and
the Demountable “Baxter” Building in Codrington
Street. Several staff changes occurred in 2007
with Prof. Peter Davies, A/Prof. Deirdre Dragovich,
Prof. Iain Mason and Prof. Andrew Short retiring,
Message
from the
Head of
School
and Dr. Michael Hughes and Dr.
Julie Dickinson departing for
positions outside the university
sector.
Prof. Phil Hirsch,
A/Prof. Bill Pritchard, and Dr.
Melissa Neave were successful
in their academic promotion applications.
In 2007 the School welcomed Dr. Ana Vila-
Concejo as APDI Fellow, working on flood-tide
delta morphodynamics and shoreline implications
in Port Stephens as part of an ARC Linkage
project. A/Prof Pritchard and Dr Neave successfully
obtained funding of $325,000 from the Rural
Industries Research & Development Corporation
and the NSW Department of Primary Industries
to develop a GIS-based platform for examining
the social and environmental effects of farm
consolidation and fragmentation. This project
enabled the employment of Ms Deanne Hickey as
an Associate Lecturer in the School for 2008.
One of the traditional highlights of the year
has invariably been the month long Third Year
Geography field course (GEOS 3053/3054)
undertaken in the South Pacific in January and
February. Some 23 students went with Professor
John Connell to Vanuatu. At the last
minute plans were disrupted after the coup
in Fiji prevented the usual ‘compare and contrast’
between the two countries across a range
of themes. The military cloud had a silver lining
since for the first time it meant that there
was time to stay in two quite different villages
in the north of the main island Efate enabling
comparisons between various urban and rural
topics. On return one student almost immediately
turned around and went back to spend
two months in the capital Port Vila, undertaking
what became a First Class Fourth Year
Honours thesis on the role of microcredit for
women’s business development in Vanuatu.
In July 2007, a party of 50 people made
the journey to Broken Hill then Plumbago
Station (SA) to attend the third year Geology and
Geophysics Field Course (GEOS 3008), jointly
organized with Macquarie University. This
group, the largest in the past six years, also
included half a dozen students from the University
of Newcastle. Lithologies, structural features
and metamorphic assemblages were dutifully
recorded in field books, maps and crosssections;
all becoming more colourful as the days
went by. Most students mastered the basic skills
that make good field geologists, and even some
new geological features were discovered, including
a sheared conglomerate with spectacular
stretching lineations.

In April, students from GEOS 3511 (‘Understanding
Australia’s Regions’) travelled to Condobolin,
in Central-Western NSW, to undertake a study
of the regional retail economy, the results of
which were presented to Lachlan Shire Council.
Students also interviewed local farmers on the
social and economic impacts of the drought
(see photo below).
In 2007 total enrolments were 475 in first year
units, 257 in second year, 203 in third year and
26 in fourth year. The School had a total of 51
full time and part-time postgraduate students.
9 PhD and 1 MSc students graduated in 2007.
Total research income for the School in 2007
was $1.749 million with funding coming from a
variety of sources.
Prof Hirsch, A/Prof Pritchard and Dr Neilson
obtained $79,000 from AusAID under its Australian
Leadership Awards Fellowships (ALAF)
program, enabling three leading scholars from
Vietnam, Indonesia and India to spend three
months in the School over November 2007-
February 2008. The three visitors and the
School of Geosciences academics developed
a Working Paper on non-state regulation of
GEOS3511 students and staff in Condobolin,
in Central-Western NSW
agricultural trade, and collaborated on several
other projects as well. Dr Neilson and A/Prof
Pritchard also obtained $78,000 from the Australia-Indonesia
Governance Research Program
to undertake research on coffee cultivation in the
forest frontiers of Sumatra, in collaboration with
the University of Lampung, Indonesia.
Dr Adriana Dutkiewicz and Dr Dan Penny
were involved in a successful LIEF application
between the University of Sydney and Monash
University entitled ‘Integrated Vibrational Spectroscopic
Mapping for Archeological, Biological,
Geological, Materials, and Medical Research’. The
proposal was led by Prof. Peter Lay from the School
of Chemistry and secured $400,000 in funding
from the Australian Research Council for the
purchase of Bruker MultiRAM Raman and Bruker
FT-IR spectrometers. Among many projects, the
research facility will be used to improve our
understanding of fundamental geological
processes, identification of the earliest life
forms, studies of archaeological artifacts and
the evolution of life on Earth.
A notable and outstanding postgraduate
research achievement in 2007 was Joanne
Whittaker et al.’s paper entitled ‘Major Australian-Antarctic
plate reorganization at Hawaiian-
Emperor bend time’ published in the prestigious
journal Science. The publication resulted in an
article in Sydney Uni News, the Sydney Morning
Herald, as well as international media publicity
for the School of Geosciences in North America
and Japan.
Dr. Stephen Gale and his team’s work on the
inorganic pollution of the sediments of the
River Torrens stimulated immense media interest
and led to the State Government’s establishment
5

of the Torrens Taskforce to tackle the problems of
the river, while the City of Adelaide established
the Urban Rivers Symposium as a forum for
community debate on this issue.
Prof. Iain Mason was elected as a Fellow of the
Australian Academy of Technological Sciences
& Engineering (FTSE) in 2007, and won the
Best Paper Award in Mining Geophysics, South
African Geophysical Association AGM in Natal,
October, 2007. He also received the Australian
Society of Exploration Geophysics Grahame
Sands Award for innovation in applied geophysics
through a significant practical development
of benefit to Australian Exploration Geophysics
in November 2007.
In June 2007 (on the wettest and coldest day of
the year!) Honorary Research Fellow Dr. David
Branagan was awarded an Honorary Doctor of
Science degree from the University of Sydney.
His book ‘TW Edgeworth David: A Life’, was one
of four books short-listed for the inaugural Prime
Minister’s History Prize. Interest in Edgeworth
David’s life and work remained high and during
the year presentations were given in Sydney,
country venues and interstate. Partly funded by
the Geological Society of Australia and the History
of Geology Group (Geological Society of London),
Dr. Branagan represented the Geological
Society of Australia, and was an invited speaker
at the November meeting in London organised
by the History of Geology Group celebrating the
bicentenary of the Geological Society of London.
Dr. Branagan also authored a paper on the
authenticity of the mineral Davidite (named
in 1907 by Douglas Mawson for his mentor,
Edgeworth David, based on the introductory
presentation given at the Earth Resources Foundation
Edgeworth David Day in 2006). This was
published by the Royal Society of NSW in 2007.
As part of a Geoscience Australia project to
assess the potential of mass failures on submarine
slopes to generate tsunamis, Honorary
Research Fellow A/Prof. Jock Keene participated
in a 15-day research cruise on RV Southern
Surveyor to map, for the first time, the continental
slope off central NSW between Jervis
Bay and Newcastle. Remarkable features were
discovered including extensive areas of mass
failure along with intricate canyon systems,
volcanic peaks and ridges and fault scarps. Many
Continental shelf and slope
bathymetry off Newcastle
showing submarine canyons
meandering on the upper
continental slope along with
sediment slides and fluid
escape pockmarks and
volcanic outcrops on the
lower continental slope.
Black contours are plotted
in 500 m intervals.
Image courtesy of
Jock Keene.
6

on the canyons and fault scarps have over 1000
m of relief. The underwater landslides discovered
on this cruise are the major process of erosion on
this slope. One landslide scar, 40 km seaward of
Botany Bay, has dimensions of 10 x 20 km and
removed ~20 cubic kilometres of sediment and
rock when it failed. During 2007, A/Prof. Keene
was invited by Geoscience Australia to prepare a
synthesis of all available marine geoscience data
off the east coast of Australia for the Department
of the Envionment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
as part of its marine planning process. This was
published as a GA Record entitled ‘Sedimentology
and Geomorphology of the East Marine
Region of Australia’.
A prominent international team (UK, Thailand,
Australia) conducted an external review of the
Australian Mekong Resource Centre. The team
contacted more than 70 people worldwide and
reviewed the Centre’s work since 1997. The
team confirmed AMRC’s role as the leading international
centre dealing with issues of development
and environment in the Mekong
Region. A significant message was that the
Centre punched above its weight, having
achieved an international reputation and made
contributions in research and community outreach
on quite a modest funding base. The
review was wide-ranging, covering a number
of AMRC’s individual projects as well as the
Centre’s overall role and management. Among
the recommendations were the need to
define the Centre’s role within the University more
clearly, and the need to secure more substantial
administrative resources so that the Centre’s
Director and staff were not so overwhelmed
by the need to combine the Centre’s work with
their existing full-time commitments. The full
review report can be downloaded at http://www.
mekong.es.usyd.edu.au/publications/other/
AMRC_Review_final_report.pdf
In 2007 the Spatial Science and Innovation Unit
(SSIU) was reviewed internally. SSIU was established
in 2002 as a joint facility of the School of
Geosciences and the Archaeological Computing
Laboratory (ACL). The review highlighted the
need to coordinate spatial science within the
entire University, not only between Geosciences
and ACL. Therefore, a wider review of spatial
science, geographic information systems (GIS)
and remote sensing will be conducted.
Over the past year the marine data network
project BlueNet, represented at the University of
Sydney node by Ms Edwina Tanner and A/Prof.
Dietmar Müller, has uncovered more than one
hundred data sets which have been described
using the BlueNet standard metadata format
and submitted to the project. This project has
highlighted the need to better manage and
preserve digital data sets collected by the university
so that they can be made more readily
available for further research. A case study using
the One Tree Island Research Station is in
progress to address this issue. The study aims
to gather together all the marine data that have
been collected at One Tree Island and manage
and preserve them using the institutional
repository set up by the University’s e-research
group. This data set is of particular value as
the One Tree Island reef system is a frontier
environment in which research into climate
change scenarios can be investigated.
In 2007, the University of the Sea (UOS), a unique
ship-based training and research program for
students, was coordinated by Dr. Elaine Baker.
7

The 2007 UOS was made possible by grants
from the IOC UNESCO and the ARC Network for
Earth System Science, and support from Geoscience
Australia. The third University of the
Sea training programme took place in the Faust
Capel Basin – Lord Howe region onboard the
research vessel Tangaroa. The vessel sailed from
Wellington, New Zealand on October 8 arriving
on Lord Howe Island on October 27, departing
again on October 29 and arriving at the end of
the programme in Wellington on November
21. Twelve students and two staff joined the
scientific party from Geoscience Australia and
the New Zealand National Institute of Water &
Atmospheric Research (NIWA) to undertake a
detailed programme of habitat mapping that
included seafloor imaging and biological and
geological sampling. Geosciences Honours
student Hannah Power participated in the
cruise.
Many Earth science endeavours are tied to
space and geological time and require a
high-resolution framework for visualization,
analysis, comparisons and correlations of observations
in a palaeogeographic framework.
In 2007 the School of Geosciences was successful
in attracting a total of $1.245 million from
2007 to 2011 in National Collaborative Research
Infrastructure Development (NCRIS) funds for
the EarthByte project as part of AuScope (www.
auscope.org), whose overriding aim is to develop
the necessary infrastructure to unravel the
structure and evolution of the Australian continent.
This followed the successful establishment
of the EarthByte Research Group in 2004, led by
A/Prof. Dietmar Müller and Dr. Patrice Rey, based
on a 3-year grant from the Australian Partnership
of Advanced Computing (APAC) and a 2-year
e-research grant from the Australian Research
Council. The NCRIS funding is oriented towards
creating a Virtual Earth Observatory akin to
Google Earth, but aimed at investigating the
geological past of our planet via a ‘plate tectonic
GIS’ in which all data are attached to moving
tectonic plates through time. The ability to trace
many different data sets through geological time
is an enabling tool for simulating deep Earth
processes and frontier natural resource exploration
as well as for understanding palaeo-climates,
environments and oceanographic conditions.
A simple prototype of the free software that
currently runs on Microsoft Windows and Linux
can be downloaded from www.gplates.org.
In 2007 Australia joined the Integrated Ocean
Drilling Program (www.iodp.org), which is the
world’s largest multinational geoscience program
and includes almost all OECD countries.
A group of university science departments and
government agencies, including the School
of Geosciences, was granted $6 million over 5
years of ARC/LIEF funds, with the grouping itself
adding $2.85 million to that sum, to become
an associate member of IODP. IODP carries
out deep scientific coring around the world’s
oceans, and provides ‘ground truthing’ of
global geoscientific theories that are often
based largely on remote sensing techniques.
An Australian IODP Secretariat has
been set up at ANU to carry out overall planning
of the Australian effort, to deal with our
international partners, and to support all the
necessary travel. The ARC bid was backed by the
US National Science Foundation, and leaders of
the Japanese, European and Korean IODP groups.
Many areas of geoscience, and the microbiology
of extreme environments below the sea bed,
8

are covered by the international partnership of
IODP, and Australia will benefit from IODP’s array
of drilling vessels, which are now capable of
taking continuous cores of sediments and rocks
in almost all our marine environments up to 5
km below the seafloor. Any drilling leg in our
region leads to a huge scientific and monetary
investment by scientists from other nations in
our waters.
In September 2007, a Geoscience summit was
held at Geoscience Australia. Participants included
heads of all Geoscience Schools around Australia,
the Minerals Tertiary Education Council,
AusIMM, APPEA, Geoscience Australia, State Geological
Survey bodies and DEST. Representatives
of the Tertiary Geoscience community agreed on
the need for a national approach to address the
plight of Geoscience Schools and Departments
at Australian Universities. A series of issues was
raised and discussed on the basis of a survey of the
Geoscience enrolment and skill base conducted
by the Australian Geoscience Council.
Although there is not yet a defined National
Geoscience system, there is an urgent need
to develop a resilient Australian Geoscience
system. Economics underlying the running of
all Geoscience Schools/Departments need to
be strengthened and become multi-faceted in
the context of a need to concentrate expertise,
reward diversification and maintain research
capacity. A need was identified to develop a
strategy to address skills shortages in the minerals,
energy, water management and geosequestration
sectors and establish Geoscience Schools
that are financially viable in the long term. A
national survey showed that geoscience student
enrolments have increased 18% over the last
5 years, but all this increase has been in levels
1-3 with enrolments in Honours/level 4 declining
a further 6% over the 50% drop that occurred in
the previous decade. Output of post-graduate
degrees has remained relatively constant over the
last five years. In 2007, 171 academic staff were
engaged in some level of teaching of geoscience
whilst 198 staff were engaged in research with no
formal teaching commitment. Although student
numbers have been increasing in levels 1-3,
mechanisms to attract students to geoscience
courses are crucial to the longer term sustainability
of departments. However, it has to be
concluded that, in general, Honours and postgraduate
degrees are not attractive to students
completing their basic degrees. This matter has
to be addressed by the geoscience community.
Dietmar Müller
Head of School
9

2007 Staff List
Head of School
Prof Geoffrey Clarke, B.Sc., Ph.D. (Melb)
Metamorphic petrology, thermobarometry and field geology in East Antarctica
and New Caledonia
Professor
John Connell, B.A., Ph.D., F.A.S.S.A.
Third world development (South Pacific), cultural geography
CRC Mining Professor of Geophysics
Peter Hatherly B.Sc., Ph.D.
Mining and engineering geophysics, seismic exploration and geophysical log analysis
Associate Professors
Gavin Birch, M.Sc., Ph.D., Grad.Dip.Ind.Admin.
Source and fate of contaminant in catchments and estuaries, sediment toxicity,
environmental geochemistry
Deirdre Dragovich, M.A., Ph.D.
Arid geomorphology, weathering, environmental geomorphology
Philip Hirsch, B.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.
River basin management, natural resource governance, environment and
rural development (SE Asia)
R. Dietmar Müller, M.Sc., Diplom Kiel, Ph.D. Scripps
Analysis of tectonic plate motions, continental margin tectonics, and seafloor mapping
Bill Pritchard, B.A., Ph.D.
Economic geography, global restructuring of agriculture and food industries
Research Fellows
Elaine Baker, B.Sc., Ph.D.
Adriana Dutkiewicz, B.Sc., Ph.D.
Elizabeth Moylan B.App.Sc. (Hon), Grad. Dip. VET, Ph.D.
Jeffrey Neilson B.A., B.Sc., Ph.D
Daniel Penny, B.A. (Hons.), Ph.D.
Maria Sdrolias, B.Sc., Ph.D.
Tim Sindle, B.Eng., M.Sc.Eng.
Ana Vila-Concejo, M.Sc., Ph.D.
John You, B.Sc., Ph.D.
10

Senior Lecturers
Eleanor Bruce, B.Sc., Ph.D.
Geographical information systems (GIS),
coastal management
Peter Cowell, B.A., Ph.D.
Coastal morphodynamics
Robert Fisher, B.A. Ed., Ph.D.
Community based resource management
and development, Asia
Stephen Gale, M.A., Ph.D.
Quaternary environmental history,
sedimentary geomorphology
Thomas Hubble, M.Sc., M.App.Sci., Grad.Dip.Ed., Ph.D.
Construction geology, environmental geology,
reinforcement of soil slopes by vegetation
Phil McManus, B.A., Grad. Dip., M.E.S., Ph.D.
Sustainability, nature, urban geography
Melissa Neave, B.A., Ph.D.
Fluvial and arid zone geomorphology
Patrice Rey, B.Sc., Ph.D.
Structural geology and tectonics
Derek Wyman, B.Sc., Ph.D.
Economic geology
Lecturer
Kurt Iveson, B. Econ. (Soc. Sci.), Ph.D.
Urban and political geography
Administrative Staff
Kate Griffiths Research Assistant AMRC
Marlyn Horgan Finance and Administration
Manager
Belinda McMillen Student Liaison Officer
Lindsay Soutar Research Assistant AMRC
Grace Lei Zhang Administration and Finance
Officer
Senior Technical Officers
Nelson Cano
Graham Lloyd
Phil Manning
David Mitchell
Tom Savage
Edwina Tanner
Ivan Teliatnikov
John Twyman
Peter Zeller
Honorary Associates
Water, Sediment and
Chemical Laboratories
Manager
Senior Technical Officer
Senior Technical Officer
for Geophysics
Senior Technical Officer
Water, Sediment and
Chemical Laboratories
Manager
BlueNet Technical Officer
Senior Computer Systems
Officer
Senior Computer Systems
Officer
Microscopes
David F. Branagan, B.Sc., Ph.D.
David E. M. Chapman, M.Eng.Sc., B.A., Ph.D.
Peter J.Davies, B.Sc., Ph.D.
Deirdre Dragovich, M.A., Ph.D.
Robert Fisher, B.A., Ph.D.
Gabor Foldvary, Ph.D.
Peter Hoare, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Ronald Horvath, M.A., Ph.D.
John Hudson, M.Sc.
Michael Hughes, Ph.D.
Robert Jones, B.E., M.E., M.Sc., D.I.C., M.I.E. Aust.
Jock B. Keene, B.Ag.Ec., B.Sc., Ph.D.
Iain Mason, B.Sc. Eng., M.A., Ph.D.
Stephanie McCready, Ph.D.
Gordon Packham, B.Sc., Ph.D.
Roshanka Ranasinghe, Ph.D.
Peter Roy, B.Sc., Ph.D.
Andrew D. Short, M.A., Ph.D.
Bruce Thom, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.
Robin F. Warner, B.A., Ph.D.
Keeva Vozoff, B. Phys., M.Sc., Ph.D.
Eric Waddell, B.A., M.Sc., Ph.D.
Ted Wheelwright, D.F.C., M.A.
John You, Ph.D.
Thomas Zeng, Ph.D.
11

Teaching Staff Profiles
Gavin Birch
Gavin Birch initiated Environmental Geology at Sydney
University. His recent interests are in the source, fate and
effects of contaminants in marine, estuarine and fluvial
environments, mainly in the Sydney Harbour region. This
work involves mainly the behaviour of heavy metals, but
includes organic contaminants and nutrients in the aquatic
environment. Gavin’s specialties are in the toxicity of
marine sediments and in the chemistry and remediation of
stormwater.
Eleanor Bruce
Eleanor Bruce’s research interests are in environmental
spatial analysis and modelling. More specifically this research
has focused on examining processes of habitat loss in urban
coastal environments, the use of GIS and remote sensing
in vegetation change detection and landscape heritage
management, marine zone planning and evaluating the
impact of spatial data uncertainty in environmental decisionmaking.
Eleanor is currently working on a collaborative
ARC Linkage funded research project with UNESCO and
Department of Environment and Heritage.
Geoff Clarke
Geoff Clarke’s research addresses geological processes
critical to the formation and modification of the lower crust –
how it forms, and how and why it arrives at Earth’s surface. He
integrates natural, structural, petrographic and geochemical
studies with the results of mineral equilibria modelling to
create robust models for fundamental geological processes.
Incompatibility between geological and human time-scales,
and the impossibility of accessing the inner Earth, mean that
the most geological processes cannot be observed directly
or completely recreated in the laboratory - only the endproducts
are seen. The ability to make progress in these
studies thus relies on critical observation of natural examples
and developing new techniques to move beyond observing
the end-point geological evidence to resolve long-standing
problems. Clarke’s recent work focuses on two themes: (i)
mechanisms for melt migration and ascent through the
lower crust, a key process in the chemical differentiation
of Earth to form continents; and (ii) changes in oceanic
basalts consequent to their subduction (burial to mantle
conditions), the main process by which Earth loses heat.
John Connell
John Connell’s principal research interests are concerned
with political, economic and social development in less
developed countries, especially in the South Pacific region
and in other small island states. Much of this research is
currently oriented to issues of rural development, migration
(especially of skilled health workers) and inequality. A second
research theme is on decolonisation and nationalism, with
particular reference to New Caledonia. More recently, he has
been working on cultural geography, especially of music,
food, tourism and rural change in New South Wales. He has
published two books on the geography of music, and in 2008
published books on the International Migration of Heath
Workers (Routledge, 2008) and, with Barbara Rugendyke
(UNE), Tourism at the Grassroots. Villages and Visitors in the
Asia-Pacific (Routledge, 2008)
Peter Cowell
Peter Cowell’s research interests are in the geomorphology of
coasts and continental shelves and specifically, the nature of
change in coastal landforms and the processes responsible
for such change (coastal morphodynamics). The research
involves combined use of field data and computer modelling
to yield information that is otherwise unattainable, with the
application of formal methods for managing uncertainty.
This approach is applied to estimation of sediment transport
and coastal change relevant to coastal management and
coastal impacts of climate change, as well as to geological
exploration. Research is being undertaken on four continents
in collaboration with other coastal scientists from Australia,
Europe and the Americas. This has focused on coasts
(involving clastic sand and mud deposits), but also includes
behaviour of sand islands on coral atolls.
Deirdre Dragovich
Deirdre Dragovich’s current research in environmental
geomorphology includes the development, persistence
and dating implications of desert varnish, especially in
relation to aboriginal rock engravings; and the nature and
rate of deterioration of (stone) historical buildings in the
urban environment, where surface loss may be accelerated
by visitor impacts and pollution. Research is also continuing
on dryland salinity and on erosion following bushfires in
temperate and subalpine areas of NSW.
Bob Fisher
Bob Fisher is an anthropologist. His PhD research was a
study of human ecology, focusing on strategies for adapting
to drought in the Thar Desert in Rajasthan. He specialises in
social and political ecological aspects of natural resource
management, particularly involving community forestry.
After working in Nepal with the then Nepal-Australia
Forestry Project in the late 1980s, he taught at the University
of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, before becoming Deputy
Director of the Regional Community Forestry Training
Center in Bangkok from 1997 to 2001. He has done research
or consultancies in a number of countries, including
Mozambique, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Laos,
Vietnam and Cambodia. Teaching interests focus on social
and political aspects of natural resource management.
Stephen Gale
Stephen Gale has research interests in Quaternary
environmental history, human environmental impact during
the late Holocene, long-term geomorphic evolution and
sedimentary geomorphology. He has worked in glaciated,
karstic and alpine terrains, and, more recently, in semiarid
and lacustrine environments. He is currently using
sedimentological techniques to shed new light on the early
colonial history of Australia.
12

Peter Hatherly
Peter is an exploration geophysicist with research interests
directed towards understanding the geological settings of
ore deposits (coal and metalliferous) and how this information
can be used to operate mines more safely and productively.
His prime interests concern seismic and logging techniques
but he has worked with many other geophysical techniques.
Within CRC Mining, he coordinates a number of projects in
mining geophysics which involve researchers from a number
of universities and external organisations.
Philip Hirsch
Philip Hirsch has research interests in natural resource
management, rural change and the politics of environment
in Southeast Asia, notably Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and
Vietnam and the wider Mekong Region. He is involved with
collaborative field projects in each country. Specific interests
include water governance, river basin management,
deforestation, environmental impact of development,
rural social differentiation and agrarian change, the role of
NGOs in development, resource tenure, changing relations
between village and state, and community-based natural
resource management. Recent and current research work
includes projects on water resources management and
governance in Cambodia, land tenure systems in Laos, and
agrarian transitions in Southeast Asia.
Tom Hubble
Tom Hubble’s research has been mainly in the field of
engineering and environmental geology. Current research
projects and interests include: the characterisation of the
mass collapse mechanisms on the Hawkesbury-Nepean
River; the evaluation of the stabilising mechanisms that
trees and their root systems develop in soil slopes; and
the development and implementation of quality control
protocols for dimension stone. He is currently a Pro-Dean in
the Faculty of the Science, received an Australian College of
Educators Quality Teaching Award (NSW) in 2004 and is a
co-author of a textbook developed for the NSW HSC course
in Earth and Environmental Science.
Kurt Iveson
Kurt is primarily interested in the relationship between
cities and citizenship. He is currently engaged in two
research projects within this broad theme. The first project
is concerned with the urban dimensions of being ‘public’.
This research explores the ways in which activities such as
‘hanging out’, political protest, cruising, and graffiti writing
have produced new styles of public discourse in and
through the city. The second project is concerned with
urban planning practice, and asks how it might better blend
views about spatial equity with views of the worth of social
diversity and the importance of encounter in urban life. This
research is being conducted jointly with Prof Ruth Fincher
(University of Melbourne).
Kurt is also interested in geographies of music. He has done
some research into hip hop in Sydney, and is currently working
on a project with Dave Theak (Sydney Conservatorium)
looking at the geography of the Sydney jazz scene.
Phil McManus
Phil McManus’ research integrates urban and environmental
issues. His research into sustainable cities includes urban
forestry, industrial ecology, perceptions of nature in urban
environmental issues and urban environmental history.
His research in environmental geography includes
thoroughbred breeding and the uses of nature, science
and tradition. To date this work has been focused on the
Upper Hunter region of NSW, but is now being extended
internationally. Phil’s interest on the construction and
transgression of urban and rural divides includes research
with John Connell at Country Week Expo. He is also involved,
along with Bill Pritchard, in research looking at social,
economic and environmental changes in farming practices
and in small towns in dryland agricultural regions.
Dietmar Müller
Dietmar Müller’s research is focussed on global and
regional Earth system problems by linking onshore and
offshore observations based on geophysical/geological
data and kinematic/dynamic process modelling, exploring
the possibilities of the emerging area of e-geoscience.
He founded the international EarthByte project (www.
earthbyte.org) which aims at building the infrastructure for a
virtual geological observatory through the GPlates software
consortium. He has spearheaded the concept of “Exploration
Geodynamics”, i.e., the use of geodynamic modelling as
a resource exploration tool. Related work includes the
modelling of current and palaeo-stress fields of the Indo-
Australian Plate, linked to stratigraphy and fault analysis from
seismic data, and tying basin-scale observations to models
of mantle convection and lithospheric deformation.
Melissa Neave
Melissa Neave is a fluvial geomorphologist with specific
research interests in biophysical interactions in fluvial
systems. The aim of this research is to identify links between
biological process functioning (including humans as
biological agents) and landscape evolution with the ultimate
goal of minimizing degradation in disturbed environments.
Melissa is currently working on two collaborative projects
aimed at improving human decision-making with respect
to the natural environment. The first of these investigates
links between farm fragmentation and consolidation and
the environmental management of farmlands in Australia—
specifically with respect to soil erosion. The second project
considers the environmental consequences of expanding
water resource development in the Mekong River catchment
in Cambodia.
Bill Pritchard
Bill Pritchard is an economic geographer with primary
research interests in globalization, especially as it relates to
food and agriculture. His research has produced a series of
analyses of how globalization is affecting individual agrifood
sectors (including tropical products, horticulture,
livestock and dairy) as well as the institutional aspects of
agri-food globalization, especially with respect to the WTO.
As an economic geographer, he has an abiding interest in
how these processes affect individual regional economies,
13

oth in Australia and in the Asia-Pacific. During the past five
years he has been a Chief Investigator on four ARC Discovery
grants, a major research project funded by the Rural
Industries Research & Development Corporation, and from
2005-06 was Chief Investigator for the Building Institutional
Capacity in Asia project funded by the Japanese Ministry of
Finance. Recent publications include Agri-food Globalisation
in Perspective (2003, Ashgate, with David Burch), Developing
Regional Australia (2003, UNSW Press, with Andrew Beer
and Alaric Maude) and Cross-continental Food Chains
(2005, edited, Routledge, with Niels Fold). Bill is a member
of the ARC Research Network on Spatially Integrated Social
Science, and from 2003-06 was convenor of the Australian
and New Zealand Agri-Food Research Network.
Patrice Rey
Patrice is a tectonicist interested in the evolution of the
continental lithosphere through tectonic processes, and the
evolution of tectonic processes through time. His research
activities are therefore problem-driven and process-oriented,
and supported by research strategies involving quantitative
multidisciplinary approaches, based on field work, numerical
modelling and physical modelling. Patrice produced work
on the seismic reflectivity of ductile shear zones in the crust.
In the last five years he has been investigating the tectonics
processes that have shaped the surface of the early Earth in
the Archaean era (4.03 to 2.5 Ga).
Andrew Short
Andy Short is interested in the processes and morphology
of coastal systems. In 2007 he completed the last in a series
of seven books covering on all 11,000 Australian beach
systems and now is finishing off a book on the Coast of
Australia. He is also examining the size, nature and stability
of the nations 2500 coastal barrier systems, as well as local
through regional barrier sediment budgets. Locally his long
term beach monitoring at Narrabeen enters its 32nd year,
enhanced in 2004 with Linkage grant support for video
imaging and regular DGPS surveys and he is involved in a
Linkage funded project examining the morphodynamics
of the Port Stephens flood tide delta in collaboration with
state and local government partners. Since 1991 he has
been National Co-ordinator of the Australian Beach Safety
and Management Program in co-operation with Surf Life
Saving Australia. He is also Deputy Chair of National Surfing
Reserves Australia, which in 2007 dedicated the Angourie
reserve.
Derek Wyman
In 2007, Derek expanded his studies of Archean diamond
deposits of the Superior Province craton, Canada through
the initiation of collaborative studies with Peter Hollings
(Lakehead University) on diamond occurrences over a
wide area. A paper (with C. O’Neill and J. Ayer) examining
the significance of the diamond-bearing lamprophyres in
the context of Earth’s tectonic evolution was accepted for
publication in the Geological Society of America Special
Paper 440 entitled “When did plate tectonics begin on
Planet Earth?” Derek also continued studies of Archean
terranes with Prof Robert Kerrich (U. Saskatchewan),
resulting in the submission of two more manuscripts. Derek
continued and expanded collaborative research with Prof.
Wang Qiang (Guangzhou Inst. Geochemistry) in Chinese
tectonics and magmatism with a 21 day field trip to China
and the publication of 3 joint papers and the acceptance
of 2 more papers in major journals. Derek also supervised a
2007 Honours study of Neoproterozoic copper deposits in
the Adelaide Geosyncline, South Australia.
Research Staff Profiles
Elaine Baker
Elaine is the director of the UNEP Shelf Programme at the
University of Sydney. This programme is an initiative of GRID
Arendal in Norway and was established to assist coastal
states in preparing submissions for extended continental
shelf under the United Nations Law of the Sea. Elaine is
working with colleagues from Geoscience Australia and
SOPAC to assist countries in the South West Pacific with this
task. Elaine is also the director of the University of the Sea
Secretariat. The University of the Sea is a partnership between
the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales,
the University of Technology Sydney, the Australian National
University, the University of Tokyo, the Korean Ocean
Research and Development Institute, Tongji University
China, the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans
Canada, the National Institute of Oceanography Goa, the
Indonesian Research Centre for Marine Technology and the
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO
- http://www.usims.org.usyd.edu.au/floating.html
James Boyden
James Boyden is a software developer with a background in
computer science and mathematics. His research interests
include scientific visualisation, computational geometry and
data structures for geographic information systems. He was
one of the two programmers who created the first version
of the GPlates plate-tectonics visualisation software (www.
gplates.org) under the direction of Dietmar Müller. James
is currently working within the EarthByte project (www.
earthbyte.org) as the lead software architect of GPlates and
the lead programmer of the University of Sydney GPlates
development team.
James Clark
James is a programmer and information model developer.
He currently works within the EarthByte project to develop
the GPlates Markup Language (GPML), which is designed
to become the cornerstone of a web-based virtual plate
tectonic observatory. GPML will allow the integration of a
plate tectonic Data Model into the international Geographic
Markup Language standard.
14

Adriana Dutkiewicz
Adriana’s current research projects exploit Archaean
and Proterozoic oil-bearing fluid inclusions and their
geochemical compositions, including biomarkers, to
constrain hydrocarbon-ore fluid interactions, the pressuretemperature
conditions under which they co-exist, the
diversity of the primordial biosphere and the nature of life’s
earliest habitats. Biomarkers extracted from oil inclusions
may even constrain the ages of branch points on the
phylogenetic tree of life. Her most recent research has
focused on Precambrian basins in Australia, Canada and
Africa.
Elizabeth (Bess) Moylan
Bess is currently employed as a research associate on the ARC
funded “Living with Heritage” project. Her research involves
developing spatial representations to investigate Heritages
issues relating to Cultural Landscapes. Spatio-temporal
models are being used to explore and monitor landscape
change and the application of GIS for Heritage and Natural
Resource Management.
Jeff Neilson
Jeff’s research focuses on the geography of tropical
agriculture and commodity trade. This interest is explored
through the application of global value chain analyses to
products grown by communities in South and Southeast
Asia. During 2007, Jeff completed a Post-doctoral fellowship
as part of the ARC Discovery Project: Traceability and
developing countries’ agriculture, which involved case-studies
of the cocoa, coffee and tea industries in both Indonesia and
India. The major output from this project is a co-authored
a book, Value Chain Struggles, to be published by Blackwell
UK and to be released in late 2008. He is a collaborating
scientist on the ACIAR-funded research project: Improving
cocoa production through farmer involvement in
demonstration trials of potentially superior and pest/
disease resistant genotypes and integrated management
practices, where he is investigating household decisionmaking
processes amongst Indonesian cocoa farmers. Also
in 2007, Jeff led an ACIAR Small Research Activity: Securing
the profitability of the Toraja and Flores coffee industries.
Dan Penny
Dan Penny’s major research interests include long-term
environmental change and variability in Indochina,
particularly monsoon variability and plant biogeography. The
interaction between people and the natural environment is a
particular focus of interest. Dan is currently investigating the
demise of Angkor, Cambodia, using micro-palaeontological
techniques (pollen and spores from higher plants and ferns
respectively, and algae, particularly diatoms). Angkor was
capital to a sprawling medieval empire that encompassed
much of the Indochinese peninsula between the 9th and
sometime after the 15th Century AD. The research seeks to
explore the timing of and reasons for Angkor’s decline and
eventual collapse.
Maria Sdrolias
Maria is an EarthByte ARC research fellow who is working on
global models and databases for the evolution of the ocean
basins. She is particularly interested in subduction and
back-arc basin processes, including deciphering the origin
of major plate tectonic events and their manifestation in the
geological record.
Tim Sindle
Tim is a researcher associated with the ARCO / CRC Mining
funded borehole radar geophysical imaging project. His
current research interests include electronic hardware,
firmware and support tools to develop and create borehole
radars that are designed to change the way in which the
mining industry operates in preventing blind mining. He
also has an interest in the trajectory logging of boreholes
using magnetic and other means to accurately place
geological core and geophysics logs within the 3D mining
environment. Trials and testing are ongoing in Canada,
Australia and South Africa.
Edwina Tanner
Edwina Tanner’s main area of interest is in the field of marine
science with a focus on climate change. She is currently
involved in a research project that will model the effect of
ocean nourishment on marine ecosystems, CO2 uptake and
artesian fishing communities. Edwina is involved in a number
of research initiatives one of which is using One Tree Island
as a case study for the better management of marine data.
Ana Vila-Concejo
Ana is interested in the processes and morphology of
coastal systems. Her career started in Spain, where she
did her undergraduate and MSc studying urban beaches;
and Portugal, where she completed her PhD investigating
the short and medium term evolution of tidal inlets in a
barrier island system. At present, Ana is looking into the
morphodynamics of flood-tide deltas in wave-dominated
coasts within the framework of an ARC funded linkage
project. Other areas of interest are coastal erosion and
hazards including consequences of climate change. Ana
is a keen fieldworker and has experience in acquiring and
processing hydrodynamic, topographic and bathymetric
data. Ana has also worked with fluorescent tracers for
studying sediment transport processes. She is also using
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a tool to analyse
recent and present data.
John You
John is an EarthByte ARC Senior Research Fellow. His primary
interests are physical oceanography, paleoceanography
and climate change over geological time periods. He
has been the driving force behind porting the National
Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Land
Model coupled to the NCAR Community Atmosphere and
Ocean Model to the Australian Partnership for Advanced
Computing (APAC) supercomputer. John initiated an
international ocean climate program, PACSWIN (Indonesian
Throughflow: PACific Source Water INvestigation), for long
term monitoring of the Indonesain Throughflow and global
climate change. He won the ‘First Korea Brain Pool Program’
professorship, for one year from September 1, 2007, and
has started work at the Research Institute of Oceanography,
Seoul National University.
15

GEOS1001 Earth, Environment & Society
GEOS1901 Earth, Environment & Society (Advanced)
Dr Tom Hubble, Dr Mel Neave, Dr Bill Pritchard
This Unit of Study examined interactions between the
physical Earth and the activities of its growing population
of human inhabitants. Several themes were explored to
provide students with an overview of the way that the
earth’s physical systems have come into being and how
they function. Firstly, past geological events were used to
illustrate how habitats and ecosystems respond to
environmental crises. Secondly, models of environmental
and climate change were examined. Thirdly, the requirements
of growing human populations and their ecological
footprints were investigated. These three themes were then
integrated to enable students to think critically about the
key issues facing the future of the planet, and provide a
foundation for future studies in geography and geology.
GEOS1002 Introduction to Geography
GEOS1902 Introduction to Geography (Advanced)
Dr Mel Neave, Dr Kurt Iveson
This Unit of Study provided an introductory geographical
analysis of the ways in which places and landscapes are
produced. The Unit focused on both the physical and
human processes that generate spatial variation and
difference, as well as tracing the interactions between
these processes. The Unit began with an investigation
of Earth’s surface features, exploring the distribution of
landforms across Earth and interpreting their evolutionary
histories. Several landscapes were examined including
those formed by rivers, wind, oceans and glaciers.
But physical landscapes evolve under the influence of and
affect human operations. Therefore, the Unit of Study also
considered the political, economic, cultural and urban
geographies which shape contemporary global society.
Each of these themes were discussed with reference to
key examples, in order to consider the ways in which the
various processes (both physical and human) interact in
the shaping of places. The Unit of Study also included short
field trips to localities surrounding the university to observe
processes of spatial change and conflict. The Unit of Study
is designed to attract and interest students who wish to
pursue geography as a major within their undergraduate
degree, but also has relevance to students who wish
to consider the way geographers understand the
contemporary world.
GEOS1003 Introduction to Geology
GEOS1903 Introduction to Geology (Advanced)
Dr Tom Hubble, Prof Clarke
The aim of this Unit of Study was to examine the chemical
and physical processes involved in mineral formation,
the interior of the Earth, surface features, sedimentary
environments, volcanoes, and metamorphism. Lectures
and laboratory sessions on mountain building processes
and the formation of mineral deposits lead to an
understanding of the forces controlling the geology of
16
2007 Units of Study
our planet. Processes such as weathering, erosion and the
nature of sedimentary environments are related to the
origin of the Australian landscape. In addition to laboratory
classes there was a two-day excursion to the western Blue
Mountains and Lithgow to examine geological objects in
their setting.
GEOL1501 - Engineering Geology
Dr Tom Hubble
This is the Intermediate core Unit of Study for the degree
in Project Engineering and Management (Civil). Course
objectives were to introduce basic geology to civil
engineering students. The expected outcomes included
students developing an appreciation of geologic
processes as they influence civil engineering works and
acquire knowledge of the most important rocks and
minerals and be able to identify them. The syllabus covered
Geological concepts relevant to civil engineering and the
building environment; Introduction to minerals; igneous,
sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, their occurrence,
formation and significance. There was also a general
introduction to physical geology and geomorphology,
structural geology, plate tectonics, and hydrogeology.
Associated laboratory work on minerals, rocks and mapping.
GEOS2111 Natural Hazards: a GIS approach
GEOS2911 Natural Hazards: a GIS approach
(Advanced)
Dr Eleanor Bruce and others
The geosciences provide an essential framework for
understanding the environmental response to short and
long-term geologic, oceanic and atmospheric processes.
This Unit of Study introduced students to a variety of
natural phenomena that affect society with impact levels
ranging from nuisance to disastrous. The discussion of each
hazard focused on: (1) the process mechanics, (2) hazards
and risk, and (3) methods for mitigation. Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) are used by scientists, planners,
policy-makers and the insurance industry alike to address
many issues relating to natural hazards. This Unit of Study
introduced students to the major concepts relating to GIS
and provided practical experience in the application of
GIS techniques to hazard mapping, risk assessment and
mitigation.
GEOS2112 Economic Geography of Global
Development
GEOS2912 Economic Geography of Global
Development (Advanced)
Dr Bill Pritchard, A/Prof Phil Hirsch
In this Unit of Study, students were introduced to the
sub-discipline of economic geography by way of debates
on the spatial character of global development. The focus
of questions relating to who are the winners and losers
from contemporary patterns of global economic change.
This included the analysis of relevant conceptual approaches
to these questions (including comparative advantage,

global commodity chain theory, regionalism, economic
governance etc), plus ‘hands-on’ examination of the key
institutions (such as the WTO and ADB) driving these
changes. In general, issues were tailored to themes being
played out in Asia-Pacific countries. Students were expected
to participate in a variety of practical class exercises
throughout the semester, which included presenting the
fruits of independent research activities. This unit provides
an especially relevant feeder-unit into GEOS 3053/ GEOS
3054, the Asia-Pacific Field School.
GEOS2113 Making the Australian Landscape
Dr Stephen Gale
The arid, ancient and often inhospitable Australian
landscape is the product of 4000 million years of complex
evolution. The continent possesses the oldest materials
so far discovered on Earth and supports landforms whose
origins can be traced back almost a thousand million years.
Yet its aridity and its vegetation are of relatively recent
origin, and its climates and environments have taken on
a recognisably modern form only in the last 10 000 years.
Even more recent have been the impacts of human activity.
Yet both the pre-European and the European occupants
have utterly transformed the environment, making the
changes of the last millennia perhaps the most dramatic
that the Australian landscape has experienced.
GEOS2114 Volcanoes, Hot Rocks, and Minerals
GEOS2914 Volcanoes, Hot Rocks, and Minerals
(Advanced)
Dr Derek Wyman, Dr Patrice Rey, Dr Geoff Clarke
This Unit of Study related the plate tectonics of
subduction zones to (1) volcanoes and their hazards,
(2) geological processes in the deep crust, and (3) the
formation of precious metal and gemstone ores around
the Pacific Rim. A problem solving approach was used to
develop the skills required to understand the history of
individual volcanoes and predict their future activity and
hazards. The Unit included a two to three-day field trip to
study an extinct volcano in NSW. Practical work included
independent study of igneous systems, rocks, and minerals
employing both microscope-based techniques and
computer modelling. The unit provided relevant
knowledge for GEOS 3006 and GEOS 3906, Mineral
Deposits & Spatial Data Analysis.
MARS2005 - Global Oceans
MARS2905 - Global Oceans (Advanced)
Dr Peter Cowell
This Unit was split into two sections: physical and
geological oceanography. Major physical oceanography
topics included the physical and chemical properties of
ocean water, ocean circulation, waves and tides. Major
geological oceanography topics included the origins
and geological history of ocean basins, ocean volcanism,
sediments and continental margins. Both the regional
oceanography and continental shelf of Australia were
emphasised. Although this was principally a lecture-based
course, students received feedback their understanding
of the course content through regular assignments and
six tutorials. The learning outcome expected at the end
of the course was a broad knowledge of the fundamental
concepts in physical and geological oceanography, and
their particular relevance to the Australasian region. This
provided the necessary background for senior-level Marine
Science courses in which students learnt more advanced
concepts, and also become involved in the practical and
field-based aspects of marine science. This is a qualifying
unit for some Senior Marine Science Units.
GEOS2121 Environmental & Resource Management
GEOS2921 Environmental & Resource Management
(Advanced)
Dr Phil McManus
This Unit of Study explored cultural constructions of nature
and resources, the evolution of environmental thought and
the debates about sustainable development. It integrated
environmental, economic, cultural and social considerations,
with particular regard to water, mining, forestry and
fishing industries in Australia and other countries. The
Unit included a fieldtrip to the Hunter Valley to look at
geological and geographical issues pertaining to mines,
wines and the thoroughbred breeding industries in this
region. The Unit of Study enabled students to learn about
the economics of resource extraction and the social,
cultural and environmental considerations that must be
taken into account when developing and implementing
environmental and resource management policies.
GEOS2122 Urban Geography
GEOS2922 Urban Geography (Advanced)
Prof John Connell, Dr Kurt Iveson
By their very nature, cities are full of different people doing
all sorts of different things. These activities all have their
own geographies – people make the most of urban spaces
available to them, and they shape and produce new kinds
of cities through their actions. These urban geographies
are unstable and contested. In fact, efforts to shape urban
spaces in particular ways are fundamentally dynamic and
political. This Unit of Study examined the politics of a range
of different practices which use and shape urban space
– such as shopping, eating, crime, religion, language,
protest, sport, music, sex, mobility, and hanging out.
In considering these various practices, we investigated
how different people perceive space and construct space,
primarily in western contexts. The Unit as a whole sought
to understand the cultural and political dimensions of
everyday life in cities, and to develop new perspectives
on metropolitan change.
GEOS2124 Fossils and Tectonics
GEOS2924 Fossils and Tectonics (Advanced)
A/Prof Dietmar Müller, Dr Patrice Rey, Prof Peter Hatherly
This Unit aimed to convey how fossils, stratigraphic and
structural data are used together to determine ages and
environments and the deformation history of rock layers.
It covered an introduction to historical geology and the
evolution of the major fossils groups. Methods of
stratigraphic age determination included litho-, bio-,
chemo-, magneto- stratigraphy, as well as radiometric
17

geochronology and the stratigraphic characteristics of the
main geological time intervals. Structural methods
are focused on brittle deformation in the upper crust and
sediments. Students gained familiarity with the most
important fossil groups and how to identify them, and
with the most important types of faults and folds. The
formation of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas was also
covered in an earth history and resource exploration
context. The simultaneous use of fossils, stratigraphy and
structure to unravel the geological history of a set of
exposed rock layers was demonstrated during a field
excursion to Yass.
GEOG2321 Fluvial and Groundwater
Geomorphology
Dr Melissa Neave and Dr Willem Vervoort
This Unit of Study provided an introduction to the
fundamentals of fluvial geomorphology (the study of
surface water as an agent of landscape change) and
groundwater hydrology. The fluvial geomorphology section
of the Unit described the movement of water in stream
channels and investigated the landscape change
associated with that movement. Topics covered included
open channel flow hydraulics, sediment transport
processes and stream channel morphology. Practical work
focused on the collection and analysis of field data. The
quantity and quality of the groundwater resources are
closely linked to geology and fluvial geomorphology.
The groundwater section of this unit was based around
four common groundwater issues: contamination,
extraction, dryland salinity and groundwater-surface
water interaction. In the practical component, common
groundwater computer models such as FLOWTUBE and
MODFLOW were used to further explore these problems.
MARS2006 Marine Ecosystems and Geomorphology
MARS2906 Marine Ecosystems and Geomorphology
(Advanced)
Dr Adele Pile, Assoc. Prof Roz Hinde and Dr Peter Cowell
This Unit was split into two sections: marine ecosystems
and coastal geomorphology. The marine ecosystem section
describes some of the ways that the properties of the
oceans affect marine organisms. It also introduced coral
reefs and other marine ecosystems, together with their
productivity, biological oceanography, the reproductive
biology of marine organisms, and marine biological
resources. The second section provided an introduction
to coastal geomorphology by examining the geographic
variability of coasts as the sum effect of variations in
terrestrial, climatic and oceanographic factors. These factors
were introduced in terms of the main physical processes
(geology, sea-level, waves, tides, winds) governing coastal
geomorphology on a range of space-time scales.
Geographic variation in the physical processes was
illustrated by reference to the local coast: i.e., Sydney.
The illustration was amplified by drawing comparisons
with other parts of SE Australia, and with overseas
examples (especially from coastal environments very
different to that of Sydney).
MARS2007 - Marine Science Field School
Prof Andy Short
Marine Scientists are generally involved in a wide variety of
fieldwork throughout their careers. A detailed knowledge
of field methods and techniques is therefore a necessary
component in the education of marine scientists. This
unit of study introduced students to a range of field issues
within the coastal and marine environment during a 5 day
field school held prior to commencement of lectures in
Semester 1. Many of the field methods focused on were
generic across the marine disciplines. In addition,
techniques specific to the disciplines of Biological Sciences
and Geosciences were taught. Students were expected to
participate in a hands-on way, undertaking small projectbased
data collection exercises during the field school.
This data provided resources for the practical part of the
course undertaken during semester. This unit of study
was only available to students in the Bachelor of Science
(Marine Science).
GEOS3003 The Dynamics of Continents and Basins
GEOS3903 The Dynamics of Continents and Basins
(Advanced)
A/Prof Dietmar Müller and Dr Patrice Rey
The Earth’s crust hosts mineral and energy resources that
have sustained our civilisation over the past five thousand
years. These resources are formed along plate boundaries
and in sedimentary basins. They are the by-products of
dynamic and thermal processes that have affected the
lithosphere since its formation in the Archaean. This Unit
focused on the understanding the thermal and mechanical
aspects of lithospheric deformation and basin formation
and evolution. The main topics of this module included:
mantle convection, oceanic lithospheric evolution, heat
transfer in the lithosphere; isostasy and vertical motion
of the Earth’s surface; plate boundaries, body forces and
the dynamic of the Earth’s lithosphere; rheology of the
lithosphere; continental break-up and the formation of
continental margins and basins; thermo-mechanics of
sedimentary basins; thermo-mechanics of orogenesis;
and thermal consequences and tectonic feedback of
geodynamic processes. Practical classes were designed
to enhance computational and communication skills as
well as building a profound knowledge in Tectonics and
Geodynamics. The Unit was relevant to all students
interested in using computational methods to learn how
the Earth works.
GEOS3007 Remote Sensing: Imaging the Earth
GEOS3907 Remote Sensing: Imaging the Earth
(Advanced)
Prof Geoff Clarke and Dr Derek Wyman
This Unit of Study initially addressed the evolution of
the Australian landscape, involving tectonic influences,
long-term climate variation and the effects of bedrock
weathering. The Unit then provided a comprehensive
introduction to the use and manipulation of computerbased
imaging techniques at the microscopic to
macroscopic scales in the Earth Sciences. The application
of image analysis as a tool in the interpretation of remote
18

sensing techniques to geological terrains and landscapes
was covered in computer-based practical exercises that
use a mixture of Landsat thematic mapper, airborne
radiometric and magnetic databases. Integrated lectures
and laboratory exercises focused on the use of processed
images in mineral exploration, tectonic analysis, and
environmental studies.
GEOS3009 Coastal Environments and Processes
GEOS3909 Coastal Environments and Processes
(Advanced)
Prof Andy Short and Dr Ana Vila-Concejo
Australian coastal environments are dynamic systems
responding to input sediments and processes as well
as solid boundary conditions. The first half of this Unit
focused on high-energy wave and wind dominated coastal
systems; in particular the beach-surf zone, dunes and
barriers, including their Holocene/Quaternary evolution.
The regional impact of waves, tides, embayments, and
other environmental parameters in controlling morphology
were addressed. The second half of this Unit focused on
the smaller-scale processes controlling beach-surf zone
morphology. In particular, how waves and currents drive
beach and bar morphodynamics via sediment transport.
The practical program used real data sets collected
during recent research programs and during a weekend
field excursion, and they addressed issues specifically
relevant to Australia’s coastline.
GEOS3017 Global Energy
GEOS3917 Global Energy (Advanced)
Prof Peter Davies (Coordinator) and Dr Gavin Birch
This Unit was aimed at geoscientists, biologists,
environmental and marine scientists who are interested in
the energy resources, particularly in the context of the
evolution of coral reefs and how they have been affected
by changing short and long-term environmental
conditions. This interdisciplinary Unit provided an
introduction to offshore energy and coral reefs and
explored the complex system in relation to geology,
biology and ecology as well as the oceanographic setting.
The Unit acquainted students with tools currently being
used in the industry and was underpinned by modern
concepts of basin architecture and petroleum economics.
Exploration techniques included the principals and practice
of electrical logging, source rock evaluation and reservoir
quality assessment. The controlling influence of basin
architecture was examined in terms of critical factors such
as hydrocarbon source, migration and entrapment are
used to demonstrate climatic and tectonic control.
Students also became familiar with the factors and
processors that control the structure, morphology,
sediments and distribution of coral reefs and how they
function as part of larger ecosystem. The Unit is based
on problem solving by groups and is underpinned by
closely integrating geology, geophysics, marine science
and economics. The theoretical base developed in course
work was used to solve a real-world exploration case study,
using petroleum industry techniques and by simulating an
economically competitive environment. The Unit included
a 5 day field trip to the Great Barrier Reef.
GEOS3018 Rivers: Science, Policy and Management
GEOS3918 Rivers: Science, Policy and
Management (Advanced)
Dr Melissa Neave
This Unit of Study was concerned with understanding the
functioning of river catchments from both natural science
and social science perspectives, at a variety of scales.
The catchment as a morphodynamic process-response
system was addressed with an emphasis on the
relationships between processes and landform entities.
Similarly, relationships within social, economic and
political systems were explored within the catchment
context, with particular emphasis on the interactions
between the social system and bio-physical system.
Empirical context for the unit was primarily drawn from
the Murray-Darling, Mekong, and Hawkesbury-Nepean
catchments. Fieldwork in the latter was integral to the
Unit of Study.
GEOS3511 Understanding Australia’s Regions
GEOS3911 Understanding Australia’s Regions
(Advanced)
Dr Bill Pritchard
Regional difference in Australia is becoming more acute.
This has major implications for the life chances and economic
prospects of people across Australia. This Unit of
Study examined these issues, using extensive case study
material and introduced students to new approaches in
regional development theory to account for and explain
this state of affairs. A non-compulsory field trip of
approximately five days duration to rural Australia was a
component of this unit (students who could not or who
did not wish to attend the trip completed an alternative
assignment.) This Unit provided students with a solid
grounding for graduate employment or further studies in
the field of regional development.
GEOS3512 Contemporary Global Geographies
GEOS3912 Contemporary Global Geographies
(Advanced)
Prof John Connell
This Unit of Study provided students with detailed
exposure to contemporary thematic areas of human
geography research. It sought to apply the conceptual
material introduced in intermediate human geography
Units of Study to ‘real-life’ research problems, as a platform
for engaging students with research issues, frameworks,
conceptual debates, methods, and problem-solving
techniques. In 2007 the content of this Unit of Study
involved assessment of the geographical implications of
tourism. Lectures and practical classes covered relevant
conceptual and methodological issues, and involved
economic, cultural, political and environmental themes.
It primarily focused on Australia and the Asia-Pacific
region.
19

GEOS3053 Asia-Pacific Field Schoo l- Assessment A
GEOS3953 Asia-Pacific Field School - Assessment A
(Advanced)
GEOS3054 Asia-Pacific Field School - Assessment B
GEOS3954 Asia-Pacific Field School - Assessment B
(Advanced)
A/Prof Phil Hirsch, Prof John Connell
The Assessment A Units could be taken only in conjunction
with GEOS 3054 and the Assessment B Units in conjunction
with GEOS 3513. (All required prior permission from the
Unit of Study co-ordinator). All Units constituted a Field
School run over a five week period in January-February,
prior to the commencement of the semester. In 2007 the
Field School was held in Fiji. In future years it may be held
in South-East Asia (Thailand, Vietnam and Laos). It is run in
close association with local universities, whose staff and
students participate in some components of the course. It
focused on environmental and development issues in the
context of rapid social change.
GEOS3004 Geophysics, Imaging, Oil/Ore Production
GEOS3904 Geophysics, Imaging, Oil/Ore Production
(Advanced)
Prof Peter Hatherly
This Unit examined the use of computer-based geophysical
techniques to map high value sites that range from oil
fields and mine sites to archaeological digs. Lecture topics
introduced the creation, inversion and application of 2D
and 3D potential and wave fields that are among the data
sources for micro-gravity surveying, magnetism and aeromagnetism;
radiometry, short-and long-range surveillance
and tracking techniques. The course was designed around
the fact that major strides have been made in digital data
acquisition and data reduction. Practical classes extended
skills in computer aided image processing.
GEOS3006 Mineral Deposits
GEOS3906 Mineral Deposits (Advanced)
Dr Derek Wyman
Global-scale tectonics and continental growth were examined
in terms of their relationships to mineral deposits over
the last 3.5 billion years. Deposits of metals and precious
gems are linked to igneous rocks and hydrothermal fluids,
which provide the basis for exploration strategies, account
for specific ore deposit characteristics, and determine
appropriate mining techniques. Representative ore
deposits from New South Wales, Australia, and overseas
were included as case studies for a wide array of mineralisation
types. Practical components of the course introduced
specimens of ore deposits and associated rocks and the
spatial analysis of geological data at the Global to district
scale. In addition to laboratory classes there was a four-day
field excursion to active and historic mining sites in NSW.
GEOS3008 Field Geology and Geophysics
GEOS3908 Field Geology and Geophysics
(Advanced)
Dr Patrice Rey and Prof Peter Hatherly
This unit is considered an essential component all geology
and geophysics majors. All students undertook a range of
exercises but concentrated on aspects that emphasise
their chosen major: (1) field mapping and the analysis
of geological objects in the field, in weakly to complexly
deformed sedimentary and volcanic sequences;
and (2) field investigations of mineral deposits and their
relationships to host rocks. The field course complemented
other subject areas in geology and geophysics and gave
students experience in the field identification of rocks and
minerals, regional geology, stratigraphy, structure and rock
relationships.
GEOS3014 GIS in Coastal Management
GEOS3914 GIS in Coastal Management (Advanced)
Dr Peter Cowell and Dr Eleanor Bruce
Coastal Management is about how scientific knowledge is
used to support policy formulation and planning decisions
in coastal environments. This Unit links coastal science to
policy and practice in management of estuaries, beaches
and the coastal ocean. The principles were exemplified
through specific issues, such as coastal erosion, pollution
and impacts of climate-change. The issues were dealt with
in terms of how things work in nature, and how issues are
handled through administrative mechanisms. These
mechanisms involve planning strategies like Marine
Protected Areas and setback limits on civil development in
the coastal zone. At a practical level, the link between
science and coastal management is given substance
through development and use of ‘decision-support
models’. These models involve geocomputing methods
that entail application of simulation models, remotely
sensed information, and Geographic Information Systems
(GIS). The course therefore included both principles and
experience in use of these methods to address coastalmanagement
issues. (It thus also extensive use of
computers.) Although the focus is on the coast, the
principles and methods have broader relevance to
environmental management in particular, and to problemsolving
in general. That is, the course has vocational
relevance in showing how science can be exploited to
the benefit of society and nature conservation.
GEOS3015 Environmental Change
GEOS3915 Environmental Change (Advanced)
Dr Stephen Gale
A project-based course that tackled the field and laboratory
methods that allow us to reconstruct environmental
change. It focussed on the environmental changes of the
Quaternary and particularly on those changes experienced
by the Australian environment since the time of human
contact. The course stressed the application of particular
techniques to solving field problems and to answering
palaeoenvironmental questions.
GEOS3016 Seafloor Processes & Imaging
GEOS3916 Seafloor Processes & Imaging (Advanced)
A/Prof Dietmar Müller and Dr Adriana Dutkiewicz
Exploring the sediments and rocks that make up the
continental shelves and deep ocean floor requires the
use of remote sensing techniques, and the analysis of
geological and geophysical data. This Unit taught analytical
20

and interpretive skills in both these areas, with a focus
on the interaction of physical, biological and chemical
processes on the sea floor. The aim of this Unit was to
provide the student with skills to analyse sea floor environments
and interpret a variety of relevant geological and
geophysical datasets, including include side-scan sonar,
swath-mapping, magnetics, gravity, and seismic reflection
data. Students also gained the skills to investigate marine
sedimentary successions. The practical exercises provided
an introduction to standard data analysis tools such as
Matlab, and the use of Australian and world data-bases.
Students were also introduced to seafloor samples from
the shelf, slope and deep-ocean, where the role of physical
and biological activity on the sediment characteristics were
examined. The Unit is relevant to students interested in seafloor
environments, marine geology and geophysics, and
computer-based marine data analysis.
GEOG3521 Sustainable Cities
GEOG3921 Sustainable Cities (Advanced)
Dr Phil McManus
This Unit of Study involved an integrated series of lectures,
practicals and field visits. It developed themes introduced
in Intermediate Units in Geography relating to
sustainability, focusing on the ways we manage urban
regions. This involved discussion of topics including
utopian visions for cities, urban history, ecological footprint
analysis, bioregionalism, transport options, urban form and
urban policy with reference to sustainable futures.
GEOS3522 Cities and Citizenship
GEOS3922 Cities and Citizenship (Advanced)
Dr Kurt Iveson
What does it mean to be a ‘citizen’, and what has this got
to do with cities? This Unit explored the urban dimension
of contests over the meaning of citizenship. The first half
considered historical configurations of urban citizenship,
from the Greek city-states of antiquity through to imperial,
colonial and industrial cities. The second half then focused
on contemporary globalising cities. A series of case studies
considered the production of new configurations of urban
citizenship across a range of cities in the world, looking at
issues such as: asylum-seekers and the city; children and
the city; homelessness in the city; ‘culture jamming’ and
new forms of urban protest; trans-national social movements.
The Unit involved a substantial practical component,
encouraging students to draw on their own experiences
of city life to reflect on the meanings of citizenship.
The 2nd Year field trip to Yass for
GEOS2124 - Fossils and Tectonics.
21

Grants
Research Grants: Australian Research Council
Birch, G.F., Batley, G.E., Gobas, F.A., Modelling contaminant dynamics in a well-mixed/stratified estuary,
Australian Research Council, Discovery Grant, $63,688
Birch, G.F., An innovative strategy for stormwater remediation and reduction of contaminant supply
from catchments, Australian Research Council, Linkage Grant, $52,371
Fletcher, R., Johnson, I., Bruce, E., Living with Heritage: integrating time, place and culture for World
Heritage conservation, Australian Research Council, Discovery Grant, $56,667
Dutkiewicz, A., George, S.C., Volk, H.H., Biosphere hydrocarbon and ore fluid interactions in the Early
Precambrian, Australian Research Council, Discovery Grant, $166,065
McManus, P., Albrecht, G.A., Constructing nature, tradition and thoroughbreds, Australian Research
Council, Discovery Grant, $76,519
Müller, R.D., Simulating the evolution of the Southern Ocean and Australia’s Palaeo-environment over
40 million years, Australian Research Council, Discovery Grant, $63,688
Fletcher, R., Penny, D., Barbetti, M.F., Pottier, C., Urban infrastructure, inertia and Ecology, the growth
and decline of Angkor, Cambodia, Australian Research Council, Linkage Grant, $49,282
Turner, I.L., Short, A.D., Ranasinghe, R.J., Large scale climatic control of coastal erosion and shoreline
changes based on long term survey dataset and video monitoring technology, Australian Research
Council, Discovery Grant, $1,300
Short, A., Port Stephens flood tide delta: Shoreline management issues, Australian Research Council,
Linkage Grant, $74,340
Pritchard, W.N., Connell, J., Indian agriculture in the 21st century: the political economy of market
reforms, Australian Research Council, Discovery Grant, $31,189
Martin, J., Pritchard, W.N., McManus, P.A., Baum, S., Sorenson, T., Walmsley, J., Argent, N., Bourke, L.,
Australia’s Rural Heartlands: Declining economic fortune or dynamic regional adjustment?, Australia
Research Council, Discovery Grant, $7,000
You, Y., Müller, R.D., Poulsen, C.J., Ribbe, J., Integrating global multidimensional datasets to underpin
subduction process modelling during the past 60 million years, Australian Research Council, Discovery
Grant, $84,917
Other Grants
Baker, E., Feasibility study for the development of a facility for continental shelf delineation, United
Nations, $98,958
Baker, E., University of the Sea, ARC Research Networks, $10,000 and UNESCO, $4,425
Birch, G.F., An innovative strategy for stormwater remediation and reduction of contaminant supply
from catchments, Industry Linkage Grant, $29,975
Birch, G.F., Impact of contaminants on estuarine and fluvial sediments of Brisbane Water, Gosford
Council, $5,778
Gale, S.J., Human environmental impact and the Aboriginal abandonment of Kangaroo Island, Australian
and Pacific Science Foundation, $5,250
Gale, S.J., European impact on vegetation in arid Australia, Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and
Engineering, $8,904
Gale, S.J., European impact on the natural environment of Kangaroo Island, Australian Institute of
Nuclear Science and Engineering, $4,800
Hatherly, P., Chair in Mining Geophysics, CRC Mining, $155,745
Hirsch, P., Water Resource Management Research Capacity Development Program, AusAID / Cambodia
Development Resource Institute, $152,250
Hirsch, P., Mekong Resource Centre, Oxfam, $6,550 and Both Ends, $4,167
22

Hirsch, P., Mekong Learning Initiative, Oxfam United States, $60,154
Hirsch, P., The challenges of the agrarian transition in South Asia, Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada, University of Montreal, $24,462
Mason, I., ARCO Geophysical Imaging, Geomole Pty Ltd, $64,251
Mason, I., Hatherly, P., CRC Mining research project, $148,336
Müller, R.D., Bluenet Database – Australian Marine Science Data Network, University of Tasmania,
$82,683
Müller, R.D., National Collaborative Research Infrastructure: Structure and Evolution of the Australian
Continent, Auscope Limited, $135,000
Müller, R.D., Frontier science and exploration: the Atlantic – Arctic, Norwegian Research Council,
$2,829
Neilson, J., Improved cocoa production through farmer involvement in demonstration trials of potentially
superior and pest/disease resistant genotypes and integrated management practices, Australian
Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), La Trobe, $6,340
Pritchard, W.N., Non-State Regulation of agricultural trade, AusAID – Australian Leadership Awards
Fellowships, AusAID, $67,086
Rey, P., Dutkiewicz, A., The emergence of the continents and the Earth’s primitive environment,
International Program Development Fund (The University of Sydney), $29,460
Short, A., Port Stephens flood tide delta: Shoreline management issues, Industry Linkage Grant,
$32,100
Consultancies/Other:
Birch, G.F., Sediment collection and analysis, URS Australia, $13,000
Hirsch, P., Conference – A Greater Mekong: poverty, integration and development, AusAID, $50,000
and Oxfam, $30,000
Derek Wyman and students take a break during the NZ Field Trip (see story p38).
23

Publications
Books
Barrett, J., McManus, P., 2007, Civilising nature:
museums and the environment, Water Wind Art
and Debate - How Environmental Concerns Impact
on Disciplinary Research, 1, 319 - 344.
Birch, G., 2007, Water wind art and debate - how
environmental concerns impact on disciplinary
research, Water Wind Art and Debate - How
Environmental Concerns Impact on Disciplinary
Research.
Birch, G., 2007, A short geological and environmental
history of the Sydney estuary Australia,
Water Wind Art and Debate - How Environmental
Concerns Impact on Disciplinary Research, 1, 214
- 242.
Connell, J., 2007, Holding on to modernity? Siwai
Bougainville Papua New Guinea, Environment Development
and Change in the Asia-Pacific. Between
Local and Global, 1, 127 - 146.
Connell, J., 2007, Island migration, A World of
Islands: An Island Studies Reader, 1, 455 - 481.
Connell, J., Waddell, E., 2007, Introduction - between
local and global: the contest for development,
Environment Development and Change in
the Asia-Pacific. Between Local and Global, 1 - 15.
Dyksterhuis, S., Rey, P., Muller, R., Moresi, L.N., 2007,
Effects of initial weakness on rift architecture,
Imaging, Mapping and Modelling Continental
Lithosphere Extension and Breakup, 1, 443 - 455.
Fisher, R., Prabhu, R., McDougall, C., 2007, Adaptive
collaborative management of community forests
in Asia: experience from Nepal Indonesia and the
Philippines, Adaptive Collaborative Management of
Community Forests in Asia: Experience from Nepal,
Indonesia and the Philippines.
Fisher, R., Prabhu, R., McDougall, C., 2007, Introduction:
people forests and the needs for adaptation,
Adaptive Collaborative Management of
Community Forests in Asia: Experience from Nepal,
Indonesia and the Philippines, 1, 1 - 15.
Gale, S.J., Hoare, P., 2007, The age and origin of the
Blakeney Esker of north Norfolk: implications for
the glaciology of the southern North Sea Basin,
Glacial Sedimentary Processes and Products, 39, 203
- 234.
Henrys, S., Wilson, T., Whittaker, J., Fielding, C., Hall,
J., Naish, T., 2007, Tectonic history of mid-Miocene
to present southern Victoria land basin inferred
from seismic stratigraphy in McMurdo Sound Antarctica,
Antarctica: A Keystone in a Changing World
- Online Proceedings for the Tenth International
Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences.
Hirsch, P., 2007, Civil society and interdependencies:
towards a regional political ecology of
Mekong development, Environment Development
and Change in the Asia-Pacific. Between Local and
Global, 226 - 246.
Hirsch, P., 2007, NGOs as advocates for development
in a globalizing world, Advocacy, Civil Society
and the State in the Mekong Region, 1, 185 - 199.
Iveson, K., 2007, Publics and the city, Publics and
the City.
Kaewmahanin, J., Fisher, R., 2007, Forest governance
in Thailand, Decentralisation and State-Sponsored
Community Forestry in Asia, 1, 121 - 138.
McDougall, C., Prabhu, R., Fisher, R., 2007, Discussion
and conclusions, Adaptive Collaborative
Management of Community Forests in Asia: Experience
from Nepal Indonesia and the Philippines, 1,
208 - 227.
Molle, F., Wester, P., Hirsch, P., Jensen, J.R., Murray-
Rust, H., Paranjpye, V., Pollard, S., Van der Zaag, P.,
2007, River basin development and management,
Water for Food Water for Life: the Comprehensive
Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, 1,
585 - 625.
Muller, R., Dyksterhuis, S., 2007, Current and
palaeo-stress models for central Australian basins,
Proceedings of the Central Australian Basins Symposium
Alice Springs August 2005, 1, 1 - 9.
Neilson, J., Pritchard, W., 2007, The final frontier?
The global roll-out of the retail revolution in India,
Supermarkets and Agri-food Supply Chains:Transformations
in the Production and Consumption of
Foods, 1, 219 - 242.
Prabhu, R., McDougall, C., Fisher, R., 2007, Adaptive
collaborative management: a conceptual model,
Adaptive Collaborative Management of Community
Forests in Asia: Experience from Nepal Indonesia and
the Philippines, 1, 16 - 51.
Short, A., 2007, Beaches of the New South Wales
Coast, Beaches of the New South Wales Coast.
Thoms, M., Rayburg, S., Neave, M., 2007, The
physical diversity and assessment of a large river
system: the Murray-Darling Basin Australia, Large
Rivers: Geomorphology and Management, 587
- 605.
Wessel, P., Muller, R., 2007, Plate tectonics, Treatise
on Geophysics, 6, 50 - 93.
24

Refereed Journal Articles
Brennan-Horley, C., Connell, J., Gibson, C., 2007,
The Parkes Elvis revival festival: economic
development and contested place identities in
rural Australia, Geographical Research, 45(1), 71-84.
Bai, G., Keene, J., 2007, Diagenesis and fluid flow
history in sandstones of the upper Permian Black
Jack formation Gunnedah basin eastern Australia,
Acta Geologica Sinica (Beijing), 81(3), 433-441.
Baja, S., Chapman, D., Dragovich, D., 2007, Spatial
based compromise programming for multiple
criteria decision making in land use planning,
Environmental Modeling & Assessment, 12(3),
171-184.
Barry, S. J., Cowell, P., Woodroffe C.D., 2007, A
morphodynamic model of reef-island
development on atolls, Sedimentary Geology, 197,
2007, 47-63.
Birch, G., Harrington, C., Symons, R.K., Hunt, J.W.,
The source and distribution of polychlorinated
dibenzo-p-dioxin and polychlorinated
dibenzofurans in sediments of Port Jackson
Australia., Marine Pollution Bulletin, 54(3), 295-308.
Birch, G., O’Hea, L., 2007, The chemistry of
suspended particulate material in a highly
contaminated embayment of Port Jackson
(Australia) under quiescent high-wind and
heavy-rainfall conditions, Environmental Geology:
International Journal of Geosciences, 53(3), 501-516.
Buick, I., Grew, E.S., Yates, M.G., Medenbach, O.,
Bebout, G.E., Clarke, G., 2007, A natural analog of
“boron-mullite” in granulite-facies metapelites
from Mount Stafford central Australia, Geochimica
et Cosmochimica Acta, 71(15), A130-A130.
Clarke, G., White, R.W., Lui, S., Fitzherbert, J.,
Pearson, N., 2007, Contrasting behaviour of
rare earth and major elements during partial
melting in granulite facies migmatites, Wuluma
Hills Arunta block central Australia, Journal of
Metamorphic Geology, 25(1), 1-18.
Coltice, N., Phillips, B.R., Bertrand, H., Ricard, Y., Rey,
P., 2007, Global warming of the mantle at the
origin of flood basalts over supercontinents,
Geology, 35(5), 391-394.
Connell, J., 2007, ‘The best island on the globe’:
constantly constructing tourism on Niue,
Australian Geographer, 38(1), 1-13.
Connell, J., 2007, At the end of the world:
holding onto health workers in Niue, Asian and
Pacific Migration Journal, 16(2), 179-197.
Connell, J., 2007, Islands, idylls and the detours of
development, Singapore Journal of Tropical
Geography, 28(2), 116-135.
Connell, J., 2007, The Fiji Times and the good
citizen: constructing modernity and nationhood
in Fiji, Contemporary Pacific, 19(1), 85-109.
Connell, J., 2007, Towards free trade in the Pacific?
The genesis of the ‘Kava-Biscuit War’ between Fiji
and Vanuatu, Geographical Research, 45(1), 1-12.
Connell, J., 2007, The continuity of custom? Tourist
perceptions of authenticity in Yakel Village Tanna
Vanuatu, Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change,
5(2), 71-86.
Connell, J., Gibson Chris, 2007, Music tourism and
the transformation of Memphis, Tourism
Geographies: an international journal of tourism
place space and the environment, 9(2), 160-190.
Connell, J., Soutar, A., 2007, Free trade or free fall?
Trade liberalisation and development in the
Pacific and Caribbean, Social and Economic
Studies, 56, 41-66.
Connell, J., Zurn, P., Stilwell, B., Awases, M.,
Braichet, J.M., 2007, Sub-Saharan Africa:
beyond the health worker migration crisis?,
Social Science & Medicine, 64(9), 1876-1891.
Daniell, J., Hughes, M., 2007, The morphology of
barchan-shaped sand banks from western Torres
Strait northern Australia, Sedimentary Geology,
202, 638-652.
Duclaux, G., Rey, P., Guillot, S., Menot, R.P., 2007,
Orogen-parallel flow during continental
convergence: numerical experiments and
Archean field examples, Geology, 35(8), 715-718.
Dutkiewicz, A., George, S., Mossman, D.J., Ridley,
L., Volk, H., 2007, Oil and its biomarkers associated
with the Palaeoproterozoic Oklo natural fission
reactors Gabon, Chemical Geology, 244, 130-154.
Dyksterhuis, S., Muller, R.D., Rey, P., Moresi, L.N.,
2007, A graphical user interface for particle-in-cell
finite element analysis of lithospheric deformation
and mantle convection in two dimensions,
Computers & Geosciences, 33(8), 1088-1093.
Farmer, B., Short, A., 2007, Australian national
surfing reserves: rationale and process for
recognising iconic surfing locations, Journal of
Coastal Research, 0, 99-103.
Figueiredo, S., Cowell, P., Short, A., 2007,
Intermittent discharge of backbarrier water to
the surfzone: modes and geomorphologic
implications, Journal of Coastal Research, 610-614.
Figueiredo, S., Cowell, P., Short, A., 2007,
Intermittent backbeach discharge to the surfzone:
modes and geomorphologic implications, Journal
of Coastal Research Special Issue, 50, 610-614.
Fletcher, R., Johnson, I., Bruce, E., Khuon, K-N.,
2007, Living with heritage: site monitoring and
heritage values in Greater Angkor and the Angkor
world heritage site Cambodia, World Archaeology,
39(3), 385-405.
25

Gaina, C., Muller, R.D., 2007, Cenozoic tectonic and
depth/age evolution of the Indonesian
gateway and associated back-arc basins,
Earth - Science Reviews, 83, 39541, 177-203.
Gaina, C., Muller, R.D., Brown, B., Ishihara, T., Ivanov,
S., 2007, Breakup and early seafloor spreading
between India and Antarctica,
Geophysical Journal International, 170(1), 151-169.
Gale, S., Gale, R.J.B., Winchester, H.P.M., 2007,
Contaminated sediments in the River Torrens
South Australia, South Australian Geographical
Journal, 105, 78-105.
Gale, S., Hoare, P., 2007, The glacial stratigraphy
of lowland southern and eastern Britain:
temperate-stage deposits at Morston and
Kirmington, Yorkshire Geological Society.
Proceedings, 56(4), 245-251.
Golding, C., Gobas, F.A., Birch, G., 2007,
Characterization of polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbon bioavailability in estuarine
sediments using thin-film extraction,
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 26(5),
829-836.
Halley, V., Bruce, E., 2007, Thematic accuracy
assessment of acoustic seabed data for shallow
benthic habitat mapping, International Journal
of Environmental Studies. Sections A & B, 64(1),
93-107.
Halpin, J., Clarke, G., White, R.W., Kelsey, D.E., 2007,
Contrasting P-T-t paths for neoproterozoic metamorphism
in MacRobertson and Kemp Land east
Antarctica, Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 25(6),
683-701.
Halpin, J., White, R.W., Clarke, G., Kelsey, D.E., 2007,
The proterozoic P-T-t evolution of the Kemp
Land coast east Antarctica; constraints from
Si-saturated and Si-undersaturated metapelites,
Journal of Petrology, 48(7), 1321-1349.
Hirsch, P., 2007, Managing a transboundary
resource: catchment management and dams in
the Mekong River basin, Geodate, 1(1), 5-8.
Hughes, M., Aagaard, T., Baldock, T.E., 2007,
Suspended sediment in the swash zone:
heuristic analysis of spatial and temporal
variations in concentration, Journal of Coastal
Research, 23(6), 1345-1354.
Hughes, M., Moseley, A.S., 2007, Hydrokinematic
regions within the swash zone, Continental Shelf
Research, 27(15), 2000-2013.
Klepeis, K.A., King, D., de Paoli, M., Clarke, G.,
Gehrels, G., 2007, Interaction of strong lower
and weak middle crust during lithospheric
extension in western New Zealand, Tectonics, 26,
1-27.
Lewis, D.A., Cooper, J.A.G, Pilkey, O.H., Short, A.,
2007, Fetch-limited Barrier Islands of Spencer Gulf
South Australia, Journal of Coastal Research,
912-916.
Liu, X.D., Lu, X.C., Yang, K., Hubble, T., Hou, Q.F.,
2007, Monte Carlo simulations of surface
energy of the open tetrahedral surface of 2 :
1-type phyllosilicate, Journal of Colloid and
Interface Science, 307(1), 17-23.
Mackenzie, K., Marshall, C., Walter, M.R., 2007,
Regional organic geochemistry of host
sediments of Palaeoproterozoic McArthur River
ore deposit Australia, Theoretical Chemistry
Accounts, 119, 39508, 143-153.
McNamara, S., Connell, J., 2007, Homeward
bound? Searching for home in inner Sydney’s
share houses, Australian Geographer, 38(1), 71-91.
Muller, R.D., 2007, Earth science - an Indian
cheetah, Nature, 449, 7164, 795-797.
Muller, R.D., Eagles, S., 2007, Mapping seabed
geology by ground-truthed textural image/neural
network classification of acoustic backscatter
mosaics, Mathematical Geology, 39(6), 575-592.
Muller, R.D., Gohl, K., Cande, S.C., Goncharov, A.,
Golynsky, A.V., 2007, Eocene to Miocene geometry
of the west Antarctic rift system, Australian
Journal of Earth Sciences, 54, 1033-1045.
Muller, R.D., Torsvik, T., 2007, Australian absolute
plate motions reorganisations and LIPS in a
mantle framework since the Jurassic, Geochimica
et Cosmochimica Acta, 70, 18, A435-A435.
Neave, M., Rayburg, S., 2007, Nonlinear biofluvial
responses to vegetation change in a semiarid
environment, Geomorphology, 89, 217-239.
Neave, M., Rayburg, S., 2007, A field investigation
into the effects of progressive rainfall-induced soil
seal and crust development on runoff and erosion
rates: the impact of surface cover, Geomorphology,
87(4), 378-390.
Neilson, J., 2007, Global markets farmers and the
state: sustaining profits in the Indonesian cocoa
sector, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies,
43(2), 227-250.
Neilson, J., 2007, Institutions: the governance
of quality and on-farm value retention for
Indonesian specialty coffee, Singapore Journal of
Tropical Geography, 28(2), 188-204.
Neilson, J., Pritchard, B., 2007, Green coffee? The
contradictions of global sustainability initiatives
from an Indian perspective, Development Policy
Review, 25(3), 311-331.
Newell, B., Proust, K., Dyball, R., McManus, P., 2007,
Seeing obesity as a systems problem, NSW Public
Health Bulletin, 18, 214-218.
26

Penny, D., Hua, Q., Pottier, C., Fletcher, R., Barbetti,
M., 2007, The use of AMS C-14 dating to explore
issues of occupation and demise at the medieval
city of Angkor Cambodia, Nuclear Instruments
& Methods in Physics Research. Section B. Beam
Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 259(1),
388-394.
Penny, D., Pottier, C., Kummu, M., Fletcher, R.,
Zoppi, U., Barbetti, M., Somaneath, T., 2007,
Hydrological history of the West Baray Angkor
revealed through palynological analysis of
sediments from the West Mebon, Bulletin de la
Ecole Francaise dâ Extreme-Orient, 92, 497-521.
Philippot, P., Van Zuilen, M., Lepot, K., Thomazo, C.,
Farquhar, J., Van Kranendonk, A., 2007, Elementalsulfur
reducing or disproportionating organisms
in a similar to 35 million year old seafloor setting,
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 71(15), A786-
A786.
Pritchard, W., Burch, D., Lawrence, G.J., 2007,
Neither ‘family’ nor ‘corporate’ farming:
Australian tomato growers as farm family entrepreneurs,
Journal of Rural Studies, 23(1), 75-87.
Rey, P., Houseman, G., 2007, The impact of body
forces on Archaean orogenic processes, Geochimica
et Cosmochimica Acta, 70(18), A527-A527.
Rutschlin, M., Cloete, J., Mason, I., Palmer, K.D.,
2007, The radio frequency dielectric properties
of the stratified UG1-UG2 geological unit in the
Bushveld Complex, Journal of Applied Geophysics,
62(4), 354-360.
Sanderson, D.C.W., Bishop, P., Stark, M.,
Alexander, S., Penny, D., 2007, Luminescence
dating of canal sediments from Angkor Borei
Mekong delta southern Cambodia, Quaternary
Geochronology, 2, 39539, 322-329.
Scott, T., Russell, P., Messelink, G., Short, A., 2007,
Beach rescue statistics and their relation to nearshore
morphology and hazards: a case study for
southwest England, Journal of Coastal Research, 1-6.
Short, A., 2007, Australia rip system - friend or foe?,
Journal of Coastal Research, 7-11.
Shrestha, K., McManus, P., 2007, The embeddedness
of collective action in Nepalese commmunity
forestry, Small Scale Forestry, 6, 273-290.
Vila-Concejo, A., Short, A., Hughes, M., Ranasinghe,
R., 2007, Flood-tide delta morphodynamics
and management implications Port Stephens
Australia, Journal of Coastal Research, 705-709.
Wang, Q., Wyman, D., Xu, J., Jian, P., Zhao, Z., Li,
C., Xu, W., Ma, J., He, B., 2007, Early Cretaceous
adakitic granites in the Northern Dabie Complex
central China: implications for partial melting and
delamination of thickened lower crust, Geochimica
et Cosmochimica Acta, 71(10), 2609-2636.
Wang, Q., Wyman, D., Xu, J., Zhao, Z., Jian, P., Zi, F.,
2007, Partial melting of thickened or
delaminated lower crust in the middle of
eastern China: implications for Cu-Au
mineralization, Journal of Geology, 115(2), 149-161.
Wang, Q., Wyman, D., Zhao, Z., Xu, J., Bai, Z-H.,
Xiong, X-L., Dai, T.M., Li, C., Chu, Z-Y, 2007,
Petrogenesis of carboniferous adakites and Nbenriched
arc basalts in the Alataw area northern
Tianshan Range (western China): implications for
Phanerozoic crustal growth in the central Asia
orogenic belt, Chemical Geology, 236, 42-64.
Waugh, J., Neave, M., Bruce, E., 2007, The impact of
varying rainfall conditions on the quality of runoff
entering Wamberal Lagoon, New South Wales,
Australia, Physical Geography, 28(1), 37-49.
Wei, C., Clarke, G., Tian, W., Qiu, L., 2007,
Transition of metamorphic series from the
kyanite-to andalusite-types in the Altai orogen
Xinjiang China: evidence from petrography and
calculated KMnFMASH and KFMASH phase
relations, Lithos, 96, 353-374.
Whittaker, J., Muller, R.D., Leitchenkov, G., Stagg,
H., Sdrolias, M., Gaina, C., Goncharov, A., 2007,
Major Australian-Antarctic plate reorganisation
at Hawaiian-Emperor bend time [report], Science,
318, 83-86.
Whittaker, J., Muller, R.D., Sdrolias, M., Heine, C.,
2007, Sunda-Java trench kinematics slab window
formation and overriding plate deformation since
the Cretaceous, Earth and Planetary Science Letters,
255, 445-457.
Wood, J., Cohen, R., Holland, J., Shun, A., La, H.E.,
2007, Virtual reality laparoscopic training in
Australia, ANZ Journal of Surgery, 77, A80-A80.
Wyatt, A., Baird, I.G., 2007, Transboundary impact
assessment in the Sesan River Basin: the case of
the Yali Falls Dam, International Journal of Water
Resources Development, 23(3), 427-442.
Zhou, B., Mason, I., Hatherly, P., 2007, Tuning
seismic resolution by heterodyning, Journal of
Geophysics and Engineering, 4(2), 214-223.
Conferences
Dutkiewicz, A., Volk, H., Ridley, J., George, S.C.,
2007, Precambrian inclusion oils in the Roper
Group: a review, Central Australian Basins
Symposium (CABS), 326-348.
Dutkiewicz, A., Ridley, J., George, S.C., Mossman, D.
and Volk, H. (2007) Oil-bearing fluid inclusions associated
with the Palaeoproterozoic Oklo natural
fission reactors, Gabon. 19th Biennial Conference
on European Current Research on Fluid Inclusions
(ECROFI-XIX), 17-20th July 2007, University of Bern.
27

Dutkiewicz, A., Volk, H., Ridley, J. and George, S.C.
(2007) Proterozoic Oils in the Roper Superbasin,
Northern Australia. Emerging Plays in Australasia,
joint Geological Society and Petroleum Group
conference, 17-19th July 2007, London.
George, S.C., Dutkiewicz, A., Volk, H., Ridley, J.,
Mossman, D.J. and Buick, R. (2007) Eukaryote-derived
steranes in Precambrian oils and rocks: fact
or fiction? In: Abstract Book 23rd International
Meeting on Organic Geochemistry (eds Farrimond,
P. et al.), EAOG, Torquay, United Kingdom,
pp. 9-10.
George, S.C., Dutkiewicz, A., Volk, H., Ridley, J.,
Mossman, D.J. and Buick, R. (2007) Oil-bearing
fluid inclusions from the Palaeoproterozoic:
biogeochemical time-capsules for >2.0 billion
years. The First International Forum on Petroleum
Sustainable Development for PhD candidates,
China University of Petroleum, Beijing, August
2007, plenary (invited).
Hatherly, P., Medhurst, T., MacGregor, S., 2007, A
rock mass rating scheme for clastic sediments
based on geophysical logs, International
Workshop on Rock Mass Classification in
Underground Mining, 1, 57-64.
Hatherly, P., Medhurst, T., Zhou, B., 2007,
Integrated geological and geotechnical results
obtained through geophysics, 2007 Australian
Mining Technology Conference, 249-256.
Hatherly, P., Zhou, B., Urosevic, M., Peters, T., 2007,
Insights into seismic inversion for geotechnical
property estimation in coal mining, Exploration &
Beyond, 1-4.
Hatherly, P., Zhou, B., Urosevic, M., Peters, T., 2007,
Extracting geotechnical information from seismic
reflection surveys: examples from Australian coal
mines, Special Session S04 Application of
Geophysics to Rock Engineering 11th Congress
of ISRM.
Hickey, D., Bruce, E., 2007, Spatial modelling of
coastal saltmarsh species distribution patterns
and elevation dependent tidal inundation within
Botany Bay Australia, Coast GIS 2006, 413-423.
Matias, A., Vila-Concejo, A., Ferreira, O., Morris, B.,
Dias, J., 2007, Sediment transport patterns during
overwash, Coastal Sediments 2007, 3, 2049-2060.
McManus, P., 2007, The changing port city
interface: moving towards sustainability? State
of Australian Cities National Conference 2007, 3,
427-433.
Pacheco, A., Vila-Concejo, A., Ferreira, O., Dias, A.,
2007, Present hydrodynamics of Ancao Inlet 10
years after its relocation, Coastal Sediments 2007,
2, 1557-1570.
Penny, D., 2007, Microfossil records of
environmental change land use and societal
collapse at Angkor Cambodia. XVII Inqua
Congress. The Tropics: Heat Engine of the
Quaternary, 321-321.
Ramos, F., Hatherly, P., 2007, Learning to
characterise rock properties from geophysical
logs, 2007 Australian Mining Technology
Conference, 1, 193-198.
Ridley, J., Dutkiewicz, A., George, S.C. and Volk, H.
(2007) Hydrocarbon-aqueous mixtures in syndiagenetic
fluid inclusions. 19th Biennial Conference
on European Current Research on Fluid Inclusions
(ECROFI-XIX), 17-20th July 2007, University of Bern.
Smith, H., Dragovich, D., 2007, Sediment supply
from small upland catchments: possible
implications of headwater channel restoration
for stream management, 5th Australian Stream
Management Conference: Australian Rivers:
Making a Difference, 366-371.
Thornton, E., Neave, M., Rayburg, S., 2007,
Hydraulic geometry in river channel networks as
a method for the assessment of river condition,
5th Australian Stream Management Conference:
Australian Rivers: Making a Difference, 401-406.
Vila-Concejo, A., Short, A., Hughes, M.,
Ranasinghe, R., 2007, Shoreline implications of
flood-tide delta morphodynamics: the case of
Port Stephens (SE Australia), Coastal Sediments
2007, 2, 1417-1430.
You, Y., Herold, N., Muller, R.D., Sdrolias, M.,
Ribbe, J., 2007, Impact of vegetation on the
Miocene climate optimum, AMOS 2007: 14th
National Australian Meteorological and
Oceanographic Society Conference.
You, Y., Muller, R.D., Sdrolias, M., Herold, N.,
Ribbe, J., 2007, Sensitivity of middle Miocene
climate and regional monsoon to palaeo
altimetry, AMOS 2007: 14th National
Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic
Society Conference.
Young, N., 2007, The urban geopark concept as
a tool of geoconservation in a city - the case of
metropolitan Hong Kong, UNESCO Global
Geoparks Network, 1-12.
Zeng T.Q., Cowell, P., Hickey, D., 2007, Predicting
climate change impacts on mangrove and saltmarsh
distribution: GIS fuzzy set methods, Coast
GIS 2006, 1, 249-258.
Zhou, B., Hatherly, P., Urosevic, M., Peters, T., 2007,
Issues for the inversion of seismic reflection data
for geotechnical properties, 7th International
Workshop on the Application of Geophysics to
Rock Engineering held in association with the
11th Congress of ISRM, 21-26.
28

Honours Research
The Honours program is an additional one-year period of study taken following the completion of an
undergraduate degree. The purpose of the program is to pursue in depth research on a specific topic—providing skills for
those wanting an academic career, to advance potential employment opportunities, or simply to allow students to further
explore the intricacies of a topic about which they are enthusiastic.
Geography Honours theses completed in 2007
Yingzhen Chuang Decadel-scale southern oscillation influences on beach state and width (Cowell, P. / Short, A.)
Jenny Compton Can active citizenship be taught? An examination of the potential of civic education to
mould young minds in participatory democracies (Pritchard, B.)
Nadine Constantinou Modelling the habitat preference of leopard seals off eastern Australia (Bruce, E. / Rogers, T.)
David Hayes Across the walls: Gated communities and the neighbourhood public realm in Sydney
(Iveson, K.)
M. Kinsela Topographic control of dune response to climate-change impacts (Cowell, P.)
Katrina Lawrence Towards household sustainability in Sydney? Impacts of two sustainable lifestyle programs
on water and electricity consumption in existing homes (McManus, P.)
T.J. Lloyd Cyber-citizenship: Wikipedia’s “World in the Wires” (Iveson, K.)
Sarah Marshman Valley controls on morphological responses of estuaries to climate-change impacts
(Cowell, P.)
Thomas Murray Spatial and temporal variability in the morphodynamics of four NSW beaches (Short, A.)
Mary Y.M. Nam Corporate social responsibility and hydropower development: a case study of Nam Theun 2
Lao, PDR (Hirsch, P. / McManus, P.)
Alison O’Neill Community perceptions of wind power and the role of community ownership (McManus, P.)
Ohma Oxley Determining native pre-cleared plant species distribution - calibrating radiometric/digital
elevation model and remnant vegetation plant associations. Developing strategies for
native revegetation, to specific soil site conditions promoting biodiversity (Dragovich, D.)
Sophie Pieters-Hawke “Bisnis” and “Business”: a social and economic evaluation of a microfinance programme in
Port Vila, Vanuatu (Connell, J.)
Amanda Tsioutis Choosing to live the dream: an analysis of country week (Connell, J.)
Joel Turner Reversing the cycle: an investigation into how greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced
through the development of cycling in Sydney (McManus, P.)
Rebecca Williams Ecological modelling in Australian fisheries management: the development of a predictive
habitat preference model using Baye’s theorem (Bruce, E.)
L. Worthington Challenging the stereotypes. Factors supporting and hindering Arab-Muslim women in
Sydney in their teaching careers (Connell, J.)
Chuang Yingzhen Decadel-scale southern oscillation influences on beach state and width (Short, A. / Cowell, P.)
Geology and Geophysics Honours theses completed in 2007
Lara Beth Ainley
Samantha Louise Clarke
Melanie de Leon
Rosemary Elkington
Timothy Hogg
Joshua Knight
Helena Kuczma
Hannah Power
Matthew Van der Heyden
Sediment transport on Jimmy’s Beach: implications for coastal erosion (Vila-Concejo, A.)
Morphological change on the Nepean river: causes and extent of bank failure and erosion
within the Richmond Bridge area (Hubble, T.)
Omphacite garnet granulites in Breaksea Gneiss: the eclogite granulite transition (Clarke, G.)
Copper mineralization in Kanyaka, Flinders Ranges (Wyman, D.)
A comparison of contaminants in sediment and oysters in NSW Estuaries (Birch, G.)
Modelling the Contemporary and Paleo Stress and Deformation of the Indo-Australian Plate
(Müller, D.)
Eclogite Boudins in high-pressure granulites, SW Fiordland, New Zealand: Mantle or Crustal
Origins? (Clarke, G.)
Inner surf zone saturation: an examination of low energy beaches (Vila-Concejo, A.)
The distribution of heavy metals in surface soils of the Port Jackson catchment (Birch, G.)
29

Geography
Postgraduate Research
Candidates who were awarded their degree in 2007
Alison Gates (PhD) Acclimatisation as environmentalism: the idea and practice of plant introductions in
southeastern Australia before 1900 (McManus, P.)
Max Kwiatkowski (PhD) Nostalgic landscapes, identity and photography among Sydney’s Polish community
(Connell, J.)
Leah Lui-Chivizhe (MSc) Movement on the margin: identity construction and Torres Strait Islanders in Sydney
(Connell, J.)
Viliam Phraxayavong (PhD) Changing geopolitics of aid to Laos (Hirsch, P.)
Daniel Robinson (PhD) Biodiversity related traditional knowledge in Thailand: intellectual property relations
and geographies of knowledge regulation (Hirsch, P.)
Candidate enrolled in 2007 (who has been awarded the degree in 2008)
Hugh Smith (PhD) Scale analysis of sediment dynamics in an upland headwater catchment, South-eastern
Australia (Dragovich, D.)
Candidates enrolled in 2007 (research continuing)
Farshad Amiraslani (PhD) Modelling of indicators for management of degraded arid environments
(Dragovich, D.)
Tim Austin (PhD) Morphodynamics of the Port Stephens flood tide delta (Short, A./Cowell, P.)
Robin Branson (PhD) Assessment procedures for sustainable reuse of industrial waste (McManus, P.)
Paula Brown (PhD) Fisheries co-management in Vietnam (Hirsch, P.)
Joanna Burston (PhD) Coastal inundation hazard along the New South Wales coast (Short, A.)
Rowena Butland (PhD) Perceptions of place in the management of heritage space (Bruce, E)
Marc Daly (PhD) Shoreface equilibrium and consequences for climate change impact predictions
(Cowell, P.)
Michelle Dominis (PhD) Sensitivity of landscapes to the development of dryland salinity (Dragovich, D.)
Olivia Dun (PhD) Migration and environmental change in Vietnam (Connell, J.)
Gareth Edwards (PhD) Construction, experience and management of water scarcity in NSW and implications
for social equity and environmental sustainability (McManus, P.)
Renee Fulton (PhD) Green resources in coastal peri-urban environments (Dragovich, D.)
Josephine Gillespie (PhD) World heritage obligations and local communities: land law and justice at Angkor,
Cambodia (Bruce, E.)
Jasmine Glover (PhD) South Indian supply chains in the globalisation of the ornamental cut flower industry
(Pritchard, B.)
Salette Figueiredo (PhD) Risk-based forecasts of sea level rise impacts on the Brazilian coast (Short, A. / Cowell, P.)
Deanne Hickey (MSc) Relationship between wetland hydrology and fine scale vegetation distribution
(Bruce, E.)
Phil Holmes (PhD) Economic and environmental viability of pastoralism in Australian arid rangelands
(Dragovich, D.)
Georgina Houghton (PhD) Community participation in forestry in Vietnam (Hirsch, P.)
Gina Koczberski (PhD) Smallholder agriculture in New Britain, Papua New Guinea (Connell, J.)
Jessica McLean (PhD) Indigenous water values in the Ord: a political ecology analysis (Pritchard, B.)
Daniel Montoya (PhD) Water management in the Murrumbidgee: community-government relations
(McManus, P.)
Young Ng (PhD) Geoparks and geotourism: management approaches to geological heritage in China
(McManus, P.)
Huy Tuong Nguyen (PhD) Poverty and livelihoods in coastal fisheries communities around Nha Phu lagoon,
Vietnam (Hirsch, P.)
Thanh Phuong Nguyen (PhD) Shoreline change in the Red River mouth, Vietnam, using remote sensing and GIS
(Short, A.)
Andrew Pitt (MSc) Surfing reefs: the role of bathymetry (Short, A.)
Kevin Prakoonheang (PhD) Skilled return migration and development in Laos (Connell, J.)
Darren St-Georges (MSc) Organic foods in Sydney (Pritchard, B.)
Sushma Raj (MSc) Employment networks of Fijian Indians in Sydney (Connell, J.)
Annie Sutton (PhD) The Fijian Indian community in Sydney (Connell, J.)
30

Ann Turner (PhD)
The evolution of institutional arrangements in railway administration, NSW and
Queensland (Pritchard, B.)
Geology
Candidates who were awarded their degree in 2007
Stuart Clarke (PhD) Mantle convection and dynamic topography of the crust (Müller, D.)
Guillame Duclaux Characterization of energy and mass transports in the continental lithosphere at the
(PhD, cotutelle) Archaean-Proterozoic transition: insights from Terre Adélie (East Antarctica) and Gawler
Craton (South Australia) (Rey, P.)
Jacqueline Halpin (PhD) The metamorphic evolution of Kemp and MacRobertson Lands (Rayner Complex), east
Antarctica (Clarke, G.)
Christian Heine (PhD) The formation and evolution of accretionary crust (Müller, D.)
James Hunt (MSc) Environmental risk assessment of contaminated groundwater discharge to an estuarine
embayment (Birch, G.)
Felicia Weir (PhD) Berm building processes on high-energy beaches (Hughes, M.)
Candidates enrolled in 2007 (research continuing)
Carmen Apostolatos (PhD) Spatial and temporal change in heavy metal concentrations in the Port Jackson estuary
using the Sydney Rock Oyster (Saccostrea glomerata) (Birch, G.)
Felicity Austen (PhD) Biogeochemical processes & stormwater remediation (Birch, G.)
Andrew Bray (PhD) Integrated geophysical and geological analysis for resource planning and development
(Hatherly, P.)
James Daniel (PhD) Sediment dynamics on a tide-dominated inner shelf, Torres Strait (Hughes, M.)
Brett Davis (PhD) Primary sources of stormwater contaminants in a highly urbanised catchment of
Sydney Harbour, Australia (Birch, G.)
Matthew DePaoli (PhD) High-pressure granulite to eclogite facies metamorphism: mechanisms of formation
and tectonometamorphic implications, Fiordland, New Zealand (Clarke, G.)
Lydia Dicaprio (PhD) The dynamic history of the Australian region since the Mesozoic (Müller, D.)
Nicolas Flament Freeboard evoution, crustal evolution and the 2.7 Ga late-Archean geological and
(PhD, cotutelle) biological crisis (Rey, P.)
Nick Herold (PhD) Trends and quantification of processes contributing to two major Cenozoic warming
events (Müller, D.)
Matt Lawrance (PhD) Development and implementation of an integrated model of contaminant dynamics in
an urbanised environment (Birch, G.)
Serena Lee (MSc) Modelling contaminant transport in the Port Jackson estuary (Birch, G.)
Marco Olmos (PhD) Heavy metal contamination in NSW estuaries (Birch, G.)
Louisa Rochford (PhD) Stormwater inputs of trace elements to Port Jackson (Birch, G.)
Kate Thornborough (PhD) Effects of climate change on reef growth and development of the southern GBR
(Davies, P.)
Judith Tong (PhD) Modelling of the energy balance in the ocean for addressing climate change (You, J.)
Joanne Whittaker (PhD) Reconstruction of plate movements in and around the Indian Ocean (Müller, D.)
PhD candidate Jasmine
Glover (2nd from right)
with John Connell, Bill
Pritchard and workers
in the chilli fields,
Karnataka, India.
31

School Units
Australian Mekong Resource Centre (AMRC)
The Australian Mekong Resource Centre (AMRC) is located in
the School of Geosciences and is a Centre of the University
of Sydney. The Centre is devoted to research, education and
community engagement. AMRC has achieved a reputation
as the leading centre of expertise on development in the
Mekong Region, particularly with regard to the implications
of development for people, the environment and the links
between them.
AMRC is committed to research that supports action, policy
and advocacy for equitable and sustainable approaches to
development in the Mekong Region. It works on principles
of engaged research that also supports the building of
independent and critical research capacity within the region.
The Centre is a focal point for information, data, local studies
and policy-oriented research relating to the Mekong.
AMRC undertook three key programs during 2007:
• Cambodia water project, running over five years 2006-
2011, is supported by a $3 million grant from AusAID,
administered through the Cambodia Development
Resource Institute. The grant supports School of Geosciences
and Agricultural Economics staff (Hirsch, Bruce,
Neave, Santos) to work with Cambodian researchers and
also includes five research student scholarships.
The project seeks to develop capacity in water resources
management research in the context of irrigation
development and catchment management in Cambodia.
Partners include AMRC, Cambodia Development
Resource Institute and Royal University of Phnom Penh.
• ChATSEA is a CAD$2.5 million five year collaborative
initiative (2005-2010) funded by the Social Science and
Humanities Research Council of Canada, involving over 16
universities studying rural change in Southeast Asia. The
funding to AMRC for research activity on agrarian transitions
in SE Asia includes postgraduate student support.
To date, five School of Geosciences postgraduate students
have been supported through ChATSEA.
• Mekong Learning Initiative, coordinated by AMRC and
funded by Oxfam, is a collaboration between eight universities
in the Mekong Region for teaching and learning
in the social sciences of natural resource management. To
date this project has attracted approximately $300,000 in
funding support.
In 2007, AMRC also organised a significant international
conference held at the University over two days. The
conference was called ‘A Greater Mekong? Poverty,
Integration and Development’ and was co-hosted with
AusAID and funded by AusAID and Oxfam Australia.
It attracted some 150 participants including senior
government, non-government, international organisation,
community and academic participants from all countries
of the Mekong Region as well as Australia and other
international locations.
32
The Director of AMRC is Professor Philip Hirsch. AMRC also
employs a senior researcher: Dr Robert Fisher, and two
research assistants: Kate Griffiths and Lindsay Soutar. In 2007,
AMRC also supported two voluntary internships: Eszter
Hidas and Thantida Wongprasong. In addition, several postgraduate
students are associated with AMRC. In 2007, these
students were Paula Brown, Viliam Phraxayavong, Nguyen
Tuong Huy, Georgina Houghton and Daniel Robinson.
Further information on AMRC can be found at: http://www.
mekong.es.usyd.edu.au/
The University of Sydney Institute of
Marine Science (USIMS)
Marine Science at the University of Sydney dates back to the
1880s. The University of Sydney Institute of Marine Science
was established in 2002, and followed on from the Marine
Studies Centre which had been in operation since 1970.
USIMS coordinates the teaching program and research in
marine science and promotes interdisciplinary research
across the University of Sydney, with staff and associates
from Schools of Geosciences, Biological Sciences, Medical
Science and the Faculties of Veterinary Science and
Engineering. USIMS moved into new offices in the
refurbished Madsen Building (F09, Room 308) at the end
of 2007.
A review of the marine science program was conducted in
2007. The main outcome was the discontinuation of the
BSc (Marine Science) degree, while retaining the units of
marine science subjects and the major in marine science. In
addition, majors in marine biology and marine geosciences
have been introduced. The change provides more flexibility
for students and simplifies administration, while retaining the
course options.
USIMS also leads the University’s participation in the Sydney
Institute of Marine Science (SIMS) (www.sims.org.au) which
opened in Nov 2005 (then called the Sydney Harbour
Institute of Marine Science). SIMS is a partnership between
Macquarie University, the Universities of NSW and Sydney
and the University of Technology, Sydney, and its associate
members include the Universities of Newcastle and
Wollongong and NSW State Government organisations
and the Defence Science and Technology Organisation. It is
based at Chowder Bay on Sydney Harbour and in late 2007,
the aquarium was in operation with space allocated to each
partner university, with areas for PhD students and other
long-term research projects. The laboratory facilities received
an upgrade during 2007 by funds provided by Macquarie
University and University of NSW, turning some of the
laboratory space into areas for molecular research.
SIMS is also the operator for the NSW IMOS, the regional
component of the Integrated Marine Observing System
(IMOS) which is capability in the National Collaborative

Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). IMOS is a nationwide
collaborative program to record and integrate a wide
range of marine data. Data will be available for all to use and
eventually be logged into BLUElink. NSW IMOS operates
the regional moorings as part of the Australian National
Mooring Network of IMOS. Contracts were signed during
2007 for $10 million in funding to this component, including
that provided by NCRIS and in kind and other contributions
from participating agencies. In addition, two of the national
facilities of IMOS are operated through SIMS: the Autonomous
Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Facility, operated by the
Australian Centre for Field Robotics (University of Sydney)
and the Australian Acoustic Tagging and Monitoring System
Facility (Macquarie University). USIMS is also a partner in the
Acoustic Observatory facility operated by Curtin University.
The IMOS Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) of IMOS is
operated by the Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR),
at the University of Sydney, under the lead of Stefan
Williams and Oscar Pizarro. The ACFR operates an ocean
going Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) called Sirius,
capable of undertaking high resolution, seabed survey
work. As part of the establishment of the AUV Facility, IMOS
will support deployment of the Sirius AUV which will be
made available to scientists on a competitive basis in order
to assist marine projects in Australia. The ACFR have operated
the AUV on two major cruises in 2007. A series of trials
were undertaken in collaboration with scientists from AIMS
to assess benthic habitats off the Ningaloo Reef, WA in May.
These trials were aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of
using an AUV for conducting biodiversity assessment in
waters beyond diver depths. The AUV was also part of a three
week research cruise in September aboard the R/V Southern
Surveyor, lead by Dr Jody Webster, documenting drowned
shelf edge reefs at multiple sites in four areas along the Great
Barrier Reef. This collaborative cruise included scientists from
the University of Sydney, including other USIMS members
Dr Peter Davis, Prof. Maria Byrne and PhD student Ekira
Woolsey; James Cook University, CSIRO, Oxford, the
University of Edinburgh and Fugro Seafloor Survey. The study
of these structures may yield insights regarding potential
future sea level changes and their potential impact on
sensitive reef areas such as the GBR.
One Tree Island Research Station (ORIRS) in the Southern
Great Barrier Reef is a University facility, directed by Professor
Maria Byrne. Following completion of the building program
the station is now fully operational and in the last two years
has hosted field courses from the School of Geoscience,
Applied Masters Degree students and PhD students. In
2007/2008 together with the Australian Institute of Marine
Science and the other members of the Tropical Marine
Network, the University of Sydney was successful in its bid
for the Great Barrier Reef Ocean Observing System (GBROOS)
as part of the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS).
Through this program several moorings will be installed at
One Tree Reef in and outside of the lagoon. These moorings
will be instrumented for real-time monitoring of environmental
conditions in the southern GBR. The OTIRS scholarships
program attracted additional donations in 2007 to
support two awards over a 3 year period for $5000/annum.
USIMS is participating in BlueNet: The Australia Marine
Science Data Network that will place the infrastructure to
integrate data from the higher education sector into a
distributed marine data network that has free public access.
As of late 2007, over 130 metadata entries have been entered
in the BlueNet metadatabase by data facilitator Ms Edwina
Tanner (USIMS). This data has been made available by a wide
ranged of marine researchers at the University of Sydney.
For more information http://www.bluenet.org.au/
The University of the Sea (UOS), coordinated by Dr Elaine
Baker is part of the Asian Neighbours Network – Training
through Research. Ocean surveys, on board a French
research vessel Mariona Dufresne, are undertaken to enable
senior researchers from the region to work with younger
scholars on marine issues associated with the Australasian
and Indo-Pacific region. Two cruises were undertaken during
2007 in collaboration with GeoSciences Australia, with
students from both Australia and nearby developing
countries.
The Australian Marine Mammal Research Centre (AMMRC)
is a joint program between the University and the Zoological
Parks Board of NSW, and is located at Taronga Zoo. In
October 2007, the AMMRC moved into a new office/
laboratory complex as part of the “Great Southern Oceans”
precinct, which houses several species of seal, at Taronga
Zoo. The AMMRC facility includes office accommodation for
staff and students and wet and dry laboratories with window
to the observe seals underwater. It is expected that AMMRC
will transfer to the University of NSW in 2008, following the
appointment of Dr Tracey Rogers (AMMRC Director) to UNSW.
Project SEA SERPENT, led by Dr Adele Pile at University of
Sydney, was successful in obtaining a 3-year ARC linkage
grant in 2006, with Woodside and Santos as partners.
Collaborative institutions are from the Universities of Western
Australia, Wollongong and Hawaii, and the University of
Technology, Sydney, as well as Sydney.
CRC Mining
Geophysical Imaging Group
The aim of the Cooperative Research Centre for Mining is to
significantly enhance mining industry performance in terms
of economics, safety and environmental impact. This is to be
achieved by working on:
• Reducing short-range geological uncertainty
• Advanced monitoring and control of machines,
• Characterising and controlling the overall mine
production system, and
• Introducing radically new mining methods.
The Geophysical Imaging Group at the University of Sydney
undertakes research for the CRC’s Geological Sensing Work
Area. Work is focussed on development of seismic, wireline
logging, borehole radar and interactive visualisation and
interpretation tools.
33

Field work has been undertaken in mines in Australia, South
Africa and Canada. There is close collaboration with mining
industry professional and research scientists in those countries.
The Australian Coal Association Research Program also
supports our activities with grants for research on geotechnical
analysis from wireline logs and seismic inversion.
In 2007, the group included the following staff from the
School of Geosciences.
• Prof Peter Hatherly
• Prof Iain Mason
• Dr Jonathon Hargreaves
• Mr Tim Sindle
• Mr Phil Manning
• Mr Steve Owens
• Mr Andrew Bray
During the course of the year Dr Jonathon Hargreaves
resigned and returned to England. Professor Mason also
retired but is continuing his research with the group as an
Honorary Associate.
Environmental Science
This year, 2007, saw the demise of the first year intake for the
Environmental Science programme. The programme now
comprises only Intermediate and Senior years, but it is also
the first year of Environmental Studies programme. Previously,
Environmental Science comprised a teaching programme
for both undergraduates and postgraduates, however it was
decided in 2005 that the undergraduate programme be
changed from a specialist Environmental Science degree to a
general Environmental Studies programme. Units within
the Environmental Science programme are to be made
available to all BSc students.
Postgraduate Environmental Science comprises a research
Masters of Science (Environmental), a mainly course work
Masters of Applied Environmental Science (Environmental
Science), and a mainly course work Masters of Environmental
Science and Law. Postgraduate Environmental Science
continues to grow and is very well supported. A major
aspect of the Masters of Applied Environmental Science
programme is its appeal to overseas students. The majority
of postgraduate students attending this course in 2007 were
from outside Australia, and were represented by 17 different
nations, such as, Pakistan, India, China, Jordan, Nepal, Taiwan,
South Africa, USA, Chile, Brazil, Germany and the UK. A widely
diverse ethic and cultural group such as this greatly enriches
and strengthens not only the learning processes, but
hopefully future International relationships and commercial
and cultural exchange.
Earth Resources Foundation
scholarships for students and workshops and symposia for
industry professionals.
As in previous years we made arrangements for the PESA Visiting
Lecturer tours of Australia, however, there was no Esso
Distinguished Lecturer for 2007. The Foundation is grateful to
Esso Australia and PESA for their continuing support.
The Foundation arranged a very successful function at the
Nicholson Museum at which we made our annual presentation
of scholarships to graduate and undergraduate students
from the School. I would like to thank the sponsors of our
scholarship awards and to congratulate the winners.
Prof. Peter Hatherly joined us as Director in 2007 and has
agreed to remain during 2008. Assoc. Prof. Dietmar Müller
has replaced Prof. Geoff Clarke as Head of School and an
ex-officio member of the Foundation. I would like to thank
Geoff for his contribution and look forward to working with
Dietmar and Peter during 2008.
University of the Sea
The 2007 UOS was extremely successful, once again
attracting a group of enthusiastic and dedicated students.
The training programme took place in the Faust Capel Basin
– Lord Howe region on board the research vessel Tangaroa.
The ship sailed from Wellington, New Zealand, on October 8,
arriving in Lord Howe Island on October 27. It departed again
on October 29 and arrived at the end of the programme in
Wellington on November 21. Twelve students and 2 staff
joined the scientific party from Geoscience Australia and
NIVA to undertake a detailed programme of habitat
mapping, which included seafloor imaging and biological
and geological sampling. The students were drawn from
the University of Sydney, the University of Wollongong, the
University of Adelaide, the University of Technology Sydney,
James Cook University, Deakin University, the Australian
Maritime College, the University of New South Wales, the
University of Papua New Guinea, SOPAC - Pacific Islands
Applied Geoscience Commission and the University of
Ruhuna, Sri Lanka. The staff included Dr Kelsie Dadd a
geoscientist from Macquarie University and Dr Jane Jelbart
a biologist from the University of Newcastle.
Planning has commenced for the 2008 programme, which
will take place on the West Australian margin from
November 2008 to January 2009. The UOS will be joining
Geoscience Australia on board the German research vessel
the Sonne, to carry out geological and biological research.
The 2007 UOS was made possible by grants from the IOC
UNESCO and the ARC Network for Earth System Science and
support from Geoscience Australia.
2007 was a year of change for the Foundation. We have been
reconsidering our role as an external advocate for the School
of Geosciences at Sydney University.
We cancelled this year’s Edgeworth David Day seminar
which will reappear in 2008 in amended format. Otherwise
the Foundation continued its usual business of organising
34

Scholarships & Prizes
Earth Foundation Scholarships and Company Awards
Ist Year entering 2nd Year -
Aedon Talsma
Floyd Howard
Allison Runck
Emma McIntosh
2nd Year entering 3rd Year
Coffey Geosciences Scholarship
3rd Year entering Honours
URS Scholarship
S&L Raam Prize
Fugro Geophysics Prize
Ken Richards Memorial Scholarship
Prospectors Supplies Pty Ltd - Sunto Prize
Elliston Medal (Postgraduate Award)
University and School Awards
Undergraduate Awards
Grace Shephard
Genoveffa Pezzimenti
Michael Rothery
Michelle Kartun
Vashti Singh
Gemma Roberts
Halina Kuczma
CE Marshall Scholarship
University Prize for Geology
Jack Mahoney Memorial Prize in Geology
Olga Marion Browne Prize for Field Work
Deas -Thomson Scholarship in Mineralogy
Quodling Testimonial Prize
Leo A Cotton Prize in Exploration Geophysics
Sheila Mitchell Swain Memorial Prize
Edgeworth David Prize in Palaeontology
Professor Griffith Taylor Prize for Geography
Professor James McDonald Holmes Prize for Geography
Slade Prize for Geography 1 Practicals
Slade Prize for Geology 2 Practicals
WH Maze Prize for Intermediate Geography
GS Caird Scholarship for Geography 3
Rev AS McCook Memorial Scholarship for Geography
Edgar Ford Memorial Scholarship for Geography
Postgraduate Awards
George Harris Scholarship
Floyd Howard
Katherine Bennell
Matthew Smith
Jacqueline Murray
Hannah Lane
Zoe Hatzopoulos
Kara Matthews
Vashti Singh
Sabin Zahirovic
Emma McIntosh
Emily Mouat
Tiffany Harrison
Grace Sheppard
Sabin Zahirovic
Amelia Roberts
Bradley Ruting
James Witkowski
Brett Davis
35

Seminars
Southeast Asian Seminar Series
The AMRC, in conjunction with the Australia-Cambodia
Research Initiative (ACRI) and the Chair of Southeast Asian
Studies in the Faculty of Arts, hosts a fortnightly seminar
series known as the Southeast Asian Seminar Series. This
series replaced the former ‘Mekong Discussion Group’ in
2007. Students, researchers and others are invited to present
seminars on contemporary development and environment
issues related to Southeast Asia. The group provides
participants with the opportunity to meet and network with
researchers and groups involved in a wide range of initiatives
in Southeast Asia and Australia.
Time: 1:00-2:00pm on the advertised dates
Where: The Conference Room (Rm 474),
Madsen Building, University of Sydney
14 Mar Research leading to capacity building in the
public health sector in Cambodia. Presented by
Ian Lubek (University of Guelph)
28 Mar Cambodia: Looking back on 2006 and into 2007.
Presented by Milton Osborne.
2 May Made in China: Material culture, development
and Asian tourism at Angkor. Presented by Tim
Winter (University of Sydney).
16 May Unravelling the ADB’s Greater Mekong Subregion
program: An overview and update on key
structures, programs and developments.
Presented by Lindsay Soutar (University of Sydney)
30 May Towards a history of Khmer urbanism: methods
and issues in Cambodian settlement and archaeology.
Presented by Damien Evans (University of Sydney)
25 July Renewed conflict in the southern Philippines:
programs against violence and the roles of
women. Presented by Dalomabi Lao Bula
(Mindanao State University)
7 Aug Alternatives to ‘race-to-the bottom’: responses of
labor press, labor unions and the state to workers’
spontaneous minimum wage strikes in Vietnam.
Presented by Angie Tran (University of California)
29 Aug A land of our own? Resolving the illegal
occupation of land in Kepulauan Riau, Indonesia.
Presented by Nick Long (Cambridge University)
19 Sept Sidelined citizens in Cambodia: when international
NGOs implement a government participation
policy. Beth Rushton (University of Sydney)
17 Oct The ‘afterlives’ of area studies in a global age:
reconsiderations from Southeast Asia.
Presented by Goh beng Lan
14 Nov Vietnam: The ‘socialist oriented market economy’
and the question of state ownership.
Presented by Michael Karadjis
TGIF Seminar Series 2007
The ‘Thank God It’s Friday’ seminar series continued in
2007, featuring presentations from visiting and local
academics, and postgraduate students. Highlights
included presentations from Ian Dalziel of the University
36
of Texas at Austin, Professor Stan Brunn of the University of
Kentucky, and Professor Simon Turner, a Federation Fellow
of Macquarie University. Oil Search and Mosaic Oil also
made a showing, as did Geoscience Australia. The seminar
series was entertaining and often festive. The TGIF event
continues in its tradition of showcasing the depth of talent
in our department, and providing opportunities to meet
international researchers in an informal setting.
• Prof. Paul Philp, University of Oklahoma, USA –
Environmental Forensics - Utilization of Stable Isotopes to
Monitor Origin and Fate of Groundwater Contaminants
• A/Prof. R. Dietmar Müller – Telling the Fortune of the World ...
Backwards
• Kevin Lepot, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris – 2.7 G.y.
old nano-aragonite reveals Archean stromatolite biogenesis
• David Mitchell – Far Canals
• Ian Dalziel, University of Texas at Austin, USA – Rock, Ice and
Water: Geological Perspectives on the Antarctic Ice Sheet and
its Future
• A/Prof. Paolo Ciavola and Clara Armaroli, University of
Ferrara, Italy – Morphodynamics of rhythmic bars in the
Mediterranean
• A/Prof. Alison Bashford and Dr Carolyn Strange, University
of Toronto, Canada – From Rocks to Rainfall to Race: the
evolution of Griffith Taylor’s thought
• Prof. Stan Brunn, University of Kentucky, USA –
Challenges to the Geographical Imagination
• Roxey Sutherland, Mosaic Oil, Rockhampton High Discovery
• Jenny Totterdell, Geoscience Australia – Australia’s southern
continental margin: petroleum studies and margin-scale
synthesis at Geoscience Australia
• Joshua Knight – Antarctic Expedition: Geodynamic evolution
of Prydz Bay area
• Tim Sindle – Borehole Radar around the World
• Daniel Robinson – Bioprospecting or biopiracy?
Intellectual property issues for biological resources and
traditional knowledge - cases from Thailand
• John You, Nicholas Herold, Judy Tong – Are we heading back
to the middle Miocene climate?
• Serena Lee – A Preliminary Assessment of Floc Dynamics in
Sydney Harbour, Australia
• Prof. Simon Turner, Federation Fellow, Macquarie University
– U-series applications to magmatic processes
• Dr Kevin C Hill, Oil Search, Tectonics, structure and oil/gold
exploration in New Guinea
• Joshua Knight – Modelling the Contemporary and
Palaeo-Stress of the Indo-Australian Plate
• Hannah Power – Nearshore Wave Behaviour and Surf Zone
Saturation
• Melanie de Leon – Omphacite Granulites in Breaksea Sound,
Fiordland, New Zealand
• Matthew Vanderheyden – The Distribution of Heavy Metals
in Surface Soils of the Port Jackson Catchment
• Halina Kuczma – Eclogite Pods in High-Pressure Granulites,
Breaksea Sound, New Zealand
• Tim Hogg – Heavy Metals in the Sediments and Oysters of
Four New South Wales estuaries

Field Trips
GEOS3009 FIELD TRIP
One Tree Island
Gavin Birch
Each year during the mid-semester break in first semester,
the third year Geosciences class GEOS3009 travels to The
University of Sydney Research Station on One Tree Island
(OTI) located in the southern Great Barrier Reef. The reef
entirely encloses a beautiful emerald-blue sandy lagoon
dotted with dark-green patch reefs. However, getting to this
paradise is exciting and fraught with misgivings.
The class met, as usual, at the Gladstone Yacht Club on the
day of departure and students helped load the boat hired to
take them out to OTI. It’s always a great relief (and surprise)
when all students actually arrive. And, as usual, the students
were very buoyant and gung-ho about the trip across the
continental shelf, despite the staff trying to give hints as to
what they might expect on the trip out - without alarming
anyone. The boat pulled out of Gladstone Harbour on
time at 7pm straight into the teeth of a screaming southwesterly
gale. Roaring laughter and loud chatter slowly
died and changed to low murmuring and retching noises
as we rounded the protection of the last headland. The
boat ploughed into the swell, which hit the bow diagonally
causing the vessel to corkscrew violently. As usual, students
assumed staff could do something about these sorts of situations,
but after a long period of cursing the wind and waves,
they realised the staff were hopeless, which, by third year,
they are quite used to.
After what seemed like an eternity, the boat anchored in the
lee of a nice big solid reef and calm descended on the ship
and its occupants fell asleep. At first light, we transferred
onto little island boats and again hit the seas, this time the
students were waiting for it and dug in. After two hours we
reached the outer reef of OTI and the tricky manoeuvre of
crossing the reef commenced. Horrified students watched
as waves crashed onto the reef throwing up giant clouds of
spray - crossing the reef looked impossible. However, as the
little boats drew closer, a gap in the reef appeared and with
a little bump and roll the boats crossed over. Like the saying
goes – the best cure for sea sickness is to sit under a tree
– and as soon as we hit the beautiful white sands of the cay,
the students rallied back to their normal boisterousness.
For the next five days we had lectures in the mornings and
set out field experiments in the lagoon and walking transects
across the reef in the afternoons. We snorkelled every day
observing platy, sponging and prickly coral, as well as reef
sharks, wobbygongs, giant rays, eels, two types of turtle and
a million types of coral fish. Transect morphology, lagoonal
sediment characteristics, reefal boulders transport and sediment
trap data were collated and interpreted in relation to
ambient energy. Oral and written reports completed the
academic exercise. The trip highlights were a snorkel offshore
during an unexpected lull in the weather and a night
snorkel organized by the island manager.
The class returned to Gladstone on the very comfortable
giant catamaran via Heron Island and a very dignified trip to
the tropical bar in the resort.
GEOG2121 Field Trip
Mines, Wines and Thoroughbreds
Phil McManus
This is a field trip to Murrurundi and the Upper Hunter Region
for GEOG2121 Environmental and Resource Management
students. The field trip was held for the first time in 2007, replacing
the Eden-Bombala field trip which looked at forestry
issues. Mines, Wines and Thoroughbreds explores the ecological,
socio-cultural and political-economic bases of three
major industries in the Upper Hunter Region - coal mining,
viticulture and thoroughbred breeding. Students had tours
of various establishments (although Equine Influenza meant
that thoroughbred properties were quarantined), heard
many presentations and completed a report that required
them to apply their knowledge and ideas of sustainability to
make recommendations about a hypothetical coal mining
proposal near Scone.
GEOS3008 Field Trip
Geoff Clarke
On Sunday 1st and Monday 2nd of July 2007, a party of 50
people made their journey to Broken Hill then on to Plumbago
station (SA) to attend GEOS3008, the Geology and
Geophysics Field Course jointly organized with Macquarie
University. This group, the largest of the past 6 years, also included
half a dozen students from the University of Newcastle.
While staff journeyed in mini-buses and 4WDs, students
had the privilege to travel by train to Broken Hill. Making use
of a relaxing 13 hours journey, students had the opportunity
to entertain themselves with a short selection of papers on
the Proterozoic geology of the Broken Hill – Olary block,
while enjoying, from the comfort of their air conditioned
compartment, the NSW scenery. The day before, staff, demonstrators,
and logistics officers, packed into minibuses and
4WD’s, rejoicing at the view of the odometers slowly counting
the 1260 km separating Sydney Uni from Broken Hill.
Once in Broken Hill, they quickly got things organised for the
following day to welcome the students. At 19:10 pm, smiling
apprentice geologists flew out of the Citylink train, collected
their luggage and jumped into the minibuses to make the
short trip to the local backpackers where we all spent the
night. The next morning was dedicated to collecting the
necessary supply to sustain our two weeks stay at Plumbago,
where we arrived late on the afternoon.
While most participants quickly made their move to secure
accommodation in the shearer quarters, the wise and astute
chose the comfort of a tent, happy to trade the warm but
noisy shearer quarters for the cooler but quieter camping
ground. After an extensive health and safety induction
program offered by David Mitchell, students were eager
to explore the region they had to map over the following
two weeks. Mingling with students from Newcastle and
Macquarie, our students discovered the many joys and the
few pains of fieldwork. Blisters, sore feet, cold wind and rain
37

were quickly forgotten as our apprentices quickly got into
a well-orchestrated routine. All days started at 6 am with a
joyful tune carefully selected by David Mitchell for its faculty
to promptly awaken sleepy students and staff. After a
healthy cold shower and a warm breakfast, field bags stuffed
with sandwiches, fruit and enough water for a week, all were
ready for an 8 hour day in the field. Lithologies, strikes and
dips, metamorphic assemblages were dutifully recorded on
field books, maps and cross-sections; all growing more colourful
as the days went by. While some students managed
to balance a lack of scientific rigor with an excess of creativity,
most mastered the basics skills that make good field
geologists. Every evening, a warm veggie soup, prepared by
Melanie de Leon under the close supervision of David Mitchell,
welcomed the students back at the camp.
Evenings were busy preparing dinner, arguing over the interpretation
of local geological features, while others mended
their blisters and cold before all spent some time tidying up
maps and cross-sections while discussing their objectives for
the next day. During dinners, Honours students kept their
younger peers on their toes by dispensing their wisdom
through entertaining seminars. While a few committed students
were still working past 10 pm, most staff wisely retired
into their sleeping bags for a well-deserved rest.
And so went two weeks of solid mapping. New features
were discovered, including a sheared conglomerate with
spectacular stretching lineation on the South West end of
the mapping area. The kinematic of which is still uncertain
though. An interesting question to be solved by the 2008
participants of the field course.
GEOS2114 Field Trip
Volcanoes, Hot Rocks & Minerals
Patrice Rey
A “Volcano Summer School” version of GEOS 2114 was
established in 2007. It focused on a nine day field trip to
the North Island of New Zealand, but included lectures and
practicals in common with the Semester 1 version of the
course. Eight students enrolled in the course and joined staff
members Derek Wyman and Jock Keene, several Honours
students doing research in New Zealand, and doctoral
student Matt dePaoli. The trip included study of cinder cones
and other volcanic features in the Auckland area, thermal
fields and rhyolites in the Rotorua area, and climbs of the
active Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu volcanoes in the central part
of the island. The top of Ruapehu is the highest point on the
North Island and the predicted imminent collapse of a wall
containing a crater lake near the peak (approached from the
safe side) emphasised the dynamic nature of young volcanic
terranes. Although the collapse of the wall and resulting
“lahar” mud flow did not occur until a month after we left the
area, the climbs and the entire trip were a great success and
a hit with the students.
The Semester 1 version of GEOS 2114 undertook a weekend
field trip to the youngest volcano in NSW, Mt Canobolas, near
Orange. Many of the features present on young volcanoes
are still preserved on Mt Canobolas and the surrounding
volcanic vents. The convenience of being able to visit these
features in our own back yard, and share in a great camp
38
fire in the evening, made this trip a fantastic introduction to
hands-on volcanology for the 30 or so students involved.
GEOg2111 Field trip
Eleanor Bruce
In GEOS2111/2911 Natural Hazards: A GIS Approach students
participated in a field trip to examine vegetation fuel loads
in bushland areas with differing fire histories. The study site
was an area of open eucalypt forest near the St Ives Showground,
Ku-ring-gai. Fire management experts from the
Ku-ring-gai Council worked with the students to quantify
fuel load based on various ground cover and vegetation
conditions. Students were involved in sampling design,
vegetation surveys and GPS based mapping. Data collected
by each student group was collated into a fuel load map
and used in subsequent GIS practicals to model fire hazard.
The unit of study examines the challenges in fire hazard
management associated with determining appropriate approaches
to risk reduction (eg. fuel reduction burns) given
potentially conflicting requirements to protect lives, property
and biodiversity. The field work provided students with an
opportunity to understand field conditions influencing bushfire
behaviour. The survey results will be used by Ku-ring-gai
Council in longer-term monitoring of fuel load accumulation
and assessment of vegetation response to fire events.
GEOs3511 Field trip
Bill Pritchard
In April, students from GEOS 3511 (‘Understanding Australia’s
Regions’) travelled to Condobolin, in Central-Western NSW,
to undertake a study of the regional retail economy which
was presented to Lachlan Shire Council. Students also interviewed
local farmers on the social and economic impacts of
the drought.
Students
explore
during
the South
Pacific Field
School,
guided by
Prof John
Connell