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International newsOn 11 September, members from the Geological Society ofSpain were successful in their motion at the IUCNCongress in Korea for geoheritage to be formally includedin the IUCN Program 2013–2016. This historic event marksthe first time that an IUCN Congress Forum will addressgeoconservation as an action taken towards the formalmanagement and conservation of geodiversity andgeoheritage — that is, the non-biological side of ournatural diversity!News from the Geotourism SubcommitteeNew membersThe Subcommittee has recently welcomed to its ranksthree new members: Bruce Leaver, Chairman, SapphireCoast Tourism, Cobargo, NSW; Professor Ross Dowling,Foundation Professor and Head of Tourism, School ofMarketing, Tourism & Leisure of Edith Cowan University,and Ian Lewis, Director, Kanawinka Geopark, Mt Gambier– The Subcommittee records with appreciation the pastcontribution of Dr Nancy Vickery of the University of NewEngland in Armidale who has recently resigned from theSubcommittee. A full Geotourism Subcommittee report,which covers the 34th IGC, recent developments withKanawinka Geopark, and further engagement with theAustralian National Landscapes Program, can be found atthe GSA website Geotourismhttp://gsa.org.au/heritage/Geotourism.html.NewsACTNational Science Week Eventfrom the DivisionsAlthough many members were at IGC, the ACT Division once again rana stall at the CSIRO ‘Experimentathon’ weekend in August, repeatinglast year’s very successful dinosaur footprint painting devised by localcommittee member, Éva Papp. All weekend, Australian NationalUniversity (ANU) undergraduates and Honours students led by SnowyHaiblen slaved away making plaster casts of crinoids, trilobites,Children concentrate on their fossil painting at the CSIRO Science WeekExperimentathon. Image courtesy John Rogers.MARGARET BROCXConvenorStanding Committee for Geological Heritagegeoheritage@iinet.net.auQ u izine(AnswersBY TOR MENTORon page 45.)There are many geological and geoscience societies throughout the world that produce a journal or newsletter.Can you match the professional society with their journal or newsletter in the following lists?Professional society1 Geological Society of Sweden2 Geological Society of London3 Geological Society of America4 Geological Association of Canada5 American Association of PetroleumGeologists6 Australian Society of ExplorationGeophysicists7 European Association of Geoscientistsand Engineers8 European Association of Geochemistry9 Society for Sedimentary Geology10 International Ichnological AssociationJournal or newsletter1 Ichnos2 Explorer3 GFF4 Preview5 Palaios6 Geology7 Chemical Geology8 First Break9 Geolog10 Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geologyand HydrogeologyTAG December 2012| 17
achiopods, sharks’ teeth and yes, a dinosaurfootprint (courtesy of Patricia Vickers-Rich).Innumerable (actually about 600) smallchildren were swiftly covered with garbagebags to protect their clothes — muchto the relief of their parents. Then thechildren, some more expertly than others,enthusiastically covered the casts with paintand delightedly carried them off home.While the youngsters were busy painting thecasts (and themselves!), Doug Finlayson andJohn Rogers sought to interest their parentsand older children in the geology of theCanberra region. The ACT Guidebook and Map,created by the GSA’s ACT Division, came invery handy.Visitors heard about the rocks under theirhouses, learnt how to find the nearest(extinct) volcano and learnt about the riskof the local earthquakes. Many wereintrigued to learn something of the geologyof well-known landmarks like the State CircleSilurian unconformity and associated faultsand the Lake George horst and graben. Somecuriosity must have been aroused becausethere has been a small but noticeable rise inthe sales of our Guidebook and Map, so wecan hope we have also recruited some futuregeologists.JOHN ROGERSQUEENSLANDEkka 2012 ReportThe GSA Queensland Division (GSAQ) and theQueensland Branch of the AustralasianInstitute of Geoscientists (AIG) hostedanother booth display at the BrisbaneExhibition (known locally as ‘the Ekka’).The joint booth is almost a tradition now,and is part of a continuing effort to increasepublic knowledge about planet Earth, geologyand mining. This year the City of Brisbanewas lucky to host the 34th InternationalGeological Congress (IGC), adding pressure onthe Ekka event since the display needed to beup and running while the 34th IGC was stillin full swing.Even though members were busy workingfor and attending the 34th IGC, the supportfor this educational outreach to the publicwas very high. We had 18 volunteers and11 sponsored students volunteering their timeand passion to answer questions from thepublic. GSA Executive Director, Sue Fletcher,Friedrich von Gnielinski, Laura Kaye and Alison Sternes at the 2012 Ekka display. Image courtesyFriedrich von Gnielinski.was also able to spend a couple of valuablehours at the booth, obviously enjoying thequestions posed by some very enthusiasticprimary school students. On behalf of theAIG and GSAQ I would like to thank all thevolunteers for their tireless efforts.Even though we could not organise thedisplay under the banner of National ScienceWeek for the first time this year, we were stillable to acquire a large space and run thesame ‘touch-and-feel’ set-up of the largerock specimens, and show the large ‘Careersin Geology’ and the ‘SE Queensland Evolution’posters. As well, we displayed the highqualityminerals, fossils and gems cabinettower and the darkened cabinetdemonstrating the fluorescence ofvarious minerals and shells.The changes to the exhibition grounds did notdiminish the public’s interest, with hugenumbers of people attending on weekendsand the public holiday. School days were a bitslower, although the booth’s location withinan education exhibition hall helped directmany school groups through our booth.For the many kids who showed a genuineinterest in rocks and minerals, we gave awaysome bagged specimens (containing topaz,sapphire, magnesite, Ulam marble,chrysoprase, red agate or malachite), to thedelight of the recipients. Most of thesespecimens were collected by me duringfieldwork over the last two years withassistance from Renison Consolidated Mines,Kunwarara Mines, Gumigil Pty Ltd, BajoolQuarries and others.One new attraction the Queensland Divisionof GSA could offer was the newly releasedbooklet Rocks and Landscapes of Brisbane andIpswich. This proved to be the hot seller atthis year’s display. A very pleasing totalof around $1560 worth of books were soldat the Ekka this year including $640 aloneon sales of the new Brisbane and Ipswichbooklet.At the time of writing, statistics includingnumbers of people through the pavilionwere not available. The general feeling ofvolunteers, though, was that those numberswere again fairly high.FRIEDRICH VON GNIELINSKIChair, 2012 Ekka SubcommitteeQueensland Division18 |TAG December 2012
Page 2 and 3: The Australian GeologistNewsletter
Page 4 and 5: Editor’s CommentIt would be surpr
Page 6 and 7: While we recognise that the propose
Page 8 and 9: Causes of past climate changesEarth
Page 10 and 11: New membersThe GSA welcomes the fol
Page 12 and 13: 5. Whereas application of biochar o
Page 14 and 15: Upcoming in AJESResearch papersJH C
Page 16 and 17: Society UpdateStratigraphic ColumnT
Page 20 and 21: SOUTH AUSTRALIASouth Australia comm
Page 22 and 23: Earth Science History GroupTom Vall
Page 24 and 25: International Earth ScienceOlympiad
Page 26 and 27: Young Earth Science NewsTop young E
Page 28 and 29: University of South Australia Coast
Page 30 and 31: FeatureNautilus Exploration Program
Page 32 and 33: Examples of archaeological sites in
Page 34 and 35: Special Report34th IGC - another Au
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Page 38 and 39: Professor Iain Stewart.Left to righ
Page 40 and 41: school children. Here, along the ba
Page 42 and 43: Sponsored student reportsMany organ
Page 44 and 45: Nick Lyons with his poster at the 3
Page 46 and 47: Books for reviewPlease contact the
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TAG - Geological Society of Australia

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