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News from the Divisions TAG September 2011|15HEDG (Hunter EarthSciencesDiscussion Group)HEDG Pokolbin trip:The view from Tallavera Grove Estate.On Sunday 3 July 2011 the Hunter EarthSciences Discussion Group (HEDG; run by theGSA Hunter Branch) hosted a field trip toPokolbin, taking in the best of the Huntervineyards. Luckily for us, the complex qualityof the wines in the area was matched by theremarkable local geology. The plan was tothoroughly examine the strong link betweenPermian geology and local viticulture, and tofinish by examining the enigmaticCarboniferous rocks of the Mount View –Mount Bright Inlier. A good turnout of 30adventurous souls on the tour were initiallydisappointed by a thick fog, which finallyyielded before lunch to reveal a beautifulwinter’s day shining on the rolling green hillsand vineyards.We started with a tour of Tallavera GroveEstate led by owner Dr John Davis, a SydneyUni Geology alumni and Petroleum industryrefugee who now owns and runs threerenowned Hunter wineries. He gave us anoverview of the local geology and soil profiledevelopment. The vineyards on the TallaveraHEDG Pokolbin tripABOVE: Wine tasting and geology at Tallavera Grove Estate, led by owner Dr John Davis.BELOW: The view from Tallavera Grove Estate. Images courtesy John Greenfield.Grove Estate are underlain by mudstone,siltstone and fossiliferous limestone of thePermian Rutherford Formation (DalwoodGroup). These rocks represent an earlyshallow-marine depositional phase of thethen-nascent Sydney Basin. John pointed outthat the sought-after reddish soils (perfectfor Shiraz grapes) are actually developed onlimestone units of the Rutherford Formation,not, as commonly reported, on basaltic rocks.The resulting terra-rossa soil profile (thinkCoonawarra, SA) has a double layer of claythat can retain some moisture yet still drainsvery well. John then treated us to a specialwine-tasting that was the perfect appetiserfor a cooked lunch at Briar Ridge Estate.After lunch we headed up to Mount BrightLookout, part of the Mount View – MountBright Inlier which represents a tectonicpop-up window into the New EnglandOrogen. Several sites in the Mount ViewRange were visited to examine ignimbriticrhyolite (Mount Bright Lookout), theBimbadeen basalt, and conglomeraterepresenting the early rifting-stage of theSydney Basin, and gently dipping sandstonesof the Dalwood Group. To track the geologywe had two useful local sources — theoriginal inlier mapping by Albert Brakel(Brakel 1972) and more recent mapping byEdwin Willey (Willey 2010) from theUniversity of Southern Queensland.A big thank you to John Davis for hisinvitation to Tallavera Grove Estate, and thefollowing staff at the Geological Survey ofNew South Wales: Dr Phil Blevin forupdating us with the latest research onthe Mount View Range Granodiorite, PaulFlitcroft for digitising the geology map ofWilley (2010), Simone Meakin for editingthe guide, Trisha Moriarty for preparinginformation cards for the field, andespecially Phil Gilmore for organising alllogistics, writing the guide, and leadingmost of the stops.JOHN GREENFIELDHunter Valley GSA BranchREFERENCESBrakel, AT 1972. Geology of the Mount View District,Pokolbin, NSW. Journal of the Royal Society of NewSouth Wales, Vol 105, p 61-70.Willey, EC 2010. Pokolbin Inliers – a restraining bendpositive flower: implications for timing of the Hunter-Bowen Orogeny. New England Orogen Conference2010, University of New England, Armidale.
Hunter ValleyTime-scales of magma evolution beneathisland arc volcanoesA good turnout of 47 people attended thethird HEDG presentation of 2011, held onWednesday 1 June at Customs House. Thespeaker was Professor Simon Turner, aFederation Fellow in Isotopic Geochemistry atMacquarie University. Simon’s talk focused onhis research speciality, short-lived U-seriesisotope studies, which have come a long wayin the last ten years, especially in the developmentof new mass spectrometry techniques tomeasure the more obscure decay products ofuranium, such as radium and polonium. Thishas enabled Simon to date magmaticprocesses at the scale of days to thousandsof years.Simon Turner.Image courtesyMacquarieUniversity.It is a significant breakthrough for the field ofgeology, but has applications to many otherdisciplines. For those of us who study ancientrocks, it was a scary reminder of how quicklyisotopic systems can get out of equilibrium,and how fast partial melts and gases canescape their source regions. He was alsoable to cast light on one of life's greatmysteries, ie, why is it that daughters are indisequilibrium with their parents.Upcoming HEDG activitiesTuesday 11 OctoberEarth Science Week presentation2011 theme ‘Our ever-changing Earth’Dr Silvia Frisia (University of Newcastle)“From Icehouse to greenhouse to icehouse:what is ‘normal’ in Earth’s climate?”Tuesday 29 NovemberHonours students research projectsVictoriaGSAV Student ScholarshipRecipientThanks to the support of a GSAV StudentScholarship I was able to attend one of themajor conferences in the Earth Sciences: theInternational Union of Geodesy andAndrea Giuliani,Ph D Student,University ofMelbourne.Image courtesyChiara Mattioli.Reproduced withpermission fromthe VictorianGeologist.Geophysics General Assembly. On the third dayof the conference I gave an oral presentationabout mantle petrology and geochemistry, andhad reasonably good success. The room waspretty large so it was hard to envisage thenumber of delegates that attended my talk(40-50?), but I received many questions, evenafter the session ended. It was very pleasantto have top-class mantle petrologists (theones you just know for the articles and booksthey have published) come to me saying thatI was studying one of the most difficultmantle rocks ever investigated!The same day of the oral presentation I was topresent a poster related to my Master’s thesis.Unfortunately, there was an error on theprogram (one of several) and the sessionabout my poster had been held the day before.However, I could hang my poster on anotherday at my discretion. Considering that it wasabout thermometamorphic granites, I decidedto join the ‘magmatic chambers’ session. My‘unexpected’ poster was not a great success,and only a couple of delegates came to askquestions and share ideas. However, it wasgood to discover that the convenors of the‘magmatic chambers’ session were preparing avolume about the topic, providing a chance toprepare a manuscript with the unpublisheddata of my Master’s thesis.After that, I spent the remaining days of theconference attending interesting symposia onvolcanology and igneous petrology. Also,I had constructive chats with some mantlepetrologists who helped me realise theimportance of some of my findings. So for methe 2011 IUGG conference has not only been aplace to feel part of the scientific community,but above all it has given me many ideas onhow to improve my own research whilerealising the good results I have obtainedso far. Attending conferences helps youngstudents entering the world of science andI am grateful to the GASV for supporting myattendance at the 2011 IUGG conference.ANDREA GIULIANIUniversity of Melbourne6th Sprigg Symposium‘Unravelling the Northern Flinders and Beyond’Thursday 1 December 2011Mawson Lecture Theatre, University of Adelaide SAThe Sprigg Symposium is run by the Geological Society of Australia SA Branch and is held in recognitionof the contributions Dr Reginald Sprigg has made towards many aspects of geology in South Australia.Call for presenters for 20 minute oral presentations and postersFor further information go to http://www.sa.gsa.org.au/or contact Caroline Forbes(caroline.forbes@adelaide.edu.au)16 |TAG September 2011
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