__ ,... 40/1982 i

q cJ I J?. 11 . , THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY ;

•• • FACULTY OF SCIENCE

Department of Geology

ANNUAL REPORT 1981

(i) General Comments

Activity this year has been overshadowed by the uncertainty consequent upon the delay in appointing a new professor. Implementation of new research projects and large-scale replacement of obsolete equipment has been delayed, and the present employment opportunities outside the University have made for an unsettled work environment. •

A new lecturer in Economic Geology has been well received by staff, .students :i.nd industry. The .resources . boom and low value •of scholarships continues to erode our ~raduate school, but first year numbers improved and all seven honours students found positions in industry or research before the end of the year. ·The lack of ~enior students makes it difficult to find suitable part-tiree tutors for some subjects. With the aid of a grant from Essa to encourage students in Geology, we set up several student assistantships and brought thirty High School students to visit the Department and take part in a field excursion.

Research activity has continued at a high level. Three ARC-C grants and an AMSTAC grant were received by the department. Some major research pr0jects are ~earing completion. Staff have actively participated in geological symposia in Australia and overseas, and the departmental seminars remain popular. The Student Geological Society organised several social functions, and some innovative geo­logical debates in the field.

A farewell dinner for Professor D.A. Brown on his retirement was held in Burton Hall and was well attended by old students, friends and University coll­eagues. The departmental library has been named the 'David Brown Room' to honour "his work £or the department and the library in particular over the last 24 years.

Many overseas geologists visited the department during the year, including a.~ official delegation from the Academia Sinica. Several field excursions were arranged to research field areas, and visitors gave lectures in the department and two short courses.

The department maintains good relations with local exploration companies, and in particular, Essa and Western Mining have continued their financial support of Honours students and uur teaching and research activities. Plans are underway for some collaborative research of direct interest to companies.

Irene Crespin, who was a palaeontologist with the Bureau of Mineral Resources for many years, bequeathed a valuable prize in Palaeontology to the University.

(ii) Cour.:;es

The new course, Earth Sciences A02, taught jointly with Geography attracted thirty six students. The course was successful and we hope for more enrolments ln 1982. Geology AOl was adjusted slightly to allow for the fact that non-science st"'..ldents would take A02. -/

· ·-"' 2 40/1982

Following the new first year courses, plans were completed for revision of the second year for 1982. A new course in Solid State Chemistry (BOl) ~ be taught jointly with Chemistry was approved by the Faculty. Only three ~er Geology 'B' units will be offered. (B02 - Stratigraphical Palaeontology; B03 -Mineralogy and Igneous Petrology; . B04 ~ Sedimentology and Metamorphic Petrology.)

(iii) Enrolments and Examinations

The statistical table attached shows the examination results. In first year 19 students in A02 and 13 students in AOl obtained credit marks or better. The contin~ing high wastage r~te (20%) in first year is worrying; it may be due to general student mobility and difficulties in selecting appropriate courses ·in first year.

The failure rate re.duced by 5% from 1980, possibly because students wishing to take only Introductory Geology had an ·alternative in A02. Second and third year results were good. 37% - 60% of students in B units and 36% - 75% in C units obtained Credit marks or better. Failu.res were few. ., i

High work loads are a continuing problem, but most students seem to apprec-, iate the breadth of subjects offered, and accept the need for hard work to cover the wide range of material.

There is a pleasing increase in the number of students taking Mathematic-s with Geology, and more students are encouraged to take Physics in view of the acute shortage of geophysicists in Australia.

Prizes were awarded as follows:-

Geological Society of Australia Prize W.B. Clarke Prize Anthony Seelaf Memorial Prize Ampol Prize Irene Crespin Prize

- J. Downing (Geology AOl) - R. Creaser (Second year) - N~C. Robertson (Field work) - C. Killick (Third year) - No award

(iv) Technical equipment and general staffing

P. ~ard resigned as research assistant to undertake graduate studies at the University of Glasgow; the post was frozen as a budget economy.

The efficient use of the new Logitech rock sectioning machine demands the use of epoxy plastics for impregnation and mounting of samples. These are causing health problems and better ventilation and fume hoods are urgently required fo.r the lapidary workshop. Similar problems are being experienced in our analytical chemistry laboratory, and it is clear that facilities designed 15 . years ago are not adequate for the present operational requirements.

The Library continues to function well; the Librarian was on maternity leave for part of the year, and the Science Library is thanked for assistance during her absence.

Two members of the general staff continued studies at the Technical College .

(v) Student Activity

The department.al lunch time sen:inars were well attended . The Student Geological Society organized several social functions, attracting students from all years .

3-- 40/1982

Two successful field debates were organized with staff help. No formal business~as brought to the Departmental Committee.

(vi) Graduate Students

Three PhD students and one MSc student completed their theses during the year, and two new students enrolled at the end of the year. D. Walker and R. Holmes are in the final stages of thesis writing on geochemical studies of New Guinea volcanics and Queensland granites respectively. T. Liew continues his work on Malaysian granites. D. Windrim completed field work on granulites in ~e Northern Territory and participated in a Geological Society Specialist Group field excursion there. D. Wyborn converted from MSc to PhD candidature, and · continues his geochemical work on the Boggy Plain pluton. P. Johnston continues his work on Devonian bivalves at Taemas, NSW, and M. Alam his study of surficial deposits in the· Castlereagh River valley, NSW. W. Sawka brought a collection of granites from California (USA) to form the basis of a geochemical PhD project, and W. McKay commence~ a part-time PhD study of the Woodlawn ore body.

(vii) Staff

Professor:

Readers:

Senior Lecturer:

Lecturer:

Lecturing Fellow:

Temporary Lecturer:

Senior Tutor:

Res~arch Assistant:

.

0 D.A. Brown, MSc(NZ), PhD(Lond), DIC

# K.S.W. Campbell, MSc, PhD(Qld) B.W. Chappell, MSc(NE), PhD(ANU) K.A.W. Crook, MSc(Syd), PhD(NE), BA

* M.J. Rickard, BSc, PhD(Lond), DIC

R.A. Eggleton, BSc(Adel), PhD(Wis)

+ J.L. Walshe, BSc, PhD(Tas)

W.E. Cameron, MSc(Melb), PhD(Camb)

C.J. Jenkins, BSc(Syd), PhD(Camb)

D.A. Feary, MSc(Auck)

t P. Ward, BSc(ANU)

0 Retired March 1981, now Professor Emeritus # Study leave from April - October 1981 * Head of Department + Appointed July 1981 t Resigned May 1981

(viii)Staff Ma~ters

D.A. Brown was appointed Professor Emeritus upon his retirement in March. J.L. Walshe arrived from the University of Tasmania to take up the important post of Economic Geologist. C.J. Jenkins completed his temporary lectureship; he served the department well, standing in for Campbell during his term as Dean and while on study leave by lecturing in Palaeontology to first and second year students and by organizing departmental seminars. F.E.M. Lilley of the Research School of Earth Sciences again taught the Geophysics course (C28) . R.A. Eggleton continued his service with the ACT Schools Accreditation Committ~e, and M.J. Rickard served on tl"le Physics Review Committee.

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·--4 40/1982

A Visiting Fellow, Professor E.H.T. Whitten, together with B.W. Chappell, conunenced a multivariate analysis of the geochemical data on the granites~ SE Australia. Professor w.s. Pitcher, a world authority on granites, made a short visit, talked with Honours students and visited research field areas. A dele­gation from the Academia Sinica made an extensive tour of Australian geology led by Chappell. Dr Y. Zheng from Beijing University, China, spent three months in the department studying the teaching of Structural Geology.

The Geological Society meeting in Perth attracted many overseas visitors, several of whom stopped off in Canberra. Professor R. Walker, a Visiting Fellow, from McMaster University, Canada, taught the Sedimentology course (C07), and Dr C. Kendall from Gulf Research and Development~ USA,· gave a ~bort workshop on Carbonate Petrology attended by BMR and company geologists as well as our own students. Dr G. Lister (Utrecht) spent two weeks in the department; he assisted an Honours student and lectured on petrofabrics. Professor D. Merriam, assisted by Crook and Feary, brought a group of his students from Syracuse University on a geological field ex~edition.

• Other visitors included: Professor P. Cloud (University of Santa Barbara, USA); D.K.H. Wolf (Consultant, Sydney); Dr I. Smith (Auckiand), Professor A. Salvador (Exxon and University of Texas, Austin, USA); Professor K. Hsu ' (ETH, Zurich, Switzerland); M. Kursten (Institute of Geosciences, Germany); P. Rodda (Geological Survey, Fiji); P.J. Stephenson (JCUNQ); P. PoJiard and C. Johnston (JCUNQ). The latter are using the department's analytic fac.:ilities in a joint project on the tin-bearing granites of north Queensland.

Staff and students gave papers at the following conferences and symposia:-

Geological Society Sth Convention (Perth) Granite Symposia (Canberra and Townsville) International Caledonide Symposium (Uppsala, Sweden) Expanding Earth Symposium (Sydney) GSA Tectonics Symposium (Alice Springs)

Dr K.A.W. Crook was appointed Chairman of the International Union of Geo­logical Sciences ad hoe Committee on Sedimentology and Dr M.J. Rickard was elected Vice-President of the Geological Society of Australia.

Because of heavy teaching loads, the CCE course "Adventures in Earth Sciences" was not given.

(ix) Staff Research

Research activity has been maintained at a high level.

Dr K.S.W. Campbell continued his work on fossil lungfish while on study leave, and examined important museum collections in Europe a.crd the USA. Several papers are in press or in an advanced stage of preparation.

Dr B.W. Chappell continues as Secretary of the International Geological Correlation Program on Circumpacif ic Plutonism. The geochemical data bank for SE Australian granites is growing and tTMO major bulletins are in press. A study of

- the tin-bearing granites around the world has been initiated. The geochemistry laboratory continues to provide uranium and thorium analyses for the thermolumin­esence dating program of the Physics Department.

Dr K.A.W. Crook continues work on the Tumut Trough and completed a review of the Palaeogeography of Australia .in the early Palaeozoic for Essa.

D~M.J. Rickard cornpletedastudy of an area of the Caledonides in Norway and con!lfnues work on a tectonic profile across the Tasman fold belt and structures of Ordovician and Devonian rocks of southeastern NSW.

Dr R.A. Eggleton is expanding his project on mineral and rock weathering processes in basalts; an ARGC research associate will commence work early in 1982. Electron rnicroprobe work has been carried out at the CSIRO Soils Labora­tory in Adelaide.

Dr J.L. Walshe completed work started in Tasmania on an AMIRA-funded project to study the physico-chernical processes involved in the formation of massive sulphides. Proposals fonnulated for a new research project into . the heavy mineral content of granites has been favourably received by AMIRA. Work was commenced on the physico-chemical controls on fluid evolution from granite melts and possible joint studies with an ion microprobe on sulphur isotopes in economic minerals.

Dr W.E. Cameron continues work on boninites, ophiolites and high grade aluminous metamorphic assemblages. Rare-earth element analyses were made at ; RSES in Professor S.R. Taylor's laboratory. Collaborative work commenced on Nd/Sm systematics of ophiolites with Dr M. Mcculloch (RSES) and on the origin of gold with Dr R.R. Keays (Melbourne University). The latter is an AMIRA­funded project.

Dr C.J. Jenkins completed work on some Ordovician and Silurian graptolites and three papers were prepared.

Mr D.A. Feary is working on facies analysis of elastic and carbonate sediments of the Boambolo district near Yass as a continuation of his PhD project.

(x) Research Grants

ARGC

AINSE

Tasman orogen project M.J. Rickard & K.A.W. Crook

The mechanism of basalt weathering R.A. Eggleton

Nd isotope analysis of grani~e source B.W. Chappell • rocks

Geochemistry of ocean margin sediments K.A.W. Crook

Distribution and significance of trace B.S. Chappell elements in igneous and metamorphic rocks

Esso Silurian and Devonian Paleogeography K.A.W. Crook of Australia

AMSTAC Great. Barrier Reef geochemistry "

Terminated 1981

New grant $23,650

Continuing $21,000

$8,045

$2,000

$17,500

Continuing $10,272

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6 40/19 8 PUBLICATIONS

# 1. B!-l.\'l'IA, M.R. & PRASAD, A.K. (198l) , Evolution of Late Paleozoic glaci<Arnarine seaimentation in the Simla Hills, Lesser Himalaya, India. N. Jb. Geol. 1"Czlaont. /.!h., H.5, 267.-288.

2 . BHATIA, MUKUL, R. & TAYLOR, S .·R. # (1981), Trace element geochemistry and sedimentar .. · provinces: a stady from the Tasman Geosyncline, Australia. Chem. Geol, 33, 115-125 .

3. CAMPBELL, K.S.W., (1981), Lungfishes - Alive and Extinct. Field Mus. Nat. Hist . . Bull."' 52 (8) , 3-5.

4 . CAMI:RON, W.E. (1980) ~ A co!!IIlle:nt on .'Role of mul tistage m~lting in the for-nat ion of oceanic cruse. GeoZogy; 8, 562.

5. CAMERON, W.E. & NISBET, E.G.# (1981), Phanerozoic analogues of komatiitic basalts . Chap. 3 in Arndt, N.T. & Nisbet! E.G., eds., Komatiites, Allen & Unwin.

6 . COOK .- P.J.#, CROOK, K.A.W. & FROKES, L.A.# ocean drilling in the Australasian Region. l>ub?, ioation, No • 1, 12 8pp .

eds., (1981), The future of scientific Consortiwn for .ocean Geosoienoe.s

7. CROO!:C , KEITH A. W. · (1981) , The b:i:~ak-up of tile Australian-Antarctic segment of Gcn<iw~.naland. Ecological B·iogeography of Australia.) ed. A. Keaet, pp. 3-14 . The H2.gu~: Dr. W. Junk.

8 . DIETR.:CE, V,J.#, GANSSER, A.#, SOMMERADER, J.# & CAMERON, W.E. (1981), Palaeogene Komatiites frcm Gorgona Island, East Pacific - A primary magma for ocean floor busalts? Geochem. J., 15, 141-161.

9 . FE1.RY, D.A. & PESSAGNO Jr. E.A.#, An Early Jurassic age for chert within the Early Cretaceous Oponae Melange (Torlesse Supergroup) / Rat:.kumara Pen.i:is1Jla, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysias, 1980, 23, 623-628.

10. GUST, D.A.#, JOHNSON, R.W.# & CHAPPELL, B.W. (1980), Petrological data catalogue fo~ Boisa Island, an andesitic volcano in Papua New Guinea: whole-rock, mineral, and modal analyses and modelling data .. Bv.reau of MineXoaZ Resow:oces, Australic , P.eport 277; BMR Microform MF 147.

' 11. JAQUES, A.L.# & CHAPPELL, B.W. (1980}, Petrology and trace element geochemistry of the Pa:puan Ultramafic i3elt. Contz>ib. Nineral. Petrol., 75, 55-70.

* 12. RICKARD, M.J. & WARD, P. (l981), Palaeozoic crustal thickness in the southern part ot the Lachlan Orogen deduced from volcano and pluton-spacing geometry. J. geoi. Soc. Aust., 28, 19-32.

* 13. WYBORN, D., CHAPPELL, B.W. & JOHNSTON, R.M. , Three S-type Volcanic suites from the Lachlan Fold Belt SE Australia. J. Geophys. Res., 86, 10335-10348.

* Former member of Department.

# Not a member of this Department.

DF.l'AR'l'MENT OF G£0LOGY - ANALYSIS OF STUD~N'l' l'EkFORMANCF:

Percentage of Number Percentage of Number Sitting I Enrolled

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Enrolled

Subject as at Sitting Failure Sitting er

Pass Wastage HO D or Unit 30.4.81 or Pl 4.8.81 ..

-No % No ' No \ No ' No ' No ' No ' No ' No !is

AOl 50 100 40 80 10 20 5 10 40 100 1 3 4 10 8 20 19 48 BOl 20 100 19 95 1 5 3 15 19 100 3 16 2 11 4 21 6 32 B02 22 100 19 86 3 4 1 5 19 100 3 16 1 5 3 16 11 58 B03 16 100 15 94 1 6 2 13 15 100 0 0 4 27 2 13 6 1 40 BOS 10 100 10 100 0 0 0 0 10 100 0 0 2 20 4 40 4 40 C03 4 100 4 100 0 0 l 25 4 100 0 0 2 50 1 2S 0 0 COG 14 100 14 100 0 0 1 7 14 100 0 0 1 7 3 21 9 64 C07 5 100 4 80 1 20 0 0 4 100 0 0 2 50 2 50 0 0 Cl8 2 100 l 50 1 50 0 0 1 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 100 C28 6 100 6 100 0 0 0 0 6 100 1 17 0 0 3 50 2 33 . C29 11 100 11 100 0 0 1 9 11 100 0 0 0 0 4 36 6 55 C30 10 100 10 · 100 0 0 0 0 10 100 0 0 1 10 3 30 6 60 C33 8 100 8

'-100 0 0 0 0 8 100 0 0 1 u 2 25 5 63

A02 36 100 32 89 4 11 1 3 32 100 1 3 4 13 14 44 11 34

Enrolled Sitting Results

Final ffonours 8 6 2 Hons I, 3 IIA, 1 IIB

Masters Qualifying 0 0

Maste:i:s Degree 1 (f/t), 1 (p/t) 0

PhD 10 (f/t), 1 (p/t) 2 1 pass, 1 pending

11

Pass P2

No %

3 8 1 5 0 0 1 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

- -

12

Fail

No ' 5 13 3 16 1 5 . 2 13 0 0 1 25 1 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 9 0 0 0 0

1 3

-. .

•

"'° 0

" I-' \0 00

"'