SA

It is with great pleasure I write to invite you to our first technical event for the year- with the ASEG President Marina Costelloe from Geoscience Australia as our guest speaker, and a short AGM. 

The event will be held at the beautiful historic Ayers House, in the Ballroom. We will have a brief AGM followed by a presentation by Marina, “The Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists: The President, Diversity and Science.” A cocktail lunch and drinks will be served with a small cost of $5 for members and students, and $15 for non-members. Please see more details in the attached PDF. Tickets need to be purchased on Eventbrite by Sunday 3rd February for catering purposes. Please contact me at sa-ntpresident@aseg.org.au with any dietary requirements or questions. 

This event coincides with International Women and Girls in Science Day, as such I take this opportunity to suggest you invite any women (or men) geoscientists who may like to come along to this event. 

Lastly, a friendly reminder to renew your ASEG membership if you haven’t yet. 

I look forward to seeing you on February 11th!

Kate Robertson 

ASEG SA/NT President 

Three talks are on offer.

'Geology from geophysics' by Joel Stockill (Santos)

'A multi-method hydrological study of Wither Swamp in the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia', by Robin Keegan-Treloar (Flinders University)

'Constraining the regional slope of Western Papua New Guinea: A study of Lithospheric Flexure' by Michael Rieger (Adelaide University)

Food & drinks from 17:30 in the upstaris bar

Presentations from 18:15

Students & Members: Free

Non-members: $10

There is a prize for best dressed so come in festive atire.

The night is sponsored by Santos.

Please contact Kate Robertson for more details

The SA/NT branch' Technical Night is will consist of presentations from the branch' sponsors:

• Government of South Australia Department for Energy and Mining
• Heathgate
• Beach energy
• Minotaur Exploration
• Zonge Vintage Energy

It will be an educational and networking opportunity for student, industry, consultant, research, and government geophysicists.

Drinks and food from 5:30 pm, in the upstairs bar
Presentations beginning at 6:15 pm
Members: free, Non-members $10, Students: free

The final GeoFamily picnic for 2018 will be at the newly renovated Pityarilla Activity Hub (formerly Marshmallow Park) with a Christmas theme! All are welcome, families, friends and guests (no need to be a member, all are welcome!) Don't have kids? Come and enjoy the park and the social networking anyway. GeoFamily picnics are held to promote a healthy work/life balance, professional networking activities, and allow everyone a chance to be involved in our professional organisations. Its also a great way to foster a love of outdoors, adventure and nature play with the next generation of geoscience, engineering and metallurgy students...!

We will have some Christmas colouring, and other activities (games) and it would be great to see some Christmas cheer in action. There is a lot of shade, but remember to bring a hat and sunscreen also. There is space to scoot/ride too, and remember to pack a change of clothes as water play is a major feature of this park!

There is ample roadside parking, and some of the new facility features include:

• Marshmallow Park is fully fenced
• The rock hill with interactive water play features
• BBQs and sheltered picnic tables
• Lots of grassy spaces perfect for kicking a footy or having a picnic
• Right next to the two fenced dog exercise areas
• Brand new Exeloo toilets complete with toilet music

Please RSVP to morgan.blades@adelaide.edu.au

125.ausimm.com

This event is brought to you by The AusIMM Adelaide Branch, ASEG, GSA-SA Division, and the DEM.

Please join us for a fantastic event!

Geological Society of Australia Earth Sciences Student Symposium in South Australia. A conference designed to allow honours, masters and PhD students from three South Australian universities (The University of Adelaide, Flinders University and University of South Australia) to come together and present their earth sciences related research to the local scientific community. This second annual event will be held on Wednesday 5 December at the new University of Adelaide Health and Medical Sciences Building.

More information and to register

South Australian Exploration and Mining Conference. This is the ideal opportunity for active mineral explorers and miners to present succinct technical updates of activities on their flagship South Australian mines and exploration projects. It is the premier mineral industry event in South Australia for the year and is always well attended as an excellent place to network among industry peers. It will be held on Friday 7 December at the Adelaide Convention Centre.

More information and to register

The national UNCOVER strategy identified the collection of a national network of magnetotelluric (MT) data as one of the highest priorities for the Australian geoscientific community. AusLAMP is a collaborative national MT project focused on acquiring long-period MT data at approximately 2,800 sites across Australia at about 50 km spacing.

The aim of this workshop is to celebrate the success of AusLAMP by bringing the MT community of Australia together with all interested in understanding the lithospheric architecture of the continent, to discuss the methodology, interpretation and future progress of this important geophysical method and associated datasets.

The workshop will also celebrate the completion of the South Australian portion of AusLAMP and the release of this new MT data. Magnetotellurics has the capacity to provide an unprecedented insight into the architecture of the Australian continent and its mineral systems. This insight is revolutionising the way in which mineral exploration is conducted and this workshop will explore the key outcomes of AusLAMP.

More information and to register

The 1.67 million line kilometre GCAS is the largest airborne magnetic–radiometric – digital elevation model survey in South Australia’s history, providing magnetic and radiometric data at a scale and level of detail never before seen in regional geophysical data acquisition by the South Australian government. The GCAS project team has collaborated closely with Geoscience Australia, GCAS contractors and experts in the fields of magnetics and radiometrics to ensure that current best practices are followed for the duration of the acquisition and that the range of GCAS deliverables have the potential to reinvigorate mineral exploration in the Gawler Craton.

The aim of this workshop is to demonstrate the utility of the new GCAS datasets and value-added products by bringing the principal project participants together with industry and other agencies who have an interest in the project and products to discuss methodologies, interpret the results and deliver the roadmap for the remainder of the GCAS acquisition and data releases. The complete package of project management, quality control framework and enhanced deliverables have value to other jurisdictions as it sets new standards in magnetic–radiometric–elevation data capture and delivery.

More information and to register

Discovery Day is the premier event for the GSSA and collaborating organisations to deliver data and its geoscientific value to our stakeholders, in particular the minerals industry. This year the wide range of activities of the GSSA will be covered, in particular, the results of recent geological mapping in the central Gawler Craton region, geochemical investigations into the mantle beneath the Gawler Craton and a summary of commodity trends viewed from a South Australian perspective. In addition, we will be having a panel session that looks at the emerging technologies for non-destructive analysis of geological material relevant for mineral exploration.

Discovery Day will also feature an exhibition space with posters and interactive displays of South Australian geology and recent geoscience, including a review of the geology and tectonics of the Kanmantoo Group in the east of South Australia, new geophysical datasets from GCAS. The South Australian Museum exhibit is sure to be a favourite with some spectacular minerals from South Australia on show.

More information and to register

Our next technical event is a lunch on Monday 19th November, by Dr Kristina Tietze, visiting from GFZ, Potsdam, Germany. Kristina’s talk is titled, ‘Imaging fluid imprints along active and fossil margins with 3D magnetotelluric inversion – examples from the San Andreas fault and the Gawler craton.’ Abstract and bio below. This event is co-hosted by the Geological Survey of South Australia, Department for Energy and Mining. Lunch will be provided.

Date & Time: Monday 19th November, 12-1 pm

Location: Rm 4.06A/B, Level 4, 11 Waymouth St (ANZ building), Adelaide.

RSVP: To Philip Heath at Philip.Heath@sa.gov.au by midday, Friday 16th November for catering purposes (and please let Phil know if you have any dietary requirements).

Abstract

Presence of fluids alters stress distribution and lowers mechanical strength of rocks. Moreover, fluids transport minerals e.g. from the mantle into the crust and play an important role in the formation of mineral deposits. Thus, imaging the distribution of fluids is crucial to unravel current and past tectonic regimes as well as to understand the prevalence of mineral resources.

Mapping the electrical resistivity structure is particularly useful in this respect as fluid phases and their remnants usually reduce electrical resistivity of rock formations. Magnetotelluric (MT) measurements are capable of recovering the electrical resistivity structure from surface to mantle depths and may be one of the best means to image fluid networks over wide regions.

At the San Andreas fault (SAF) near Parkfield, 2D and 3D MT surveying with more than 250 sites revealed “along-strike” changes on fluid systems at lower crustal to upper mantle depths where the fault changes its mechanical behaviour from creeping to being locked and where the source region of non-volcanic tremors has been located. Narrow, subvertical low-resistive features were interpreted as a migration pathways for fluids from the mantle into the SAF system which lead to fault weakening and associated creep. Where the fault is locked, a crustal fluid channel is absent. Fluids are suggested to be trapped beneath an impermeable layer at mantle depths and co-located NVT events may be caused by episodic fluid release.

In this context, a new MT inversion approach using the MT phase tensor was implemented which improves 3D resistivity models where data is distorted by near-surface inhomogeneities below the resolution scale of the MT experiment. For the SAF data set, application of the new scheme resulted in more reliable images of the 12 km deep sedimentary basin of the Central Valley. Currently, a comparative study of the new and conventional inversion schemes is run for a set of ~280 AusLAMP sites across South Australia where MT is used to uncover former tectonic processes along fossil margins and understand their relation to mineral deposits.

Biography

Kristina joined the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ Potsdam, Germany) in 2007 after completing her Diploma studies in Geophysics at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt. As member of the Geo-Electromagnetics working group she focused on application and development of 3D modelling and inversion approaches for magnetotelluric (MT) data. In 2012, she received her PhD from Freie Universität Berlin and GFZ Potsdam for studies of the electrical conductivity structure along the San Andreas fault system with 3D MT inversion. From 2012-2017 she has been heading a project on developing controlled-source electromagnetic methods for monitoring of fluid flow in reservoirs at GFZ Potsdam.

Currently, she is a visiting researcher at the Geological Survey of South Australia and the University of Adelaide working on 3D inversion and modelling of MT data from the AusLAMP project.