Last interglacial sea levels on the south coast of New South Wales

Remnants of the Last Interglacial shoreline occur at Middle Lagoon on the far south coast of New South Wales. Relict beach sediments can be traced to a height of at least +4.8 m and are indicative of a former mean sea level of about +3 m. Thermoluminescence (TL) ages of 126 ± 13 ka and 114 ± 15 ka were determined for beach and aeolian facies respectively. Sands in the lower part of an exposure on the adjacent Gillards Beach gave TL ages of 108 ± 13 ka, but sands in the upper part of that exposure gave an age of 19.9 ± 3.5 ka. This chronological evidence of a stratigraphic unconformity in what was initially taken as pedogenic differentiation at Gillards Beach is supported by contrasting electron traps and colour centres in crystal lattices of quartz grains in these two samples. No tectonic displacement is apparent. This site provides the first evidence of the Last Interglacial sea level for 1000 km along the coast between Gippsland and Newcastle.     

Small-scale heterogeneity and soil-moisture variability in the unsaturated zone

The distribution of water within a soil profile can only be partly explained by the time distribution and rate of surface-water input. Observed differences in soil moisture within the unsaturated zone result from the interaction of surface-water inputs with spatially inhomogeneous soil characteristics. Water which initially percolates vertically is differentially impeded as a result of subtle textural changes in the soil, and is then preferentially retained in such zones of transition, causing large differences in soil-water content to occur. The scale of this vertical variability is of tenths of metres, whilst lateral variability of soil moisture reflects textural changes over a few metres. The observed influence of small-scale heterogeneity on soil-water content suggests that the conventional assumptions of isotropicity and homogeneity of the textural and hydraulic properties of porous media used in drainage basin and hillslope hydrological models need scrutiny, even for single stratigraphic units.     

Computer simulations of the structural and physical properties of the olivine and spinel polymorphs of Mg2SiO4

The aim of the work presented is to develop a computer simulation technique which will predict the structure and physical properties of forsterite and ringwoodite, the major mantle-forming polymorphs of Mg₂SiO₄. The technique is based upon energy minimization, in which all structural parameters are varied until the configuration with the lowest energy is achieved. The lattice energy and physical properties (e.g. elasticity and dielectric constants) are calculated from interatomic potentials, which generally include electrostatic and short-range terms. We investigate several types of traditional potential models, and present a new type of model which includes partial ionic charges and a Morse potential to describe the effect of covalency on the Si-O bond. This new form of potential model is highly successful, and not only reproduces the zero-pressure structural, elastic and dielectric properties of forsterite and ringwoodite, but also accurately describes their pressure dependence.     

Tectonic collision processes after plate rupture

Rupture of a continental plate subducted below a forearc produces a fold and thrust mountain belt with fast overthrusting of nappes. Post-rupture plate unflexing leading to reflexure provides a mechanism for foreland basin formation. Application to the Australia-Banda Arc collision accounts for the origin of the Timor Trough, its imbrication and contemporaneous extension in outer arc, as well as reversal of subduction direction after the emplacement of nappes.     

The lattice dynamics and thermodynamics of the Mg2SiO4 polymorphs

We use an approach based upon the Born model of solids, in which potential functions represent the interactions between atoms in a structure, to calculate the phonon dispersion of forsterite and the lattice dynamical behaviour of the beta-phase and spinel polymorphs of Mg₂SiO₄. The potential used (THB1) was derived largely empirically using data from simple binary oxides, and has previously been successfully used to model the infrared and Raman behaviour of forsterite. It includes ‘bond bending’ terms, that model the directionality of the Si-O bond, in addition to the pair-wise additive Coulombic and short range terms. The phonon dispersion relationships of the Mg₂SiO₄ polymorphs predicted by THB1 were used to calculate the heat capacities, entropies, thermal expansion coefficients and Gruneisen parameters of these phases. The predicted heat capacities and entropies are in outstandingly good agreement with those determined experimentally. The predicted thermodynamic data of these phases were used to construct a phase diagram for this system, which has Clausius-Clapeyron slopes in very close agreement with those found by experiment, but which has predicted transformation pressures that show less close agreement with those inferred from experiment. The overall success, however, that we have in predicting the lattice dynamical and thermodynamic properties of the Mg₂SiO₄ polymorphs shows that our potential THB1 represents a significant step towards finding the elusive quantitative link between the microscopic or atomistic behaviour of minerals and their macroscopic properties.     

A study of intergranular and fissure permeability in Chalk and Permian aquifers,using double-packer injection testing

Double-packer injection tests have been carried out in a borehole in the Chalk of Hampshire and a borehole in the Permian Penrith Sandstone of Cumbria, England. The tests have been supplemented by borehole logging and television inspections and by laboratory measurements on cores. A new mathematical treatment has enabled results to be calculated for injection test intervals containing fissures. In both formations, transmissivity immediately around the borehole is dominated by a few major fissures. In the Penrith Sandstone there is good agreement between intergranular hydraulic conductivity measurements and packer-test results in the portions of the borehole which do not contain major fissures. In the Chalk, the packer-test values are always higher than the intergranular measurements, suggesting that some degree of fissuring is present throughout.     

Lateral migration,thermoluminescence chronology and colour variation of longitudinal dunes near Birdsville in the Simpson Desert,central Australia

The longitudinal dunes of the Simpson Desert, in the vicinity of Birdsville, have been reworked largely during the Holocene from dunes deposited up to 80000 years ago or earlier. The widespread asymmetry of these roughly northward-trending dunes, with steeper eastern faces and more gentle western faces, supports wind-rose data showing sand-transporting winds from the southwest obliquely intersecting the dunes. While this suggests a change in the wind pattern since the dune field was oriented, it does not indicate that the dunes are necessarily shifting leeward (eastward) as a consequence. It is hypothesized that the direction of migration is controlled by the extent to which the dunes are vegetated. Relatively well-vegetated dunes can accrete sand on their gentle stoss slopes and erode on their lee slopes causing them to shift westward and hence obliquely into the wind, a condition that probably prevails in wetter regions and during episodes of relatively humid climate. In contrast, in very dry areas or during arid phases, sand can move unimpeded up a sparsely vegetated stoss face and over the crest to form an avalanche or slip face on the lee side, thereby causing the dunes to shift eastward. Despite evidence that longitudinal dune crests can shift laterally to some extent, the dunes in the western part of the Simpson Desert have not migrated, either westward or eastward, more than 100m or so from their Pleistocene cores. Aeolian transport and partial or complete removal of iron cutans from around quartz grains results in dunes of widely varying colour yet of similar age.     

Sedimentological evaluation of general circulation model simulations for the “greenhouse” Earth: Cretaceous and Jurassic case studies

Conceptual climate models, based on the workings of the present-day climate system, provided a first-order approach to ancient climate systems. They are potentially very subjective in character. Their main drawback was that they involved the relocation of continents beneath a stable atmospheric circulation modelled upon that of the present. General circulation models (GCMs) use the laws of physics and an understanding of past geography to simulate climatic responses. They are objective in character. However, they require super computers to handle vast numbers of calculations. Nonetheless it is now possible to compare results from different GCMs for a range of times and over a wide range of parameterisations. GCMs are currently producing simulated climate predictions which compare favourably with the distributions of climatically sensitive facies (e.g. coals, evaporites and palaeosols). They have been used effectively in the prediction of oceanic upwelling sites and the distribution of petroleum source-rocks and phosphorites. Parameterisation is the main weakness in GCMs (e.g. sea-surface temperature, orography, cloud behaviour). Sensitivity experiments can be run on GCMs which simulate the effects of Milankovitch forcing and thus provide insights into possible patterns of climate change both globally and locally (i.e. provide predictions that can be evaluated against the rock record). Future use of GCMs could be in the forward modelling of sequence stratigraphic evolution and in the prediction of the diagenetic characteristics of reservoir units in frontier exploration areas. The sedimentary record provides the only way that GCMs may themselves be evaluated and this is important because these same GCMs are being used currently to predict possible changes in future climate.