Testing of Sydney dimension sandstone for use in the conservation of heritage buildings

This paper deals with the scientific assessment of the physical properties of sandstone used in the conservation of Sydney's historic heritage sandstone buildings. The local Hawkesbury Sandstone has been widely used for all manner of constructions since the early days of the first settlement. In the nineteenth century, dimension sandstone quarries existed all over the Sydney region, and the demand for the stone was great. During this time, a true ‘freestone’ known as ‘yellow block’ sandstone, in which bedding planes were absent, was quarried extensively. This sandstone is also known as a ‘self-colouring’ sandstone, where the rock, although grey when quarried, turns a yellow–brown after a few months exposure to the atmosphere. It can be easily carved and was eminently suitable for the ornate Victorian architecture of the time. There are very few quarries within the Sydney region today capable of producing ‘yellow block’ sandstone. Whenever possible, sandstone from suitable building excavations, particularly on the Pyrmont Peninsula, is used for this work. Conservation work is extremely expensive and the building elements that most need replacement, the overhanging and decorative elements, are usually those that cost the most. It is essential that the most durable replacement stone be selected. Thus, a strict regime of scientific testing is used for any major conservation project, in order to determine the physical properties of possible replacement stone. This is the province of the geologist and involves visual observation in the quarry or excavation, which is a simple, cost-effective means of weeding out poor quality stones, followed by laboratory engineering tests to establish the physical parameters of a sandstone and finally, petrographic analysis. The results of such tests, combined with careful sampling, ensure the best possible quality of replacement material.     

Greta Coal Measures in the Muswellbrook Anticline area,New South Wales

The Greta Coal Measures are the lower of two main coal‐bearing intervals in the Permian northern Sydney Basin. High quality outcrop and continuous core data are available from the Muswellbrook Anticline area in the Hunter Valley, enabling a sequence‐stratigraphic interpretation of the Greta Coal Measures to be presented for the first time. Age and core relationships indicate an unconformity at the base and the top of the Greta Coal Measures. A correlation between dated tuffs in the upper Greta Coal Measures in the Muswellbrook area and the Maitland Group in the Cessnock area establishes a clear diachronous upper boundary for the Greta Coal Measures resulting from a northwest‐ward marine transgression. The Greta Coal Measures are interpreted to occupy a single sequence in which the lower fluvial and lacustrine Skeletar Formation makes up a transgressive systems tract, the Ayrdale Sandstone Member is an estuarine unit around the maximum flooding surface, and the upper fluvial to deltaic Rowan Formation occupies a highstand systems tract. The overlying Jasdec Park Sandstone Member of the Maitland Group infills incised valleys above a sequence boundary and then occurs as a transgressive shoreline system before passing into the glacial marine Branxton Formation. The Greta Coal Measures represent high accommodation where subsidence and sediment supply were approximately balanced over more than 100 m of accumulation, and the development of 14 recognisable coal seams occurred in a single sequence.     

Petrogenesis of some palaeozoic rhyolites in Victoria

Thick rhyolite sheets occur within the middle Palaeozoic cauldron subsidence complexes in Victoria. Well‐preserved eutaxitic and vitroclastic textures in the basal regions of the Rubicon, Jemba, and Ryans Creek rhyolites provide evidence of an ash‐flow origin. Subsequent recrystallization during cooling has masked these primary textures towards the central and upper parts of the rhyolitic sheets. All three rhyolites show dense welding throughout and the major zonation observed is in the degree of granophyric recrystallization.

Despite the turbulent ash‐flow emplacement and the possibility of post‐eruptive chemical modification, the mineralogical and chemical trends within vertical sequences in the Rubicon and Jemba Rhyolites are essentially continuous and represent the inverted variation within the original magma body. The bulk compositions of the rhyolites suggest that conditions of water saturation were closely approached or attained within the magma chamber. The chemical variation with increasing height and phenocryst content in the rhyolites can be summarized as: increasing K, Ca, Ba and Sr, and decreasing Na and Rb. Whereas this variation is in accord with frac‐tionation theories, it is more likely to have resulted from the partial fusion process believed to have been responsible for the generation of the acid magmas.     

On the Fringe of Neoliberalism: residential development in outer suburban Sydney

Although there is widespread consensus in human geography that neoliberalism is achieved through the intersection of multiple scales and states, there has been growing emphasis in recent years on the hybrid qualities of neoliberalist-styles of governance. Because hybrid approaches draw attention to the wide range of actors and contradictory agendas underpinning the always uneven expression of neoliberalist projects, they are particularly suited to the identification of residual state capacities in contexts where neoliberalist forms dominate economic and political life. Drawing on two cases of large-scale residential development in New South Wales, namely Warnervale Town Centre on the New South Wales Central Coast and the Australian Defence Industry site at St Marys in Sydney's west, the present paper adopts an hybrid approach in order to identify current state capacities. Through a comparison of both sites, it identifies the potential for socially and ecologically balanced development in the outer suburban context.     

韩城矿区构造煤纳米级孔隙结构的分形特征

构造变形可以引起煤纳米级孔隙结构的变化,变形机制的不同对孔隙结构的影响程度也不同。煤的孔隙非均质性极强,传统实验方法难以准确地描述孔隙结构的复杂性,而分形理论提供了描述这一复杂性的量化方法。基于渭北煤田韩城矿区不同类型构造煤的低温氮吸附实验,采用分形FHH方法,定量表征了构造变形对煤纳米级孔隙结构的影响程度。结果表明:韧性变形煤比脆性变形煤的孔隙分形维数高,孔隙结构复杂,非均质性增强,导致毛细凝聚效应增强,吸附滞后突出;构造煤分形维数随着平均孔径的降低和中孔含量的升高而增大,说明构造变形程度越大,平均孔径越小,孔隙结构越复杂。研究认为,分形维数定量反映了煤构造变形的强弱,可以指示煤中纳米级孔隙结构的变形程度。      

Correlation between optical, chemical and micro-structural parameters of high-rank coals and graphite

In order to identify the parameters that best characterize the chemical and structural evolution of organic matter during coalification, the relationships between optical, chemical and micro-structural parameters in high-rank coals and natural graphite were studied. The samples include anthracites from Peñarroya–Belmez–Espiel Basin (Spain), Douro Basin (Portugal), and Alto Chicama Basin (Peru); and natural graphite from Canada, Mozambique, and Austria.Correlations between the following optical parameters were assessed: vitrinite random reflectance (R_r), Reflectance Indicating Surfaces (RIS) axis (R_MAX, R_INT and R_MIN), and RIS parameters (R_am, R_ev and R_st), as well as B_w and AI anisotropy parameters. Furthermore, the chemical parameters used were chosen according to their significant variation in coals, namely volatile matter, carbon, and hydrogen contents calculated in dry ash free basis (VM_daf, C_daf, H_daf), as well as the H/C atomic ratio. Structural organization was characterized by micro-Raman spectroscopy and XRD. Raman parameters used were the full width at half maximum (FWHM) and position of G and D1 bands on the first-order Raman spectrum, and the ID1/IG intensity area ratio. The selected XRD parameters were interlayer spacing d₀₀₂, and crystallite sizes L_a and L_c.Results show that: (i) R_MAX RIS axis seems to correlate best with chemical and micro-structural parameters; (ii) for the majority of studied samples, H_daf and H/C atomic ratio are the only chemical parameters with significant correlations with R_MAX; (iii) the FWHM of the G band of Raman spectrum shows good linear correlation with the XRD parameter d₀₀₂; and, (iv) structural organization of carbon materials, as measured by trends in their optical and crystalline parameters, is influenced by their hydrogen content (daf basis) and therefore by the H/C atomic ratio.     

陶枣煤田晚古生代煤中硫及伴生有害元素分布特征

对山东陶枣煤田晚古生代洪进行了形态硫分析、煤中黄铁矿伴生无奈的探针测试及煤中微量元素中子活化分析,结果表明,高硫煤中有害物质主要来自煤中黄铁矿,黄铁矿硫占总硫的75％以上,同时黄铁矿中伴生有大量有害元素,其质量分数与种类又与其成因类型有关。黄铁矿中伴生有害元素质量分数约在0．5％至2．5％之间。太原组高硫煤中的有害元素以Cu,As,U,Ph,Mo和Co等为特征,其成因与硫的聚集密切相关。研究还发现,As与Fe存在相关关系,As主要赋存在Fe和Cu的硫化物中。U的富集与海水的影响有关,同时也受岩浆活动的影响。侵入体附近的低灰天然焦含U最高,达10×10－6。根据以上研究结果,推测对于高硫煤采用重液洗选除硫除灰时,也可同时去除大部分有害元素,应予深入研究。     

Public perceptions of foreign and Chinese real estate investment: intercultural relations in Global Sydney

Moving foreign human and financial capital through landed property is not a new phenomenon in Sydney. It is a recurring geopolitical strategy that is replete with intercultural tension and deep colonial roots. In contemporary Australia, there is an assumption in public policy and media rhetoric that there is a high level of public concern about foreign investment. However, there is little empirical data that examines public perceptions. In this study, we are interested in whether the dominant voices in this debate represent broad public views about this issue. We sought to fill this gap by conducting a survey of almost 900 Sydney residents, looking at their perceptions of foreign and Chinese investment. We find high levels of public concern and discontent about foreign investment amongst Sydneysiders, with Chinese investors being a key target of this discontent. In the context of high housing prices in Sydney, there were widely held concerns about housing affordability. Survey respondents had a sophisticated understanding of what influences house prices, but with an overemphasis on the role of foreign investment. There is a general lack of support for policy that encourages foreign investment, and a lack of confidence in how the government is regulating foreign investment. Half of our participants reported that they would not welcome Chinese foreign investment in their suburb.     

Estimation of Hardgrove grindability index of Turkish coals by neural networks

In this research, different techniques for the estimation of coal HGI values are studied. Data from 163 sub-bituminous coals from Turkey are used by featuring 11 coal parameters, which include proximate analysis, group maceral analysis and rank. Non-linear regression and neural network techniques are used for predicting the HGI values for the specified coal parameters. Results indicate that a hybrid network which is a combination of 4 separate neural networks gave the most accurate HGI prediction and all of the neural network models outperformed non-linear regression in the estimation process.     

Testing the use of a ‘questionnaire survey instrument’ to investigate public perceptions of tsunami hazard and risk in Sydney,Australia

The Indian Ocean tsunami (IOT) of December 2004 has demonstrated that the coasts of Australia are vulnerable to tsunami flooding. As a consequence of the IOT, the Australian Federal Treasurer announced in 2005 that the Bureau of Meteorology and Geoscience Australia will jointly develop and implement the Australian Tsunami Warning System. Effective response to tsunami warnings is highly dependent on public awareness and perception of tsunami hazard and risk. At present, no efforts have been made to investigate and publish public awareness of tsunami hazard and risk and as such, emergency managers have little idea of the likely challenges to effecting appropriate tsunami risk management. We develop a short questionnaire survey instrument and trial that instrument in order to investigate its suitability for generating information about the perceptions of tsunami hazard and risk in the Sydney region. We found that the design, layout and format of the questionnaire were suitable for our purpose and should be useful for generating information appropriate to emergency management agencies tasked with the responsibility of developing tsunami education campaigns and risk mitigation strategies in Australia. However, certain limitations, such as individual question design and format, should be considered before a much larger survey of various stakeholders is conducted.