Mechanisms of coal metamorphism: case studies from Paleozoic coalfields

Controls on coal metamorphism can be complex. In this paper, we examine four Paleozoic coalfields: the western Kentucky portion of the Illinois Basin, the Pennsylvania anthracite fields, the South Wales Coalfield, and the Bowen Basin. An increase in temperature with depth of burial is certainly a factor in coal metamorphism. In many coalfields, however, including the coalfields reviewed here, it has become apparent that such a simple mechanism does not explain the coal rank patterns observed. The flow of hydrothermal fluids through the coals has been proposed as a cause of coal metamorphism. Evidence includes inverted rank gradients, elevated CFL as an indicator of brine fluids, isotopic evidence for hydrothermal fluids, and vein and cleat mineral assemblages. In any case, multiple hypotheses must often be evaluated in the examination of any coalfield since the simple paradigm of coal rank increases with a simple increase in temperature with increasing depth does not fit the evidence observed in many cases.     

Methods for monitoring tidal flushing in large animal burrows in tropical mangrove swamps

The typically anaerobic nature of mangrove sediments provides significant challenges to the mangrove trees and biota inhabiting them. The burrowing activities and flow of water through the numerous and complex animal burrows perforating the sediments of mangroves have a major influence on the biogeochemistry of the sediments and are important to the enhancement of nutrient and oxygen exchange. Two new methods are presented for monitoring the tidal flushing of Sesarma messa and Alpheus cf macklay burrows in a Rhizophora stylosa mangrove forest – by measuring oxygen content of burrow water and by determining the change in fluorescence of a dye tracer through tidal inundation. A case study using the first of these showed oxygen consumption rates at the burrow wall deep within the burrow were found to be between 210 and 460 μmol O₂ m⁻² h⁻¹. The influx of oxygen during a flood tide was found to be significant and indicated that approximately 40% of the burrow water is flushed during a single tidal event. However, the high consumption rate of oxygen within the burrow resulted in the oxygen concentration remaining at or below one-third of the oxygen content of the flooding tidal water. A test application of the second method, using rhodamine dye as a tracer, indicated that the exchange of water between the burrow and the flooding tide was found to be in the order of 30% of the burrow volume. These new techniques provide a means to further study the nutrient exchange within these burrow systems and verify the initial findings that several tidal inundations are necessary to completely flush the burrows.     

Dune formation on the humid tropical sector of the North Queensland Coast,Australia

Several previous attempts have been made to explain the apparent poor development of coastal dunes in the humid tropics in terms of lack of wind energy, failure of sand supply to the shoreline, excessive climatic wetness, salt crust formation on beaches, and the character of tropical back-beach vegetation. However, recent published reports indicate that coastal dune occurrences are more common in the humid tropics than was formerly thought, throwing suspicion on the idea that environmental conditions militate against dune formation in these areas as a whole. Evidence from the humid tropical sector of the North Queensland coast suggests that the poor development of dunes in this area primarily reflects poor sediment sorting in the beach and nearshore zone and low wind energy at the shoreline due to the nature of the coastal orientation and physiography in relation to the prevailing southeasterly winds. These limiting factors are not unique to humid tropical climates.     

Is rainfall intensity significant in the rainfall–runoff process within tropical rainforests of northeast Queensland? The Hewlett regression analyses revisited

Following the statistical analyses of long‐term rainfall‐runoff records from research basins in humid temperate latitudes, Hewlett and co‐workers extended the global challenge to disprove their findings that rainfall intensity was non‐significant. This paper responds to Hewlett's challenge as no preceding analyses have involved forested basins in a tropical cyclone‐prone area. Based on a 7 year rainfall‐runoff record, quickflow (QF), peak flow (QP) and quickflow response ratios (QRR) were regressed as dependent variables against rainfall parameters (intensity, P_i, amount, P), storm duration, D and antecedent flow, I. These data sets were categorised into total streamflow (Q) classes and stratified into three seasons, (monsoon, post‐monsoon and dry) for forested and cleared catchments. Where rainfall variable collinearity met acceptable levels, the addition of P_i to regression models including P, D, I contributed up to 9% and 66% of the respective variations in quickflow and peak flow. For the highest Q storm classes (monsoon), P_i alone accounted for up to 67% and 91% of the variation in Q_F and Q_P respectively and was the dominant influence on Q_P for all seasons. The very high rainfall intensities experienced in the monsoon season is a causal factor why these results differ from those of other research drainage basins. Surprisingly, P_i continued to have a significant influence on Q_F for dry season classes when less‐intense rainfall occurs. Further the results were similar for both catchments across all seasons. P was the dominant independent variable affecting Q_F above a threshold Q of 50 mm (monsoon), as rainfall contributes directly to saturation overland flow and return flow under saturated conditions. Further although QRR increased with increasing Q for each season, the regression results for that parameter were poor possibly due to the non‐linearity of the rainfall‐runoff relationship. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Grooves and striations on the Stanthorpe Adamellite: Evidence for a possible late Middle ‐ Late Triassic age glaciation

Evidence for glacial erosion of competent intrusive igneous rock is described for sites at Quart Pot Creek, Stanthorpe, Queensland. The bedrock, comprising the Stanthorpe Adamellite, was emplaced during the Early‐Middle Triassic. It is argued that the pluton was exposed during the late Middle ‐ Late Triassic and subjected to glacial erosion at that time. This was consequent to the rapid uplift and denudation of the landscape, which accompanied the Hunter‐Bowen Orogeny. Burial of the eroded surface occurred most probably during that ice age and a subsequent period of subsidence. The ancient surface has been exhumed during more recent denudation. It is suggested that during the late Middle ‐ Late Triassic, climatic conditions remained cold enough over this part of southeastern Australia at least for valley glaciers to form and influence landscape development.     

Evidence of Self‐Organized Criticality in riverbank mass failures: a matter of perspective?

A growing body of field, theoretical and numerical modelling studies suggests that predicting river response to even major changes in input variables is difficult. Rivers are seen to adjust rapidly and variably through time and space as well as changing independently of major driving variables. Concepts such as Self‐Organized Criticality (SOC) are considered to better reflect the complex interactions and adjustments occurring in systems than traditional approaches of cause and effect. This study tests the hypothesis that riverbank mass failures which occurred both prior to, and during, an extreme flood event in southeast Queensland (SEQ) in 2011 are a manifestation of SOC. Each wet‐flow failure is somewhat analogous to the ‘avalanche’ described in the initial sand‐pile experiments of Bak et al. (Physical Review Letters, 1987, 59(4), 381–384) and, due to the use of multitemporal LiDAR, the time period of instability can be effectively constrained to that surrounding the flood event. The data is examined with respect to the key factors thought to be significant in evaluating the existence of SOC including; non‐linear temporal dynamics in the occurrence of disturbance events within the system; an inverse power‐law relation between the magnitude and frequency of the events; the existence of a critical state to which the system readjusts after a disturbance; the existence of a cascading processes mechanism by which the same process can initiate both low‐magnitude and high‐magnitude events. While there was a significant change in the frequency of mass failures pre‐ and post‐flood, suggesting non‐linear temporal dynamics in the occurrence of disturbance events, the data did not fit an inverse power‐law within acceptable probability and other models were found to fit the data better. Likewise, determining a single ‘critical’ state is problematic when a variety of feedbacks and multiple modes of adjustment are likely to have operated throughout this high magnitude event. Overall, the extent to which the data supports a self‐organized critical state is variable and highly dependent upon inferential arguments. Investigating the existence of SOC, however, provided results and insights that are useful to the management and future prediction of these features. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring for heavy minerals on Cape York Peninsula,Queensland, Australia

This paper describes the results of a preliminary study of the heavy mineral (HM) potential of the northwest coast of Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland that was funded by the Queensland Government's Future Resources Program Industry Priorities Initiative. The study found that the northwest coast may have the potential to host world-class HM deposits. All the essential ingredients in a HM mineral system are present: fertile source rocks, effective transport mechanisms and abundant potential trap sites, particularly along the well-preserved Pleistocene coast.

The source rocks are Proterozoic metamorphic and Paleozoic granitic rocks of the Coen Inlier and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks of the Laura and Carpentaria basins, all of which crop out along the spine of the Peninsula. These rocks were exposed in the early Cenozoic and were vigorously eroded by seasonally active rivers throughout the Quaternary. Most of these rivers are currently carrying HM, and the zircon content in river sediments in the region is comparatively high. It is speculated that in the late Pleistocene HM delivered by rivers to the northwest coast were transported predominantly in a southwesterly direction, and trapped in the swash zone of prograding beaches. It is further speculated that at this time the coastline was deeply embayed with cliffs and headlands formed in bauxite, and that structural trap sites formed on the northeastern side of prominent headlands.

Pleistocene coastal sediments were partially reworked by Holocene coastal processes, and HM liberated by these processes may have been captured by prograding Holocene beach ridges. These Holocene beach ridges are not as extensive as the Pleistocene beach ridges but are more prominent, partly because they are less well vegetated. The Holocene coastline was probably more regular than the Pleistocene coastline, with fewer headlands to create structural traps. The modern coastline is relatively starved of river sediment because the Holocene and Pleistocene coastal sediments act as barriers to river flow.

It is recommended that ongoing exploration for HM in the region should focus on potential trap sites on the Pleistocene coast and that two sites, Vrilya Point and Jackson River, where structural traps may have been formed by coastal promontories, should be priority targets. It is also noted that if the exploration of Cape York Peninsula for HM deposits is to be effective, further research needs to be carried out into the geomorphological evolution of the west coast and, in particular, the role of cyclones in forming HM deposits in tropical climates.     

African Refugee Communities in Southeast Queensland: forces of concentration and dispersion

Black African refugee communities are a relatively recent addition to the Australia landscape. Between 2001 and 2007, over 5000 refugees from various African nations resettled in Queensland. There are very few data about African refugee settlement geography in Australia and no previous study delineating African refugee settlement within the State of Queensland. This research addresses the knowledge gap by examining the geographic distribution and secondary migration patterns of eight African refugee communities in Southeast Queensland. The research adopted a multi-method approach, mapping quantitative data from an existing secondary database and comparing these to qualitative primary data to determine geographical distribution. Additional qualitative data were used to establish secondary migration patterns of the case study communities. Results show noticeable discrepancies between existing secondary datasets and primary data collected from the communities. These inconsistencies are significant because settlement service providers who use the secondary data to budget, plan and deliver essential settlement services might be underestimating the size of the African communities and missing some settlement locations altogether. The results also reveal a tension between the main socio-cultural forces of concentration and housing forces of dispersion that are driving secondary migration in the communities. A policy recommendation to mitigate the potentially negative effects of residential dispersion on settlement outcomes includes the strategic location of service hubs in key suburbs, such as Moorooka, to which the communities are already drawn.     

A reinterpretation of seismic data in the Laura Basin,Queensland

The results of the seismic surveys recorded during 1963 and 1968 for Marathon Petroleum and Crusader Oil in the Laura Basin, north Queensland, have been reinterpreted. Seismic reflections which dip almost continuously from 0.6 to 4.0 seconds reflection time may come from the base of and within an 8000 m sequence of Permo‐Carboniferous sediments, which may underlie the flat‐lying Mesozoic Laura Basin sediments and overlie the heavily folded Carboniferous‐Devonian sediments in the Hodgkinson Basin. Further seismic investigation of this area is recommended since a thick Permo‐Carboniferous sedimentary section here could be prospective for hydrocarbons.     

The Harry Creek Deformed Zone,a retrograde schist zone of the Arunta Block,central Australia

The Harry Creek Deformed Zone, a retrograde schist zone of epidote amphibolite facies grade, which separates the granulite facies Utralanama Block from the amphibolite facies Ankala Block in the southeastern Strangways Range, N.T., is typical of the retrograde schist zones transecting the Arunta Block. Associated with the deformed zone is a small deformed granitic pluton and its various offshoots—the Gumtree Granite Suite—which provides structural and geochrono‐logical evidence that the Harry Creek Deformed Zone has had a polyphase deforma‐tional history. Early movements within the deformed zone pre‐dated intrusion of the Gumtree Granite Suite and resulted in the movement of the Utralanama and Ankala Blocks into their present juxtaposition. Reactivation of much of the zone during the Alice Springs Orogeny brought about the schistose character of the zone and the deformation of the granitic rocks. Further minor reactivation of the zone, subsequent to the main phase of the Alice Springs Orogeny, resulted in limited development of pseudotachylytes.

The age of the granite (990 ± 13 m.y.) gives a minimum age for initiation of the zone, and evidence for the nature of the structures associated with the early movements is presented. It is suggested that the Harry Creek Deformed Zone represents a post‐orogenic wrench fault which has been reactivated. Early movements, which were of a brittle transcurrent nature, brought about major uplift (up to 10 km) to the north, and lateral movements may have been of the order of 60 km in a sinistral sense. Comparison with the Redbank Zone indicates many similarities, suggestive of a similar history.