Front Cover: Big Ben on Heard
Island. Will Powell joined an Australian National Antarctic
Research expedition to Heard Island in 2000, to collect mantle
xenoliths from the basalts. The analysis of these xenoliths
will be linked with ongoing studies of similar material from
Kerguelen Island to trace the evolution of the mantle lithosphere
beneath this major oceanic plateau, and provide analogies to
the early development of continents (see Research Highlights)
Front cover frieze: Grains
(average size 1 cm) of the GEMOC GJ-1 zircon standard for U-Pb
dating, donated by Jerry Yakoumelos of G & J Gems Pty
Ltd, Sydney (see Research Highlights).