Potential Honours Projects
Geophysics | Geochemistry | Volcanology | Organic Geochemistry | GIS | Ore Deposits
Below are some ideas for Honours Projects for 2008. If you are interested, then please see me and we will firm up a project.
a) Sequence stratigraphy/astronomical tuning of Early/Middle Triassic magnetostratigraphy
b) Tectonics of the Nambucca Block/remagnetisation
c) Detailed radiometric and magnetic interpretation of the Moruya Suite plutons
d) 3D gravity modelling of an I-type pluton.
e) Determination of magnetic fabrics (AMS AARM ApARM) of Tertiary lava flows
f) Detailed rock magnetic characterisation of Carboniferous Ignimbrite flows from north Queensland.
- Sequence stratigraphy/astronomical tuning of Early/Middle Triassic magnetostratigraphy - this would involve working on drill core material in collaboration with Dr Chris Herbert who is currently working on Coal Operations Wyong Lease. Many red bed lenses are present through the sequence above the coal measures (Early/Middle Triassic) and are ideal for magnetostratigraphic investigation. The project would suit a sedimentology student who would also enjoy some laboratory based geophysics.
References - C. Herbert (1997), Sequence stratigraphy.....Sydney Basin, Australia, AJES, 44, 125-143, Retallack (1998) Discussion. Sequence stratigraphy.....AJES 45, 653-655, and Kent et al. (1995) Late Triassic-earliest Jurassic geomagnetic polarity sequence.....Newark rift basin, North America", JGR, 100, 14965-14998 (1995).
Potential Supervisors: Schmidt, Herbert, Lackie
- Tectonics of the Nambucca Block/remagnetisation - this project would suit a structural geology student with interests in metamorphism. By combining structural/metamorphic data with palaeomagnetic (overprint) data a more complete picture of the development of the Nambucca Block should emerge.
References - Schmidt et al. (1994) Palaeomagnetism and tectonic rotation....Hastings Terrane, AJES, 41, 547-560
Potential Supervisors: Schmidt, Daczko, Lackie
- Detailed radiometric and magnetic interpretation of the Moruya Suite plutons and associated dykes. Recent aeromagnetic and radiometric data has been acquired for the Moruya area encompassing the Moruya Suite. The project would involve a detailed interpretation of the geophysical data as well as collection of data to assist in groundtruthing the data.
Potential Supervisors: Dickson, Lackie
- 3D gravity modelling of an I-type pluton. This project would involve the collection of a gravity dataset over a pluton with the view to modelling the shape and density distribution of the pluton as well as understanding the formation of the pluton. Prof Chappell (Wollongong) is currently studying the pluton and the gravity data would contribute to the geochemical study already underway.
Potential Supervisors: Lackie, Chappell
- Determination of magnetic fabrics (AMS AARM ApARM) of Tertiary lava flow with the aim of determining source vents for the flows. Also the possibility of using magnetic techniques to investigate the internal fabric of a lava flow. The former option would involve determining magnetic fabrics in areas where geological flow indicators are poor to determine the source vent for a region (eg Hunter, Barrington). The latter option would involve the detailed study of a single flow to understand the mechanism of basaltic lava flow.
Potential Supervisors: Dadd, Lackie, Schmidt
- Detailed rock magnetic characterisation of Carboniferous Ignimbrite flows from north Queensland. This project is a lab based project looking at the rock magnetic characteristics of a number of different Carboniferous and Early Permian ignimbrite flows. Would involve the determination of hysteresis properties, Js-T curves, k-T curves and other rock magnetic techniques.
Potential Supervisors: Lackie
Geochemistry/Volcanology
Supervisor: Kelsie DaddBelow are some ideas for Honours Projects. If you are interested, then please contact Kelsie Dadd.
1. Geochemistry, physical volcanology and tectonics of volcanic rocks in the Louth area, NSW
Louth is located southwest of Bourke in western NSW. A number of exploration companies drilled in the area on magnetic and electrical anomalies in the past and this core is now housed with the Department of Mineral Resources at Londonderry in western Sydney. The drilling intersected mafic volcanic and sedimentary rocks of Ordovician age.
Nearby are outcrops of mafic volcanic rocks - pillow basalts - that are about the same age ? and are probably part of the same sequence. This area can be divided into Mt Dijou and the nearby Bald Hills area.
The geochemical data from Louth, Bald Hills and Mt Dijou has distinctive high Nb. The Mt Dijou rocks differ from the others only in lower TiO2. All the data looks most like ocean island basalts/continental rift basalts and is particularly similar to data from OIBs in the Atlantic. The data is also similar to intracratonic rifts eg the Rio Grande Rift, the Kenya Rift and the Comerong Volcanics. The data is very different from the Ordovician arc rocks of the LFB.
This project will involve core logging, petrography and geochemistry and is can be tailored as a PhD or as a number of honours projects.
2. Cenozoic volcanism of the Capel-Faust Basins, Tasman Sea
Volcanic features including cones, flows and sills were examined on a survey aboard the RV Tangaroa to the Faust and Capel Basins by Geoscience Australia in October 2007. The Faust and Capel Basins are located on the Northern Lord Howe Rise (NLHR), a stranded continental fragment that was rifted from eastern Australia with the formation of the Tasman Sea between 85-52 Ma. The volcanic features sampled in the 2007 survey were recognised on seismic sections acquired by the Pacific Titan in 2006-07 and volcanic cones of two distinct ages were targeted. Swath mapping delineated a number of young cones at approximately 1500 m water depth with the largest cone having a basal diameter of 4 km and extending 400 m above the seafloor. The younger volcanoes have a largely unmodified conical shape. The freshness of samples from these cones, coupled with their exposure on seafloor, suggests a relatively young, possibly Miocene age. The older volcanic cones appear conical in the seismic sections and the tops of a few cones are exposed on the sea floor. The base of the volcanoes is associated with the Oligocene/Miocene boundary as seen on the seismic sections. The younger seamounts are possibly part of a seamount chain parallel to those in the Tasman Sea but which has erupted through continental crust. The older cones do not show any preferred alignment within the survey area.
This project will involve integration of all the data to establish the type and tectonic setting of the volcanic cones.
3. Physical volcanology and age of rhyolitic volcanic rocks in the Comerong Volcanics, NSW.
The Comerong Volcanics are a Middle to Late Devonian bimodal sequence located in the southeastern Lachlan Orogen of NSW, Australia. Magmatism related to subduction was likely ongoing and located to the east of the continent during this period placing the Comerong Volcanics in a continental setting behind an arc. The Comerong Volcanics form the central part of the Eden-Comerong-Yalwal Volcanic Zone and comprise a bimodal, basalt-rhyolite volcanic sequence with minor intercalated fluviatile and lacustrine sedimentary rocks. The volcanic complex crops out on both the eastern and western limbs of the north-northeast trending Budawang Synclinorium that extends for over 120 km along the southeastern coast of NSW. Dadd (1988) proposed that the zone represented a hot spot trace but this was never tested.
This project would involve sampling of the rhyolite along the length of the zone, extracting zircons and determining the age of rhyolite units. This can be coupled with a detailed study of the rhyolite units to determine their most likely mode of eruption and deposition.
4. The geology, palaeogeography and tectonic setting of the Frampton Volcanics, southeastern New South Wales.
The Frampton Volcanics, in the Eastern Lachlan Fold Belt, southeastern New South Wales, form part of the fill of the Early Silurian Tumut basin. They comprise felsic volcanic rocks, rare felsic and mafic dykes, and sedimentary rocks have a U-Pb zircon age of 428±6 Ma. The Frampton Volcanics, include crystal-rich rhyolite, flow-foliated rhyolite and plagioclase-crystal breccia facies as well as sedimentary facies including mudstone and sandstone facies. The volcanic facies are interpreted to have formed in a subaqueous environment as lava flows and domes. They are rhyolitic in composition and can be likened to other S-type volcanic rocks of the Lachlan Fold Belt in proximity to the Tumut basin.
This project would document the volcanic and sedimentary facies in an area of the Frampton Volcanics to place constraints on the environment of deposition and palaeogeography of the Tumut basin. The geochemistry of the volcanic rocks would be used to constrain the tectonic setting and provide a modern analogue.
Please contact me on (02) 9850 4424, in E7A 519 or by email if you are interested.
1. Organic Geochemistry of the Triassic Hawkesbury Sandstone
The Hawkesbury Sandstone is world-renown as a classic ancient fluvial system. On-going re-interpretation of the sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy by Pete McCabe (CSIRO Petroleum) is instead starting to indicate that is may have been deposited in a marine-dominated tidal estuary. This project will examine the geochemistry of some of the fine-grained sediments within the Hawkesbury Sandstone, in order to attempt to prove or disprove a marine influence. Rocks are beautifully exposed throughout the Sydney area, especially in coastal cliffs. The student will carry out fieldwork to measure sections and collect samples, and will learn how to analyse the fine grained sediments by organic geochemical techniques so as to obtain biomarker data. It is expected that the biomarkers will enable the depositional environment to be confirmed. Training in organic geochemical techniques will be provided by Simon George, with help from his team of PhD students.
Potential supervisors: George, McCabe? (CSIRO), Dadd?
Mud-clast conglomerate in the Hawkesbury Sandstone, Kurnell.
2. Organic Geochemistry of the Permian high latitude sediments exposed on the S coast of NSW
Remember these rocks from the GEOS260 fieldtrip? In “Marine Depositional Environments”, we examine some classic and very well exposed units from the underlying Ordovician Wagonga Beds through to the early Permian (Wasp Head, Pebbley Beach and Snapper Point formations) and up to the thick Ulladulla Mudstone. These sediments were deposited in varying depths of water, sometimes under ice. The precise depositional environment remains debatable, and the organic matter input and the petroleum-generating potential have not been determined. The student will carry out fieldwork to measure sections and collect samples, and will learn how to analyse the fine grained sediments by organic geochemical techniques so as to obtain biomarker data. It is expected that the biomarkers will enable the depositional environment to be confirmed. TOC and Rock-Eval data will be collected so as to enable the petroleum-generating potential of the early Permian in the southern part of the Sydney Basin to be determined. Training in organic geochemical techniques will be provided by Simon George, with help from his team of PhD students. This project would be a good one to do if you are interested in a career in the oil industry.
Potential supervisors: George, Dadd?
GEOS260 students at Point Upright, Durras.
3. Oil-bearing fluid inclusions in Precambrian rocks
We use oil inclusions as biogeochemical time capsules which retain information for billions of years. Crude oil formed during the Archaean and Proterozoic (>1.0 billion years ago) due to burial and heating of organic matter. In most places this oil has subsequently been lost through leakage, thermal alteration and biodegradation. Sometimes, tiny samples of the oil was trapped in mineral grains as fluid inclusions. We have devised methods of analysing this oil, the chemistry of which (e.g. biomarker distribution) tells us information about the original organic matter in the >1.0 billion year old rocks. More details are provided here:
http://www.es.mq.edu.au/geology/staff/SimonGeorge/BiosphereHydrocarbon.htm
There is an opportunity for a chemically-oriented student to work on some of our samples from the Precambrian. This project will involve learning some ultra-clean methods of doing trace organic geochemical analyses. Some of this work will be carried out in the CSIRO labs at North Ryde. This is a challenging project, but could results in significant publishable outcomes which the students would be expected to jointly author. Training in organic geochemical techniques will be provided by Simon George, with help from his team of PhD students. This project would be a good one to do if you are interested in a career in the oil industry or in academia.
Potential supervisors: George, Volk? (CSIRO), Dutkiewicz? (Sydney University)
A 2.1 Ga oil inclusion from Oklo, and an example of a biomarker that we detected in it.
4. Bioremediation in cold climates: geochemical monitoring and ecotoxicology
Simon George has a series of on-going projects with the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), in which the effects of the natural attenuation (evaporation, water washing, biodegradation) and artificial remediation of spilled diesels and oils in the Antarctic are being followed and related to the residuals’ impact on biology (ecotoxicology). Other academics at Macquarie University who are involved in the Antarctic work are Damien Gore, Michael Gillings and Grant Hose. More details are provided here:
http://www.es.mq.edu.au/geology/staff/SimonGeorge/BioremediationInColdClimates.htm
There is the opportunity for a chemically-oriented student to work on some aspect of these studies, in conjunction with 1 existing and 2 future PhD students of Simon George, other PhD students at Macquarie University and with other scientists at the AAD. The AAD provide enormous logistical support to these projects, and one benefit of an Honours project in this area would be to establish your profile with this organisation, possibly leading to research or work in the Antarctic. Training in organic geochemical techniques will be provided by Simon George, with help from his team of PhD students.
Potential supervisors: George, Hose?, Gore?, Snape? (AAD)
Trays containing marine sediment and diesel/oil test mixtures, O’Brien Bay, Antarctica.