Dr Damian Gore - Teaching
Undergraduate Teaching
I teach at first, second and third year. Unit descriptions, my role in those units, and the links to them on the Web are given below. You will need to be a student in the units to access their Web sites.
GEOS117 Biophysical Environments is a first year unit that focusses on aspects of physical geography at the local scale. Using local field sites and integrated laboratory exercises, we learn how to appraise field sites and understand the land. This unit is ideal for earth science professionals, ecologists and all wishing to understand the basics of physical geography. This unit is offered first semester each year.
ELS301 Environmental Management Project. This is a project-based unit that forms the core of the BEnvSc and BEnvMgmt degrees. While carrying out industry-linked group work, students gain practical experience in environmental problems and their solutions. This unit is offered in scond semester each year.
GEOS389 Special Interest Seminar. This unit is offered to address issues of special interest to staff and students. In recent years we have gone to New Zealand to study sediments in alpine, glacial and fluvial environments. This unit is usually offered over the summer vacation.
GEOS398 Applied Geomorphology. This unit offers detailed insights to problems of stormwater, soil erosion, environmental quality and aspects of river management. A 9-day field trip gives students extensive practical experience in applied problems associated with mine sites, rivers and other places of interest. In recent years we have worked at Bega, Braidwood, the Hunter Valley, Inverell and White Cliffs. This unit is offered in second semester.
Honours and Postgraduate Supervivsion
My research, and coincidentally that of my students, falls within three main research programs; Antarctic geoscience, Environmental science and Fluvial processes.
Antarctic geoscience
To slightly misquote a colleague of mine, to be in Antarctica is to discover. It is the last of the earth's landmasses where new discoveries abound. It's no surprise then that Antarctic research tends to be as diverse as the landscape. Much of my research, and that of my students, concerns Quaternary and Tertiary glacial history, geomorphic processes, and the impacts that humans have had on the continent. While this is a very exciting area to work in, organising a postgraduate program in Antarctica is not trivial, and to become involved you have to fulfil a number of criteria, and allow about a year and a half to prepare applications and grants. Recent projects involve PhD students and postdoctoral fellows at Windmill Islands, Vestfold Hills and northern and southern Prince Charles Mountains.
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For background information on
Antarctica, follow this link to the Australian Antarctic Division in Hobart. |
Environmental science
Environmental science is a broad area where potential research projects are worthwhile, and where students can be fast-tracked to either research or industry positions. Potential topics range from applied human impact issues (e.g. mitigation of mine site impacts) to more theoretical studies (e.g. designing the behaviour of Permeable Reactive Barriers) and assessment of river and pollutant behaviour (e.g. consideration of contaminant storage characteristics in fluvial systems). My students and I collaborate with colleagues in industry as well as research departments in biology, chemistry, engineering and geology/geophysics.
Fluvial processes
I have interests in fluvial processes at local to regional scales, but I tend to focus on the former because they offer more tractable research issues. Over recent years my students and I have worked in stormwater quality, including nutrient loadings, ecosystem recovery potential and gross pollutants, as well as patterns and characteristics of fluvial sedimentation in streams in the semi-arid zone of western NSW.
Present and recent students:*
| Name | Thesis Type and Year Completed | Title | Field of Research |
| Miah Hughes | BSc (Hons), 1998 | Soil phosphorus enhancement below stormwater outlets on Hawkesbury sandstone soils | Environmental science,
Fluvial processes |
| Paula Crighton | BSc (Hons), 2000 | Post-European impact on semi-arid rangelands, NSW | Environmental science,
Fluvial processes |
| Tammy Haslehurst | BSc (Hons), 2002 | Assessing the feasibility of nutrient removal at stormwater outlets using biomass: experimental and comparative studies | Environmental science |
| Maree Abood | MSc (Hons), 2000 | Gross pollutants: the urban sediment problem | Environmental science,
Fluvial processes |
| Erika Heiden | MSc (Hons) | In-field analysis of aqueous environmental samples using Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence: Development and testing of a method [Abstract] | Environmental science, Antarctic geoscience |
| Christina Low | MSc | Insights into metal contaminant pathways near Broken Hill (far-western NSW) [Abstract] | Environmental science,
Fluvial processes |
| Rebecca Scouller | MSc 2005 | Geochemistry of sediments and waters in the Windmill Islands, Antarctica: a study of the distribution and potential impact of heavy-metal contaminants | Antarctic geoscience,
Environmental science |
| Merrick Underwood | MSc (Hons) | Development of the Antarctic regolith | Antarctic geoscience |
| Duanne White | PhD | Glacial history of the Lambert Graben | Antarctic geoscience |
* Other
present and recent Honours and postgraduate projects in
Environmental Science (previously known as Physical Geography), including some
abstracts, can be viewed at -
www.es.mq.edu.au/physgeog/research/theses/
If you are interested in intellectually stimulating work in remote and beautiful parts of the globe, and have interests in polar and fluvial geomorphology and geochemistry or environmental science more generally, email or give me a call.