Wednesday 27 April 2016

Geology dance moves

I'm moving on from my job hoping for more opportunities in the future. I was disappointed with many aspects of my position, not in the least the resistance from bureaucratic processes to fit in with geological reality! This was particularly disappointing with the search for groundwater resources which I felt seemed encumbered by the processes rather than where water could actually be found. I guess that is government, but it is sad when you feel that the public money your organization is entrusted with is poorly spent. I could have paid for my salary many times over if my advice was taken in the first place. After two years they discovered that exactly what I had said was the case! several hundreds of thousands of dollars later my top two recommendations were identified by expert consultants as the best two recommendations and we hadn't even drilled yet! A lesson for all those people that think they can understand what the environment without actually going out from behind their desk.

So it is with relief that I move on to other things. Time will tell what will happen but in the mean time I might learn some dance moves courtesy of the Amoeba People .

'The Alluvial Fan' is my first starting move:
"We think you'll agree that few things are more dance-inspiring than cone-shaped deposits of sand, gravel and silt."

Monday 18 April 2016

History Snippet: Drake

I noticed that the Northern Star Newspaper has an interesting snippet about historical copper mineral exploration near Drake. I thought It would be worth directing readers to the article.


http://www.northernstar.com.au/news/history-copper-hidden-in-the-hills-at-drake/2998850/


I've been meaning to do a detailed post on the geology outlined by Grace Cumming who in 2011 did a very detailed survey of the region and put together an interesting model which illustrates that the mines and prospects just north of Drake are actually the remnant of a very large 400 square kilometre volcanic caldera. I will get to that soon! There is always a million interesting things in our region that I seem to never get the chance to cover them all. In the mean time I can only point you to one post I've done about the 'Drake mines'. http://nrgeology.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/drake-mining-managing-muddy-mess.html


If you are interested in the current explorer and operator of the mines just to the north of Drake here is the link to White Rock Minerals Mt Carrington project overview.
http://www.whiterockminerals.com.au/projects/mt-carrington/overview/





Monday 11 April 2016

Most important movie of the year?!

An excellent song by the Ameoba People. I will be featuring some of their exceptional work all this month. Keep a look out for the Geology dance moves... and give them a go! 

Friday 1 April 2016

A Brand New Month and a Brand New Eruption at Mount Warning


This morning started in a very interesting way. I wasn’t sure but there was some shaking of my house. I just thought it was a garbage truck going by so I thought little more of it. That was until I drove to work and looked out at Mount Warning. The clouds that hang around the peak in the morning (often to the dismay of tourists watching the sunrise from its peak) looked just a little odd shaped and darker. Again, I thought nothing of it.

What I didn’t know I had just experienced was one of the many small earthquakes that struck the region last night and continue today. You can see the latest seismic readings from geoscience Australia here. The clouds were actually not morning clouds but small amounts of ash and steam rising from the peak as a new vent opened up (the first in a very long time). Australia has not had a volcano erupt on the mainland since pre-colonial times and even those volcanoes erupted in Victoria and South Australia, no-where near our pretty part of the world.

The news websites are going very busy and I know that there are some interesting Instagram and facebook pictures going around already. I should have one of my own pictures up shortly. By all accounts there is little danger away from the mountain but people intending to visit the national park should be aware of the dangers present and not attempt to climb if they see any evidence of Holocene lava.