School of Earth Sciences - Research Publications

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    The hot southern continent: Heat flow and heat production in Australian Proterozoic terranes
    McLaren, S ; Sandiford, M ; Hand, M ; Neumann, N ; Wyborn, L ; Bastrakova, I ; HILLIS, RR ; MÜLLER, RD (Geological Society of America, 2003-01-01)
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    The development of a climate: an arid continent with wet fringes
    MCLAREN, S ; Wallace, MW ; Gallagher, SJ ; Wagstaff, BE ; Tosolini, AMP ; Prins, HHT ; Gordon, IJ (Cambridge University Press, 2014-01)
    This book provides a critical appraisal of ecosystem theory using case studies of biological invasions in Australasia.
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    Revised stratigraphy of the Blanchetown Clay, Murray Basin: age constraints on the evolution of paleo Lake Bungunnia
    McLaren, S ; Wallace, MW ; Pillans, BJ ; Gallagher, SJ ; Miranda, JA ; Warne, MT (TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2009)
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    Distribution of Palaeozoic reworking in the Western Arunta Region and northwestern Amadeus Basin from 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology: implications for the evolution of intracratonic basins
    McLaren, S ; Sandiford, M ; Dunlap, WJ ; Scrimgeour, I ; Close, D ; Edgoose, C (WILEY, 2009-06)
    ABSTRACT The Centralian Superbasin in central Australia is one of the most extensive intracratonic basins known from a stable continental setting, but the factors controlling its formation and subsequent structural dismemberment continue to be debated. Argon thermochronology of K‐feldspar, sensitive to a broad range of temperatures (∼150 to 350 °C), provides evidence for the former extent and thickness of the superbasin and points toward thickening of the superbasin succession over the now exhumed Arunta Region basement. These data suggest that before Palaeozoic tectonism, there was around 5–6 km of sediment present over what is now the northern margin of the Amadeus Basin, and, if the Centralian superbasin was continuous, between 6 and 8 km over the now exhumed basement.40Ar/39Ar data from neoformed fine‐grained muscovite suggests that Palaeozoic deformation and new mineral growth occurred during the earliest compressional phase of the Alice Springs Orogeny (ASO) (440–375 Ma) and was restricted to shear zones. Significantly, several shear zones active during the late Mesoproterozoic Teapot Orogeny were not reactivated at this time, suggesting that the presence of pre‐existing structures was not the only controlling factor in localizing Palaeozoic deformation. A range of Palaeozoic ages of 440–300 Ma from samples within and external to shear zones points to thermal disturbance from at least the early Silurian through until the late Carboniferous and suggests final cooling and exhumation of the terrane in this interval. The absence of evidence for active deformation and/or new mineral growth in the late stages of the ASO (350–300 Ma) is consistent with a change in orogenic dynamics from thick‐skinned regionally extensive deformation to a more restricted localized high‐geothermal gradient event.
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    Age constraints on Oligocene sedimentation in the Torquay Basin, southeastern Australia
    McLaren, S ; Wallace, MW ; Gallagher, SJ ; Dickinson, JA ; McAllister, A (TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2009)
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    Ar-Ar dating of K-feldspar in low grade metamorphic rocks: Example of an exhumed Mesozoic accretionary wedge and forearc, South Island, New Zealand
    Mortimer, N ; McLaren, S ; Dunlap, WJ (AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION, 2012-06-30)
    New40Ar/39Ar ages from detrital K‐feldspars and metamorphic white micas from the Eastern Province terranes of New Zealand have been used to investigate the thermo‐tectonic history of different parts of an exhumed Mesozoic forearc basin and accretionary wedge. K‐feldspars from barely metamorphosed sedimentary host rocks mainly record detrital source area ages whereas those from zeolite and prehnite‐pumpellyite facies host rocks have textures and argon age spectra that indicate recrystallization during regional low‐temperature metamorphism. The results contribute to a model that genetically links thermo‐tectonic events across the accretionary wedge and forearc basin elements of the convergent margin, and into the Median Batholith arc probably by the Early Cretaceous and possibly by the Middle Jurassic. Thus, even though multidiffusion domain (MDD) models cannot be used to make inference on cooling histories in such situations, the K‐feldspar argon thermochronometer can provide useful information on the timing of geological events in sub‐greenschist facies rocks.
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    Hot rocks in a cold place: high sub-glacial heat flow in East Antarctica
    Carson, CJ ; McLaren, S ; Roberts, JL ; Boger, SD ; Blankenship, DD (GEOLOGICAL SOC PUBL HOUSE, 2014-01)
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