School of Earth Sciences - Theses

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    Antarctic sea ice and its interactions with high latitude weather and climate
    Watkins, Andrew Bruce ( 1998)
    Antarctic sea ice plays a major role in the earth system by greatly influencing the high latitude exchanges of heat, moisture and momentum between the ocean and atmosphere, as well as profoundly effecting the salt budget of the ocean, and thus the production of Antarctic Bottom Water, one of the driving mechanisms of worldwide oceanic circulation. With such considerable and far reaching impact, it is important to document its climatology, understand its variability and quantify its influence. Climatologies and trends of the Southern Ocean sea ice pack are presented using the most recent satellite observations available from the Defense Meteorological Program’s (DMSP) Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I). The analysis of these data show that Antarctic sea ice is highly variable in both time and space. Statistically significant increases in the sea ice extent, open water and ice areas have been determined from the SSM/I data for the 9 year period 1987 to 1996, a result which differs from the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) observations (1978-1987). The increasing trend in the SSM/I observations can be attributed to the large increases in sea ice observed in 1994-1995, as confirmed by an analysis of data from the ERS-1 satellite. The mean season length during these years has remained relatively unchanged. Regional trends, both in the sea ice concentration and in season length, showed vast spatial inhomogeneity. SSM/I data displayed increasing season length in the central Weddell Sea, Bellingshausen Sea and Balleny Islands regions, with decreasing length in the Amundsen Sea, eastern Ross Sea and in the coastal areas off Wilkes Land. Similar trends are observed in the seasonal sea ice concentration. In most cases, these trends are opposite to those observed in the SMMR data, which may be linked to the shift observed in the Amundsen Sea low after 1990. Comparisons with historical data would suggest that no large scale anomalous change has occurred in the Antarctic sea ice limits over the course of human observation. Furthermore, the degree of variability suggests great care is needed in interpreting large scale changes in sea ice conditions, and hence atmospheric or oceanic change, from locally observed anomalies. Case studies of the effect of individual cyclones upon the sea ice concentration show small but definite modification of the ice conditions. To further diagnose aspects of the thermodynamic and dynamic forcing upon the Antarctic pack, detailed analysis of the sea ice concentration variability has been conducted using spectral techniques, and the spectra have been compared to those of the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) temperature and wind data. In all cases, and with the seasonal cycle removed, the sea ice concentration shows a bias towards longer timescales of variability than either the wind stress or surface air temperature. This “red shift” in its frequency spectrum is strongest with the wind stress, and weakest with the temperature. For longer period waves, this may be due to the formation of new ice by surface cooling or the moderation of melting by the cold surface water, whereas for shorter period waves, where wind stress dominates temperature and ice concentration respectively, time is required for winds to draw in warmer or cooler air, as well as to overcome the ice masses inertia and keel friction to open or close leads. Strong intraseasonal variability of the sea ice concentration is observed in the 20-25 day period, reflecting similar timescales of the temperature variability, as well as that of the energetic eddies of the Antarctic circumpolar current. Examination of the latitudinal variation of the sea ice concentration, temperature and wind stress spectra showed not only the importance of the north-south temperature gradient in influencing the variability, but also the seasonal changes in the semi annual oscillation of the circumpolar trough. Regional spectra showed clear differences between location, and reflected the influences of the atmosphere and ocean upon the sea ice pack. This is clearly shown in the Weddell Polynya region and off East Antarctica, with high variability in the synoptic timescales, and in the western Ross Sea where changes occur in timescales of greater than 20 days. In order to determine if satellite derived, real time sea ice concentration and distribution would be of benefit to operational numerical weather prediction (NWP) schemes, the effect of sea ice concentration change upon the atmosphere in synoptic timescales was examined using a general circulation model in conjunction with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s GASP analyses. Experiments were conducted with a typical July sea ice concentration and distribution, as well as slab concentrations of 0, 10, 25, 50, 80 and 100%. Results from 5-day numerical weather forecasts show that the central pressure, structure and tracks of individual cyclones are sensitive to the ‘switch on’ of different sea ice conditions. Composites of all forecasts made with each concentration showed considerable, and mostly statistically significant, anomalies in the surface temperatures and turbulent heat fluxes over the sea ice. The magnitudes of these changes varied monotonically with the area of open water. The largest changes were simulated closest to the coast for all concentrations except for the typical July sea ice run, which displayed maxima over the outer pack. Significant westerly anomalies were induced over the ice in all cases, as were reductions in mean sea level pressure. The July sea ice runs displayed a distribution of the mean sea level pressure anomaly different from all others, with maxima occurring in the central to outer pack. All other forecasts displayed maxima at the coast. The results suggest that sea ice concentration does induce anomalies in the atmospheric parameters in timescales of less than five days. Further, the use of a realistic distribution of sea ice concentration produces results distinct from the constant concentration forecasts. Hence it is suggested that real time Antarctic sea ice data may be of considerable benefit to numerical weather prediction models.
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    Investigations into diamond drilling and rock drillability: microscale and fullscale impregnated bits
    Siribumrungsukha, Boonsom ( 1980)
    Drill bits having cutting edges formed of a matrix of sintered metal powder impregnated with diamond bort (the so called "impregnated" diamond bits) have the potential to greatly increase the economy of diamond drilling, due to low production costs and long bit life resulting from reconditioning of the cutting edges. However, little detailed research into the performance of impregnated bits has been conducted, and the capacity to predict their field behaviour is limited. As a contribution to the knowledge of impregnated bit performance, this project has studied basic relationships between thrust, rotational speed and the penetration of diamond bits into rock, with particular attention paid to the development of techniques suitable for laboratory testing using miniature impregnated bits. A conventional bench drill and a radial arm drill were modified and instrumented to enable operating conditions to be controlled and drilling parameters to be measured and monitored, for microscale and fullscale drilling using impregnated drill bits. Bit performance and drilling characteristics were studied for four rock types, and rock drillability studies were carried out on seven rock types. Statistical relationships between penetration rate, specific energy, torque and drilling distance that were determined enable projection of drilling data from a standard "sharp" condition. A wear measuring device was developed to assess matrix wear of the impregnated microbits. Reconditioning was done by drilling medium-strength, abrasive Stawell sandstone. Initial penetration rate increases linearly with increases in thrust and/or rotational speed, but only within a limited range, depending on rock type and the other operating parameters. Matrix contact with the rock surface, "clogging" of the diamonds, time-dependency, and strength of diamonds and the diamond-matrix bond play important roles in these phenomena. Comparison of rock drillability between that of microscale and fullscale bits shows a straight-line relationship indicating the possibility to predict drilling performance in the field. Uniaxial compressive strength, tensile strength, and Sklerograf hardness can be used as a preliminary, but not reliable guide, to predict drillability. Petrographic characteristics and the relative scale of diamond size to grain size of minerals affect rock drillability.
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    The major, trace and precious metal geochemistry of some Permian layered intrusions, Central Queensland
    Reeves, Shane John ( 1990)
    The Bucknalla Complex, previously known as the Westwood Layered Intrusion, is a small, 10 km2, layered, tholeiitic, mafic-ultramafic intrusion located 50 km southwest of Rockhampton that was emplaced into an active continental margin environment in the Permian. The complex comprises clinopyroxenites, olivine clinopyroxenites, wehrlites, troctolites, hornblende gabbros, gabbros, anorthosites, leucogabbros and dolerites. It is a saucer-shaped lopolith (2200 m X 6 km at maximum stratigraphic intersection) which intruded Lower Permian spilitic pillow lavas, cherts and tuffs of the Rookwood Volcanics during the Lower Permian. It has subsequently been tilted vertically and in a northeast direction. It consists of over 15 laterally discontinuous igneous units ranging in thickness from 1-50 m. Plagioclase is a cumulus phase throughout the intrusion while orthopyroxene is absent until the very uppermost levels of the stratigraphy. The chromium composition of magnetite analysed by electron microprobe has been found to mimic whole-rock mg# and is a good measure of the degree of fractionation of the rocks. Electron microprobe analyses of samples from two traverses perpendicular to layering reveal cryptic variation in the primary phases (olivine: Fo69-83; plagioclase: An54-97; clinopyroxene mg#: Cpx67-87) which is not a simple function of stratigraphic height. Background PPGE (Pd & Pt), Au, S and Cu values for the intrusion are high while IPGE (Ir & Ru) are low. A total of 120 analyses has produced the following range of values: Pd, 2-70 ppb; Pt, 3-40 ppb; Au, 1-20 ppb; Ir, 0.01-0.07 ppb; Ru, 0.2-0.6 ppb; S, 150-400 ppm and Cu, 40-600 ppm. Platinum, Pd and Au display good correlations with Cu, particularly at more elevated levels, while Ir and Ru are better correlated with whole rock Ni and Cr. Palladium, Pt, Au, Cu & S are elevated in rocks which have intermediate whole-rock mg# (47-60). These trends suggest that the PGE are, to some extent, controlled by fractionation and that the high melting point PGEs (Ir, Ru) were precipitated with the early crystallising phases, such as olivine and clinopyroxene, whereas Pt, Pd and Au were removed from the magma by sulphides. Mantle normalized metal plots for both the mineralized and unmineralized rocks of the Bucknalla Complex display similar trends. Both plots display the anomalous low Ir content, PPGE enrichment and the clear control of sulphides on the distribution of the PGEs and Au. The ratio Pd/Ir is extremely high (1800-9300) indicating extreme fractionation of the PGEs. These trends may, in part, reflect PGE abundances inherited from the source (i.e. relatively low degrees of partial melting) but were exaggerated by the extraction of the IPGE during the early stages of fractional crystallization and by the precipitation of a PPGE-enriched sulphide component. The Complex is known to host minor Pd-Pt-Au-Cu mineralization, disseminated throughout the intrusion. The mineralization consists of chalcopyrite and bornite and their alteration products digenite and covellite, electrum (Au-Ag alloy), Pd-As, Pd-Sb, Pd-S, michenerite (PdBiTe2) and sperrylite (PtAs2). A common host rock is olivine gabbro and the silicate minerals are generally fresh. The mineralization is considered to be primary magmatic for a number of reasons, foremost of which are (i) the clear association of the PGMs with intercumulus (magmatic-textured) fresh or relict Cu-sulphides and (ii) a continuum in Pd/Pt, Cu/Pd, and Cu/Pt ratios from background to mineralized samples which strongly suggests that the processes responsible for the enhanced PGE content of the Bucknalla Complex were also responsible for mineralization. In as much as the former must have been produced by magmatic processes it is concluded that the higher grade PGE-Cu-S mineralization was also caused by primary magmatic processes. A model is proposed in which mineralization is sporadically generated by influxes of small batches of PGE-rich S-undersaturated magma into a magma chamber in which the resident magma has reached S-saturation due to fractional crystallization processes. Other intrusions in the region, namely; the Eulogie Park Complex, the Fred Creek intrusion and the Boogargan intrusion, are not considered prospective for stratiform PGE mineralization due to their low background PGE tenor, low Pd/S and Pd/Se ratios and high S contents.
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    Altitudinal distribution of vegetation in the headwaters of the Wongungarra River, Victoria
    WATSON, FRED ( 1993)
    Changes in vegetation composition with respect to altitude were investigated in the sclerophyllous forests of the Australian mountain region. Vegetation was surveyed at 148 sites along two transects which were located to maximise variation in altitude and minimise the influence of environmental factors not directly related to altitude. The measurement, simulation, and estimation of environmental variables revealed that this aim was met except at the end-points of the transects where secondary influences are present.
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    The geology and geochemistry of the Agnew Intrusion: implications for the petrogenesis of early Huronian mafic igneous rocks in Central Ontario, Canada
    Vogel, Derek Christian ( 1996-07)
    The Early Proterozoic Agnew Intrusion is a well-preserved leucogabbronoritic to gabbronoritic layered intrusion that is a member of the East Bull Lake suite of layered intrusions (ca. 2490-2470 Ma) occurring in central Ontario. These intrusions are related to the development of the Huronian Rift Zone, which may be part of a much more widespread rifting event that involved the Fennoscandian Shield. Structural data suggest that these intrusions have been subjected to ductile deformation and are erosional remnants of one or more sill-like bodies originally emplaced along the contact between Archaean granitic rocks of the Superior Province and an Early Proterozoic Huronian continental flood basalt sequence in the Southern Province.
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    The development of a high quality historical temperature data base for Australia
    Torok, Simon James ( 1996)
    A high quality, historical surface air temperature data set is essential for the reliable investigation of climate change and variability. In this study, such a data set has been prepared for Australia by adjusting raw mean annual temperature data for inhomogeneities associated with station relocations, changes in exposure, and other problems. Temperature records from long-term stations were collaborated from the set of all raw data held by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. These long-term records were extended by combining stations and manually entering previously unused archived temperature measurements. An objective procedure was developed to determine the necessary adjustments, in conjunction with complementary statistical methods and station history documentation. The objective procedure involved creating a reference time series for each long-term station, from the median values at surrounding, well-correlated stations. Time series of annual mean maximum and mean minimum temperatures have been produced for 224 stations, and the adjusted dataset has been made available to the research community. The adjusted data are likely to be more representative of real climatic variations than raw data due to the removal of discontinuities. The adjusted data set has been compared with previously used temperature data sets, and data sets of other parameters. The adjusted data set provides adequate spatial coverage of Australia back to 1910. Additional adjusted data are available prior to this date at many stations. Trends in annual mean maximum, minimum, the mean of the maximum and minimum, and the range between the maximum and minimum, have been calculated at each site. Maximum and minimum temperatures have increased since about 1950, with minimum temperatures increasing faster than maximum temperatures.
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    Leachate chemistry of two modern municipal waste landfills in Melbourne, Victoria
    Strudwick, Darryl Grant ( 1999-11)
    This study investigates the occurrence and chemical composition of leachate at Clayton South and Brooklyn Municipal waste landfills in Melbourne, Victoria. Both are ‘modern’ municipal waste landfills, being engineered and managed consistent with current regulatory requirements. These landfills accept only putrescible and solid inert waste, but not soluble chemical, hazardous, liquid or prescribed industrial waste. (For complete abstract open document) Analyses of an extensive range of chemical parameters reveals a complex mixture of inorganic and organic compounds, similar to those of international authors researching leachate chemistry. Dominant ions in these leachates are NH4+, Na+, HC03- and Cl-. Except for Fe, heavy metals are not present in significant concentrations (mostly
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    Geology and tectonothermal history of The Fishery Bay Region, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia
    Elliott, Andrew R. ( 1998)
    The Fishery Bay region, southern Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, consists of Archaean charnockitic and paragneissic sequences of the Sleaford Complex intruded by Palaeoproterozoic granitoids and two generations of mafic dykes. These rocks preserve the deformational and metamorphic effects of the Kimban Orogeny and the later Wartakan Event. Within the Fishery Bay area, five separate ductile deformation events (D1-D5) are recognised, the dominant of which (D2-D3) are associated with granulite facies metamorphism. The effects of the D3 event are pervasive throughout the Fishery Bay region, with D1 and D2 preserved only in regions of low-D3 strain. The overprinting nature or D3 is recognised in the reorientation of D2 structures. The dominant response of the area to D3 strain is a series of westerly-dipping dextral oblique reverse shears with west block-up movement. Much of the strain is localised within the paragneisses and along the margins of mafic dykes recognised in the development of a NNE-trending D3 high-strain zone termed the Cape Wiles Shear Zone. D3 observations from the Fishery Bay region correlate well with previous studies conducted on southern Eyre Peninsula which lead to the inference that D3 west block-up exhumation is responsible for the positive pressure gradient that exists from west to east across the Kalinjala Shear Zone. The pressure-temperature conditions preserved in the mineral assemblages of the paragneiss units and mafic dykes record two granulite facies metamorphic events, M2 and M3. Mineral assemblages associated with M2 and M3 are similar and passage from M2 to M3 did not result in reaction textures which indicates the proximity of the thermal conditions of these two metamorphic events. M2 corresponds to the second deformational event (D2) where peak metamorphic conditions reached pressures of 8.6±3.2 kbar at 750-900°C, The second thermobaric event correlates with the third deformation event (D3) and a metamorphic peak of 4.1±1.9 kbar at 750-850°C. The decompression of the Fishery Bay region during D3/M3 is synchronous with crustal thickening of the terrain east of the area.
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    Australian lineament tectonics: with an emphasis on northwestern Australia
    Elliott, Catherine I. ( 1994-08)
    Australia is transected by a network of systematic continental-scale lineaments that are considered to be zones of concentrated, aligned tectonic activity which have apparent continuity over vast distances. The influence of lineaments on the rock record can be identified in many types of data-sets, and existing data reveals previously undescribed basement influences. Several continental-scale lineaments can be traced offshore with apparent continuity for hundreds to thousands of kilometres, two of which are seen to cross the Tasman Sea in offshore eastern Australia. Geological and chronological evidence demonstrates that many of the lineaments have been zones of reactivation since at least the Early Proterozoic (- 1880 Ma) and that they appear to cross major terrane boundaries. Alternative models for their origin are a) a pre-existing lineament network maintained in an ancient basement underlying the entire continent; b) lateral propagation of crustal-scale structures; c) alignment of genetically unrelated lineaments giving the appearance of continuity. Australian deep-seismic profiles show that continental-scale lineaments are zones of crustal-scale structure which in some cases transect the crust-mantle boundary. Lineaments demonstrate many faulting styles, e.g. listric extensional (G3), planar moderate-angle thrusts (G2 l), and sub-vertical thrusts (G 17). In some cases the structural style varies laterally along the length of the lineament. (For complete abstract open document)
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    Recent glacier and climate change in the New Zealand Alps
    Ruddell, Andrew Reginald ( 1995-07)
    The sensitivity of glaciers in the Southern Alps of New Zealand is evaluated to identify the nature of recent climate change. Past glaciological observations are compiled and to these are added 4 summer field seasons on the Tasman (including Hochstetter), Dart, Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The field data are an important aspect in the calibration and verification of glacier modelling. The detailed studies of these glaciers provides the basis for assessing the glacier and climatic changes over the whole glacierized region. (For complete abstract open document)