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Geology of Australia and New Zealand

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AUST 234-99

Syllabus - Sept-Nov 2004
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Instructor: Dr. John I. Garver, email: garverj@union.edu
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Syllabus version: 22 April 2004
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Overview: The "Geology of Australia and New Zealand" is an introductory course in geology that assumes a basic understanding of scientific concepts and is offered concurrently with Terestrial Ecology and Marine Biology (HWS-Union Term Abroad at the University of Queensland, Brisbane Australia).  Many of the concepts between these three courses are interrelated.  The Geology course investigates the plate tectonic evolution of Australia and New Zealand from the breakup of Gondwana to the modern setting.  This tectonic evolution is largely responsible for the unique flora and fauna of both landmasses, and in this sense, the geology is a common foundation for all three courses.  After a tectonic overview, the course focuses first on the evolution of passive margins and then on active margins.  The first section is on the evolution of a rifted passive margin and the stratigraphic and sedimentologic aspects of these margins with a focus on eastern Australia and eastern North America.  Here we are concerned with passive margin thermal subsidence and the resulting mature sedimentary sequences that develop on slowly subsiding margins, including barrier islands and carbonate reefs.  The second part of the course looks at the volcanic and seismic hazards of an active margin, as illustrated by the geology of New Zealand.  Here we focus on the plate tectonic setting of subduction and strike slip margins.  The hazards on such margins include volcanic eruption of basaltic, andesitic, and rhyolitic centers, all of which are active on the North Island and on the west coast of the US.  The hazards also include normal, thrust, and strike slip faults that are active along the entire plate boundary.  We will investigate the simultaneous occurrence of thrust and normal faults on the North Island, and the spectacular Alpine fault on the South Island. The beginning of the course is in New York where we focus on the local stratigraphic section, which shows the transition from a passive margin to an active margin in the lower Paleozoic.

    a) Framework of plate tectonics

    b) Continental rifting: examples, mechanics, thermal effects

    c) Pangea and Gondwana history

    d) Tectonic overview of Australia and NZ: Opening of Tasman Sea

    e) Hotspots and hotspot volcanism
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    a) Introduction to stratigraphy and sedimentology

    b) Sea level change in the geologic record � long term, and Quaternary fluctuations

    c) Sedimentation on a mature passive margin, siliciclastic systems

 
Exam I - Tectonics and stratigraphy

    d) Passive margin stratigraphy: rift basins and mature margins

    e) Clastic and carbonate rocks (classification, composition)

    f) Clastic/Carbonate depositional systems

         Eolian; Beach; Tidal Flat/ Evaporites; Shelf; Deep water

    g) Framework for carbonate systems

         i) Carbonate platforms, shelves, and atolls

         ii) Reefs in Geologic time

         iii) Evolution of the Great Barrier Reef (sea-level change/ PNG collision)
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Exam II - Depositional settings

    a) Subduction zones dymanics

        i) Accretionary prisms

        ii) Forearc basin and the Torlesse graywacke

        iii) Arc volcanism and plutonism: Igneous classification; Magma generation and types;

                Eruption style; Volcanic Hazards on the North Island

        iv) Earthquakes in subduction zones

             Highlight: Edgecumbe 1987; Wairarapa 1885

    b) Strike-slip zones

         i) Plate kinematics of Pacific/Australia plates

         ii) Alpine fault history, San Andreas Fault

         iv) Seismic hazards
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Exam III - Active margins (Reading: 2, 9,10)

4) New Zealand Field trip
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Exam IV - Geology and Hazards of NZ

Return to OZ/NZ HOME page

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