The Rocks Beneath Our Feet
Science Podcasts
In this series, five geologists talk about their years devoted to working for the Geological Survey of Western Australia. From understanding early life, to the tectonic processes that shaped our planet, and making the maps that unearth our understanding of Western Australia’s geology, they reveal their shared passion for discovering the stories in the rocks beneath our feet.
Location:
Australia
Genres:
Science Podcasts
Description:
In this series, five geologists talk about their years devoted to working for the Geological Survey of Western Australia. From understanding early life, to the tectonic processes that shaped our planet, and making the maps that unearth our understanding of Western Australia’s geology, they reveal their shared passion for discovering the stories in the rocks beneath our feet.
Language:
English
Contact:
+32484717595
Email:
hollisjulie@gmail.com
Episodes
Tim Griffin: The challenges of explaining how mining works and why it is so important
2/27/2022
Tim Griffin reflects on some of his experiences as Director of GSWA.
Duration:00:17:22
Tim Griffin: From cyclones to psychopaths
2/20/2022
Tim Griffin relates some of his more extreme experiences of GSWA field work.
Duration:00:09:43
Tim Griffin: Modern clues to interpreting ancient rocks
2/13/2022
Former Director of GSWA, Tim Griffin, talks about studying and mapping very young rocks in Queensland and Papua New Guinea, which gave him clues to interpreting some of Western Australia’s oldest rocks, in the Yilgarn, during his early days as a mapping geologist at GSWA.
Duration:00:13:27
Paul Morris: The long road to Yagga Yagga - a new relationship with Aboriginal traditional owners
2/6/2022
Paul Morris talks about of his last regolith sampling programs, which was in fact requested by the traditional owners of that country
Duration:00:20:02
Paul Morris: Perseverance pays off in surveying the remote, rugged Kimberley
1/30/2022
Paul Morris talks about the challenges and rewards of ambitious regolith sampling programs in the Kimberley region.
Duration:00:18:17
Paul Morris: Using fine fraction geochemistry to explore under wind-blown sand
1/23/2022
Paul Morris talks about tackling the problem of detecting low metal concentrations in wind-blown sand, culminating in dating and geochemical work that had significant implications for gold exploration in areas under sand cover.
Duration:00:17:44
Paul Morris: Building relationships with Aboriginal traditional owners through survey work
1/16/2022
Paul Morris talks about a remote regolith sampling program based out of Kiwikurra, near the Northern Territory border, that helped build new relationships with Aboriginal traditional owners
Duration:00:10:34
Paul Morris: Making the leap from hard rock to regolith geochemistry
1/9/2022
Paul Morris, retired Chief Geochemist for GSWA, talks about his early days working for the survey when he made the leap from hard rock geochemistry to studying regolith – the unconsolidated surface material covering more than 80% of Western Australia .
Duration:00:17:20
Kath Grey: Discovering ancient life in the Pilbara
1/2/2022
Kath Grey talks about her work on some of the oldest fossils on Earth, three and a half billion year old stromatolites from the Pilbara
Duration:00:13:07
Kath Grey: Building an Archean biostratigraphy from stromatolite paleontology
12/26/2021
Kath Grey talks about the challenges and successes of her years devoted to using stromatolites to develop a Precambrian biostratigraphy for Australia.
Duration:00:19:07
Kath Grey: Microfossil clues to Acraman Impact-induced climate change
12/19/2021
Kath Grey talks about her meticulous PhD work on microfossils from drill core from central Australia and the recognition of how they relate to a giant meteorite impact almost 600 million years ago.
Duration:00:18:12
Kath Grey: A struggling start to field geology and studying stromatolites
12/12/2021
Kath Grey, retired from a 50-year career with GSWA, relates her difficult start in becoming a field geologist and her first opportunity for survey field work that ultimately led to her becoming a world expert in stromatolites.
Duration:00:15:48
Heather Howard and Kath Grey: The farce and frustrations of gender inequality in geological mapping
12/5/2021
Kath Grey, retired from a 50-year career with GSWA and Heather Howard, a project manager still working for GSWA after almost 20 years, reflect on some of the challenges of working in a field in which women remain a minority.
Duration:00:18:19
Heather Howard: Encounters with Aboriginal culture through geological mapping
11/28/2021
Heather Howard talks about working with the Ngaanyatjarra traditional owners while mapping the Musgrave Province .
Duration:00:11:52
Heather Howard: Geological mapping - a dream job
11/21/2021
Heather Howard talks about how her love of the outdoors led her to what turned out to be her dream job, geological mapping in one of the most remote parts of Australia, the Musgrave Province.
Duration:00:14:57
Hugh Smithies: A supervolcano right in the centre of Australia
11/17/2021
Hugh Smithies talks about the Musgraves mapping project, which led to discoveries that would lay the basis for understanding the geology of a vast area under cover in the Western and South Australian border region.
Duration:00:14:06
Hugh Smithies: Sanukitoids - a key to understanding crustal evolution?
11/14/2021
Hugh Smithies talks about sanukitoids, a rare and perhaps fundamentally important group of Archean rocks that he first encountered in the Pilbara and later discovered hiding in plain sight in the Yilgarn
Duration:00:12:31
Hugh Smithies: Probing the beginnings of plate tectonics on Earth
11/11/2021
Hugh Smithies talks about key discoveries made during GSWA mapping of the Pilbara
Duration:00:16:50
Hugh Smithies: Bogged in the Pilbara
11/11/2021
Hugh Smithies talks about the scenic beauty and some the challenges of geological mapping in the Pilbara
Duration:00:09:56
Hugh Smithies: GSWA - Pioneering digital geological mapping
11/11/2021
Hugh Smithies talks about starting out with the Geological Survey of Western Australia, and seeing the transition over the years from pre-GPS days to modern digital geological mapping
Duration:00:15:01