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Untitled Document
Biography
General career
- Date and place of birth: 1939, Suva, Fiji
- Nationality: Australian
- BSc (Honours) degree in geology from Sydney University in 1962, with
thesis on Silurian-Devonian sediments of Hill End Trough
- Doctorate on Quaternary marine geology of Baltic Sea, from Kiel University
in Germany in 1971
- Forty three years (1962-2005) at Geoscience Australia and its predecessors
(AGSO and BMR), largely with the rationale of assessing petroleum potential
- Started as an onshore field geologist in 1963
- Switched to marine geology and geophysics in the 1970s
- Participated in forty-six marine geoscience expeditions on Australian
and foreign vessels.
- Pioneered the Australian use of multibeam-sonar swath mapping of
the seabed for geological and other purposes
- In South Pacific as UNDP Marine Geologist, 1980-81
- Served on national and international committees including within
the Ocean Drilling Program, and on the Science Advisory Committee
for the Marine National Facility
- Helped instigate and plan the change from the Australian research
vessel Franklin to the more capable Southern Surveyor in the early
2000s
- Developed wide links with French, German and US institutions, to
the benefit of Australian marine geoscience
- Wrote successful proposals for two Ocean Drilling Program (ODP)
expeditions and participated in both, once as Co-Chief Scientist
- Finished career at AGSO-GA as Senior Principal Research Scientist
in charge of various groups of marine scientists and technicians in
2005
- Continued research in marine geoscience at ANU
- Helped lead the successful bid for Australia to join IODP through
the ARC/LIEF mechanism in 2006-2007
- Became Interim Head of Australian IODP in late 2007
- Part-time Professorial position as Program Scientist in charge of
the Australian IODP Office at ANU from mid-2008
- Have produced eleven scientific books, monographs or special issues
of journals, about 140 refereed scientific papers, and 45 major Geoscience
Australia Records (reports)
Locations of major studies
Onshore Queensland (1963-1976)
- Bowen Basin: mapping Permo-Triassic sequences
- Northeast Eromanga Basin: mapping Jurassic-Cretaceous sequences
- Surat Basin: mapping Jurassic-Cretaceous sequences
Foreign offshore (1969 – present)
- Baltic Sea sedimentology and biota
- Sulu Sea deepsea turbidites
- Gilbert Islands (Kiribati) deepsea manganese nodule potential
- Cook Islands deepsea manganese nodule potential
- Solomon Islands geological framework and heat flow
- New Ireland Basin (PNG) petroleum potential
- New Caledonian Fairway Basin (Lord Howe Rise) petroleum potential
Australian offshore (1972 – present)
- Cape Leeuwin Nodule Field deepsea manganese nodules
- Christmas Island deepsea manganese nodules
- Scott Plateau and Rowley Terrace petroleum potential
- Exmouth Plateau petroleum potential, and Ocean Drilling Program (ODP)
- Bremer Basin petroleum potential
- Otway Basin petroleum potential
- West Tasmanian geological framework, including ODP
- South Tasman Rise geological framework, including ODP
- East Tasman Rise geological framework, including ODP
- Kenn Plateau geological framework
- Mellish Rise geological framework
- Fairway Basin geological framework and petroleum potential (Lord
Howe Rise)
Employment History
- Program Scientist, Australian IODP Office, Research School of Earth
Sciences, ANU, from mid-2008
- Casual employee of ANU Department of Earth and Marine Sciences (DEMS)
and Executive Secretary of MARGO (marine geoscience peak body), 2006-2008
- Visiting Fellow at DEMS, ANU, 2005-2007
- BMR-AGSO-Geoscience Australia Senior Principal Research Scientist:
1990-2005
- BMR Principal Research Scientist: 1984
- BMR Senior Research Scientist: 1982-84
- UNDP Marine Geologist based in Fiji: 1980-81
- BMR Geologist Classes 1-3: 1963-1980
Awards and Scholarships
- Australian Commonwealth Scholarship for BSc, 1960-61
- Bureau of Mineral Resources (BMR) Cadetship for BSc (Honours) degree,
1962
- Australian Public Service Board Scholarship for PhD in Kiel, Germany,
1969-1971
- Australian Department of Science funding for 3 months in Germany,
1977
- Tripartite Australian funding for 3 weeks at US Geological Survey,
1983
- German funding for Dahlem Conference in Berlin, 1991
- Australian Academy of Science/French Embassy funding for 6 weeks
at Geodynamic Institute in Villefranche-sur-mer in France, 1996
- Stillwell Award for best paper in Australian Journal of Earth
Sciences in 2006, awarded in 2007
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