The Rocks Beneath Our Feet

Tim Griffin reflects on some of his experiences as Director of GSWA.

Tim Griffin relates some of his more extreme experiences of GSWA field work. 

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.

Paul Morris talks about of his last regolith sampling programs, which was in fact requested by the traditional owners of that country 

Paul Morris talks about the challenges and rewards of ambitious regolith sampling programs in the Kimberley region.

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.

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 

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 .

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 

Kath Grey talks about the challenges and successes of her years devoted to using stromatolites to develop a Precambrian biostratigraphy for Australia.

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.

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.

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.

Heather Howard talks about working with the Ngaanyatjarra traditional owners while mapping the Musgrave Province .

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.

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.

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 

Hugh Smithies talks about key discoveries made during GSWA mapping of the Pilbara 

Hugh Smithies talks about the scenic beauty and some the challenges of geological mapping in the Pilbara 

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