The Rocks Beneath Our Feet
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.
Episodes
21 episodes
Tim Griffin: The challenges of explaining how mining works and why it is so important
Tim Griffin reflects on some of his experiences as Director of GSWA.
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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17:22
Tim Griffin: From cyclones to psychopaths
Tim Griffin relates some of his more extreme experiences of GSWA field work.
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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9:43
Tim Griffin: Modern clues to interpreting ancient rocks
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 ...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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13:27
Paul Morris: The long road to Yagga Yagga - a new relationship with Aboriginal traditional owners
Paul Morris talks about of his last regolith sampling programs, which was in fact requested by the traditional owners of that country
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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20:03
Paul Morris: Perseverance pays off in surveying the remote, rugged Kimberley
Paul Morris talks about the challenges and rewards of ambitious regolith sampling programs in the Kimberley region.
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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18:17
Paul Morris: Using fine fraction geochemistry to explore under wind-blown sand
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.
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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17:46
Paul Morris: Building relationships with Aboriginal traditional owners through survey work
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
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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10:34
Paul Morris: Making the leap from hard rock to regolith geochemistry
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 Aus...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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17:20
Kath Grey: Discovering ancient life in the Pilbara
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
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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13:07
Kath Grey: Building an Archean biostratigraphy from stromatolite paleontology
Kath Grey talks about the challenges and successes of her years devoted to using stromatolites to develop a Precambrian biostratigraphy for Australia.
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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19:07
Kath Grey: Microfossil clues to Acraman Impact-induced climate change
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.
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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18:12
Kath Grey: A struggling start to field geology and studying stromatolites
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.
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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15:48
Heather Howard and Kath Grey: The farce and frustrations of gender inequality in geological mapping
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.
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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18:19
Heather Howard: Encounters with Aboriginal culture through geological mapping
Heather Howard talks about working with the Ngaanyatjarra traditional owners while mapping the Musgrave Province .
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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11:55
Heather Howard: Geological mapping - a dream job
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.
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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14:57
Hugh Smithies: A supervolcano right in the centre of Australia
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.
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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14:07
Hugh Smithies: Sanukitoids - a key to understanding crustal evolution?
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
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12:31
Hugh Smithies: Probing the beginnings of plate tectonics on Earth
Hugh Smithies talks about key discoveries made during GSWA mapping of the Pilbara
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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16:50
Hugh Smithies: Bogged in the Pilbara
Hugh Smithies talks about the scenic beauty and some the challenges of geological mapping in the Pilbara
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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9:56