Feb 2019 TVG Morand

Geological Society of Australia
Victoria Division
General Meeting
Thursday 28th February at 6:15 p.m.
Fritz Lowe Theatre, School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne
Talk will be preceded by drinks from 5:30 pm in the 4th floor tearoom, cost $2.

Dr Vince Morand

Department of Evolution, Environment and Ecology, La Trobe University

Kyrgyzstan lies in a mountainous part of central Asia. In large parts of the nation mass movement (landslides, earth flows, rock falls and slumps) is the dominant process in the formation of its landscape. Deaths due to landslides are common, with at least 24 people killed in 2017. High quality Google Earth images show landslide scars and deposits clearly, ranging from recent ones (in the last year or two) to older ones that are vegetated and rounded off by erosion.

Within Kyrgyzstan, landslides occur in two distinct areas, each with distinct types. The first area is the mountainous terrain of the Tien Shan and Alay Ranges. The most common landslide type here is rock fall, typically forming a pile of debris at the base of a steep slope with an obvious scar. Some of these have dammed valleys, creating lakes. These can be dangerous if the dam fails at some stage and results in flash flooding downstream. Also, some rock falls turn into mobile debris flows that travel kilometres down valleys. Most of these landslides are small but there are a few large old deposits (>15 square km). Because the mountainous area is thinly populated, landslides do not impact much on people and property here.

The second area is a zone of foothills ringing the Fergana Basin. This area has a high density of landslides, including slow moving slumps and catastrophic mudflows and debris flows. Most of these seem to be developed in loess (wind-blown silt and clay) that blankets much of this area. Many landslides here happen after heavy rain in the months of April and May. They typically initiate on moderate to low slopes, demonstrating that the combination of weak rock or regolith with high rainfall is more important than steep slopes in causing landslides here. Because these foothills are populated with small villages and farms, with large towns in the adjacent alluvial flats, a large population is at risk from landslides. Even the slow-moving slumps and slides can destroy buildings, roads and power lines, cutting off access to rural areas.

It appears that clearing of forests has contributed to the landslide risk in the foothills area, so revegetation programs can help alleviate the risk. However, such a large area is unstable that there are few options for avoiding landslides, other than close monitoring of hazardous areas to give warnings of impending slides, saving lives if not property.

Roles still vacant.

ANZGG Conference
Dr Susan White

2019 Postgraduate Grant

The inaugural GSA Victoria Postgraduate Grants will be awarded at the February meeting. The committee has been excited by the enthusiastic response by students.

The grant has been designed to acknowledge and support excellence in Victorian geological research. It has been heartening to see both the high calibre of applications and a good breadth of scientific enquiry in the first year.

All applicants will receive notification of their application status on that day.

Making a splash on the geological airwaves this month is a project to use Dorothy Hill's documents to create geopoetry. You can hear all about it on ABC's Science Show here: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/geopoetry-inspired-by-australias-first-female-professor/10785778.

Ken Grime's wife Janeen Samuel, a vet pathologist, has also written geopoetry and has kindly provided us a humorous example of her work. Many of you who find yourselves looking down when the world expects you to look up will find this familiar.

THE GEOLOGIST
(by his wife)

The geologist is a peculiar type;
not into glamour, transcendence or hype:
Some folk go through life with their eyes on the stars
And seek to court favour with Venus or Mars,
But, G-pick in hand, the geologist just
Goes down on his knees with his nose in the dust.

He carries his G-pick wherever he goes;
He carries his G-pick — watch out for your toes!

The geologist is a peculiar bloke;
He likes to see bushland all go up in smoke;
He loves to see forest and grassland aﬂame:
“Some boulders will shatter and that is a shame
but without those damn plants I can get at the rocks
And I don’t have the bother of seeds in my socks.”

He carries his G-pick wherever he goes;
He carries his G-pick — watch out for your toes!

The geologist is a peculiar chap;
He travels the world with his nose in a map.
In Florence he’s dreaming of sampling a chip
From David’s left elbow or Venus’s hip;
In Paris, in front of a Rubens or Titian,
He peers at the paving and shouts, “Ordovician!”

He carries his G-pick wherever he goes;
He carries his G-pick — watch out for your toes!

The geologist has a peculiar mania;
A geologist once, in the wilds of Tasmania,
Spied an odd-looking rock, but upon it was crouched
A thing like a wolf that was stripy and pouched.
“Bloody mammals!” he cried as he shooed it away.
The rock was “erratic”; it quite made his day.

He carries his G-pick wherever he goes.
The ring of its blow is a ring through his nose
Which tugs him through deserts and rivers and snows.
He carries his G-pick — watch out for your toes!

Janeen Samuel

Landslides in Kyrgyzstan