The Australian Continent: A Geophysical Synthesis is designed to provide a summary of the character of the Australian continent through the extensive information available at the continental scale, as a contribution to the understanding of Australia's lithospheric architecture and its evolution. The results build on the extensive databases assembled at Geoscience Australia, particularly for potential fields, supplemented by the full range of seismological information, mostly from The Australian National University. To aid in cross comparison of results from different disciplines, information is presented with a common projection and scales.
In this Very Short Introduction Kenneth Morgan provides a wide-ranging and thematic introduction to modern Australia. He examines the main features of its history, geography, and culture since the beginning of the white settlement in New South Wales in 1788. Drawing attention to the distinctive features of Australian life he places contemporary developments in a historical perspective, highlighting the importance of Australia's indigenous culture and making connections between Australia and the wider word. Balancing the successful growth of Australian institutions and democratic traditions, he considers the struggles that occurred in the making of modern Australia. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
The ensemble of manuscripts presented in this special volume captures the stimulating cross-disciplinary dialogue from the International Symposium on Deep Structure, Composition, and Evolution of Continents, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 15-17 October 1997. It will provide an update on recent research developments and serve as a starting point for research of the many outstanding issues.After its formation at mid-oceanic spreading centers, oceanic lithosphere cools, thickens, and subsides, until it subducts into the deep mantle beneath convergent margins. As a result of this continuous recycling process oceanic lithosphere is typically less than 200 million years old (the global average is about 80 Myr). A comprehensive, multi-disciplinary study of continents involves a wide range of length scales: tiny rock samples and diamond inclusions may yield isotope and trace element signatures diagnostic for the formation age and evolution of (parts of) cratons, while geophysical techniques (e.g., seismic and electromagnetic imaging) constrain variations of elastic and conductive properties over length scales ranging from several to many thousand kilometers. Integrating and reconciling this information is far from trivial and, as several papers in this volume document, the relationships between, for instance, formation age and tectonic behavior on the one hand and the seismic signature, heat flow, and petrology on the other may not be uniform but may vary both within as well as between cratons. These observations complicate attempts to determine the variations of one particular observable (e.g., heat flow, lithosphere thickness) as a function of another (e.g., crustal age) on the basis of global data compilations and tectonic regionalizations.Important conclusions of the work presented here are that (1) continental deformation, for instance shortening, is not restricted to the crust but also involves the lithospheric mantle; (2) the high wavespeed part of continental lithospheric mantle is probably thinner than inferred previously from vertically travelling body waves or form global surface-wave models; and (3) the seismic signature of ancient continents is more complex than expected from a uniform relationship with crustal age.
The Australian vegetation is the end result of a remarkable history of climate change, latitudinal change, continental isolation, soil evolution, interaction with an evolving fauna, fire and most recently human impact. This book presents a detailed synopsis of the critical events that led to the evolution of the unique Australian flora and the wide variety of vegetational types contained within it. The first part of the book details the past continental relationships of Australia, its palaeoclimate, fauna and the evolution of its landforms since the rise to dominance of the angiosperms at the beginning of the Cretaceous period. A detailed summary of the palaeobotanical record is then presented. The palynological record gives an overview of the vegetation and the distribution of important taxa within it, while the complementary macrofossil record is used to trace the evolution of critical taxa. This book will interest graduate students and researchers interested in the evolution of the flora of this fascinating continent.
The ancestors of the Aboriginal people arrived on the coast of Sahul, the continent comprised of Tasmania, the mainland of present day Australia. Also, New Guinea sometime earlier than 50,000 years ago, so their culture is among the oldest, and probably the oldest, culture in the world.
