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03 May 2000

Major scientific conference held at Geoscience Australia

Are the Earth's magnetic poles the most stable points of reference in existence? Scientists know from minute magnetic particles contained in certain rocks that the north and south poles have in fact reversed their positions in the course of the Earth's history.

Geoscience Australia is hosting Australia's largest gathering of experts in the fields of palaeomagnetism, rock and environmental magnetism.

Palaeomagnetists don't just study the past, supersensitive laboratory equipment is being used to study environmental pollution via minute magnetic tracers. Palaeomagnetism is equally important to understanding the Earth's current environmental conditions.

The science of palaeomagnetism studies the spectacular results of the earth's magnetic influence, over millions of years continents have torn up, drifted apart, and collided to form spectacular mountain ranges such as the Himalayas, or, closer to home, the Tasman Orogen in Eastern Australia.

New findings will be presented at the two-day conference relating to:

• understanding climate change in Tasmania,
• the environmental impact of changing land use,
• tectonic setting of the Tasman Fold Belt between 500 and 300 million years ago, and
• the evolution of the Earth's super-continents 330 million years ago

The conference is the largest gathering in this field for five years and is a forum for discussion on the applications of palaeomagnetism in the wider community.

The conference will be held from 3-4 May, at the Geoscience Australia Building, Symonston ACT. Australian and international scientists will be attending the conference organised by Geoscience Australia in cooperation with the Research School of Earth Sciences of the Australian National University and the CSIRO Division of Mining and Exploration.