Geological Advances in the Sydney Basin: introduction to the thematic issue

The Sydney Basin is a geological province of great historical, social and economic significance to Australia. It was the site of the first landing by James Cook in 1770 and the first European settlement in 1788, and has since become the geological host for Australia’s most populous urban area. Some of the earliest publications on Australian geology, by authors such as Dana (1849), Clarke (1861, 1867) and David (1890), dealt with aspects of Sydney Basin geology. The geological features of the basin were also critical factors in the infant colony’s development. Outcropping sandstones around the first settlement, for example, provided construction material for many of Sydney’s historic buildings, while the sandstone cliffs of the Blue Mountains formed a topographic barrier that had to be crossed before settlement could expand beyond the coastal fringe. The discovery of coal in 1797 was a key factor in the industrial development of New South Wales, providing a fuel source for rail and maritime transport, electric power generation, town gas production and a range of other purposes, including the establishment of a domestic iron and steel industry. Geological studies in the different coalfield areas, by authors such as David (1907), Carne (1908) and Harper (1915), served to establish the geological framework of the basin as we know it today. The coal-bearing strata and associated fossils also became the focal point for a series of international scientific discussions, not resolved until the late 1930s (e.g. Raggatt 1938), as to whether the beds were Carboniferous or Permian in age. Since that time mining of Sydney Basin coal has grown to contribute a very significant part of Australia’s export income, as well as a fuel that generates the electric power to drive much of the nation’s urban, regional and industrial activity. In 1966, to mark its move to the Shortland campus, the Department of Geology at the University of Newcastle organised a “Symposium on Advances in the Study of the Sydney Basin”. The symposium went on to become an annual event, strongly supported by the geological fraternity, providing a regular forum for presentation of papers on current research and developments in a wide range of geological topics. The 33 symposium, held in 1999, was the last one actually held at the University of Newcastle. The 34 symposium in 2000, although organised by the university, was held in conjunction with the 15 Australian Geological Convention in Sydney. This was followed by two symposia, the 35 and 36, held at the University of Wollongong in 2003 and 2006, and then two more, organised by the Coalfield Geology Council of New South Wales, at Pokolbin in the Hunter Valley in 2010 and 2012. In 2014 the Sydney Basin Symposium will return to Newcastle, with the 39 symposium being organised by the Coalfield Geology Council as part of the Australian Earth Sciences Convention. Over the (almost) half-century of its existence, the Sydney Basin Symposium has provided a platform for communicating recent advances in many different aspects of Sydney Basin geology. These include fundamental studies of the sedimentary strata, structural features and igneous bodies, accounts of modern-day geological processes, evaluation of the basin’s mineral, energy and groundwater resources, case studies in engineering and mining geology, and application of advanced techniques to facilitate awide range of geological investigations. As well as the basin itself, the papers presented at the symposium have covered aspects of the Gunnedah and Bowen Basins, and of the adjoining basement blocks. They have also included studies of other areas around the world from which insights can be gained on particular aspects of Sydney Basin geology. The title of this thematic issue, “Advances in Sydney Basin Geology”, was chosen to honour the contribution made by this long-lived series of symposia, reflecting but not duplicating the original symposium theme of “Advances in the Study of the Sydney Basin”. Initially the project aimed to provide a mechanism for updating some of the 62 papers presented at the 2010 and 2012 symposia, and distributing the results among the wider