2018 RSES PhD field trip to the Northern Territory, Australia

This September, 17 research students from the Research School of Earth Sciences (RSES) had the incredible opportunity to explore the geology and cultural history of the Northern Territory. We spent two weeks driving through northern and central Australia, travelling over 4000 km in total! This trip provided an opportunity for both international and domestic students to experience a remote part of Australia and learn about its geological and cultural history. In this talk we will share some of our journey’s highlights with the ANU community.

The Northern Territory is a unique part of Australia that showcases an ancient landscape shaped over 2 billion years as well as the history of the oldest surviving culture in the world. As we travelled through Kakadu National Park, we learnt about how the sandstone landscape and the climate dictated how the Indigenous people interacted with the land. As we moved south towards Tennant Creek, we also learnt about more recent uses of the land at the Battery Hill Mining Centre and the ANU Waramanga Seismic Station. We followed the MacDonnell Ranges to Kings Canyon then to Uluṟu – Kata Tjuṯa National Park, experiencing the sheer scale of the sediments deposited in the Centralian Superbasin in the Proterozoic and Palaeozoic Eons. This interdisciplinary trip allowed the students to broaden their knowledge and field experience in Earth Sciences as well as foster student collaboration and friendships, enriching the RSES postgraduate student experience.

We would like to thank RSES and the Student Extracurricular Enrichment Fund (SEEF) for the generous financial support that enabled so many students to see a unique part of Australia.