PESA Queensland were thrilled to host Dr Brian Willis for an evening lecture on his whistle-stop tour of the Australian states and territories.
Dr Willis is a recognised expert on fluvial systems, with more than four decades spent studying the sedimentology and stratigraphic organisation of these depositional systems. This time, his focus was on the terminal end of the system with three-dimensional architecture of wave-dominated delta deposits the topic of the presentation.
Dr Willis, and his co-authors Tao Sun and Bruce Ainsworth, are using numerical models to challenge long-held rational for interpreting sea level variations in wave-dominated shallow-marine successions. Their work suggests that characteristic strongly asymmetric wave-dominated parasequences suggest common river avulsion at the start of transgression; observed down-dip transitions from “gradual-based” to “sharp-based” shoreface deposits might record reduced sediment supply to the coast relative to rates of longshore drift, and ; regional “top-truncated” shoreface successions might record progradation of dual-clinoform shorelines with wide deviation in net direction of regional sediment supply and shallow-water wave transport. These model results really challenged the audience to think differently about how they might interpret sea-level change from observed vertical facies changes.
PESA Queensland hosted 20 keen geologists at the Port Office Hotel in Brisbane CBD to hear Brian’s presentation. Whilst the Port Office has been an excellent replacement for the Hilton for lunch presentations, this was the first time the committee had tried it for an evening event. Very pleased to report that it worked well and the same high standard of refreshments were enjoyed.
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