PESA Queensland were delighted to welcome 2017 Scholarship winner Peter Manchee to present on his honours project at their recent technical meeting.
Peter is an alumni of University of Queensland graduating from his Bachelor of Science (Geology) in 2016 before completing his honours in 2017, working with Professor Joan Esterle and Dr Valeria Bianchi. Coming from an agricultural background, he had a particular interest in the sustainable management of groundwater and was offered a research project working with Arrow Energy analysing the Condamine Valley Transition Zone. Peter now works for Anglo American as a Graduate Geologist at Lake Lindsay coal mine, located near Middlemount in Queensland.
His study investigated the sedimentary and drainage evolution of a clay-rich horizon; ‘the Transition Zone’ that marks a pronounced unconformity between the Quaternary Condamine Alluvium and the Jurassic gas-bearing Walloon Coal Measures. Analysis including detrital zircon age dating, stable oxygen isotopes, x-ray fluorescence and hyperspectral mineral analysis were used to characterise the section and identify both weathered Jurassic sediments and relatively preserved Tertiary clay deposits within the zone. Two sequential phases of pedogenesis, erosion, and deposition, related to changes in geomorphological and climatic stability were defined. The global and regional nature of the control factors on the pedogenic processes suggests the Transition Zone is likely to extend throughout the base of the Condamine Valley and in analogous Quaternary alluvia throughout the region.
Congratulations again to Peter on winning the 2017 Scholarship and thank you for taking the time to return to Brisbane and present your results to the PESA Qld group.
