6 days 5 nights - Saturday 11 August to Thursday 16 August 2012
Starts: Kalgoorlie Finishes: Kalgoorlie

Numbers limited to 20

Land: $2510 per person share twin/double   
Single supplement: $505   
Air: $1070

The Eastern Goldfields Superterrane of the Yilgarn Craton hosts world-class gold and komatiite-hosted nickel deposits within classic Neoarchean granitegreenstones. See the historic gold mining town of Kalgoorlie. Visit major mines and examine their geological setting. The Yilgarn is covered by a thick regolith blanket that includes salt lakes defining a vast paleodrainage system, transported material, extensive laterite hosting huge nickel resources, and deeply weathered in-situ rock.

Historic gold-mining town of Kalgoorlie, Super pit, Western Australia outback and wildlife, gold-rush history

Mr Stephen Wyche, Geological Survey of Western Australia

8 days 7 nights - Saturday 28 July to Saturday 4 August 2012
Starts: Perth
Finishes: Paraburdoo

Numbers limited to 18

Cost:

Land: $3290 per person    
Air:$900

The Pilbara region of remote Western Australia contains the world’s best preserved early Archean rocks and the oldest fossils occur east of Pilbara granite-greenstones which contain significant mineral deposits that include iron ore, gold, base metals, tin, tantalum, and barite. Sections illustrate the development of the Earth’s crust between 3520 and 3420 Ma. The North Pole 3500-3420 Ma stromatolites provide our best evidence for Earth’s earliest life and the ancient environments. Examine late Archean to early Proterozoic Fortescue and Hamersley Basins which host the huge Pilbara iron ore mines.

Pilbara Craton, Marble Bar, Fortescue and Hamersley Basins, spectacular remote area camping

Dr Arthur Hickman, Geological Survey of Western Australia and Dr Martin Van Kranendonk, University of New South Wales

Specific joining instructions apply to this field trip and will be provided upon receipt and confirmation of trip booking.   Camping trip.     

9 days 8 nights - Friday 27 July to Saturday 4 August 2012
Starts: Broome
Finishes: Broome

Numbers limited to 18

Land: $3650 per person           
Air: $650

Cross the Kimberley Plateau to Kununurra and to Halls Creek, the scene of Western Australia’s first gold rush. See the Paleoproterozoic granites, gabbros and metamorphic rocks, and overlying sandstones. Visit Neoproterozoic glacial deposits, the Devonian barrier reef complex at Windjana Gorge and the sandstone karst landscapes of the Bungle Bungle Range. Mineralization includes diamonds, Argyle, iron ore, Ni-Cr-PGE, Cu-Zn VHMS deposits and gold, Zn-Pb MVT deposits, and hydrocarbons in the Canning Basin 

Unique plants and wildlife, Aboriginal history and culture, spectacular scenery and spectacular remote area camping.

Dr Ian Tyler and Dr Peter Haines, Geological Survey of Western Australia, Dr Roger Hocking, State Geology

Special notes:

Camping trip.

8 days 7 nights - Saturday 28 July to Saturday 4 August 2012
Starts: Perth
Finishes: Perth

AUD 2695-00  per person, twin share
Single supplement  AUD470-00 (subject to availability)

Air flights: from Perth,  to Shark Bay, return:  AUD 672-00 per person
Perth/Brisbane: from  AUD770-00

Shark Bay is a window on the early Earth, an analogue of the way life was. The eastern embayment, Hamelin Pool, is hypersaline, truncating the ecosystem by excluding most of the metazoans that graze on microbes. As a result, benthic microbial mats proliferate, building the stromatolites for which this area is famous. This field trip will travel to the best examples of the stromatolites, including allowing snorkling over spectacular subtidal examples. It will describe and show the context of Holocene dune sands, playa lakes, extraordinary coquina beaches, beachrock, calcrete and more. The sedimentology and microbiology of the systems will be described in detail. An overflight of the area in a light aircraft is an optional extra. Local people will introduce participants to the Aboriginal and European settler history. Accommodation will be at a "sheep station" (ranch). A visit to an aquarium is included.

Professor Malcolm Walter, University of New South Wales, ( Director Australian centre for Astrobiology): and Professor Lindsay Collins, Curtin University.