Conferences And Courses

August/September

SPRIGG HAS SPRUNG

The 2000 Sprigg Symposium was held between 29th June and 1st July at the University of Adelaide. The symposium is held every two years with a theme related to the multi-faceted career of Dr Reginald Claude Sprigg.

The theme for 2000 was 'Australian Petroleum Geoscience - Frontier Basins & Frontier Ideas'. Reg is probably best known in this field as a pioneering explorer and promoter of the Cooper-Eromanga petroleum province. The symposium was organised under the aegis of the GSA with support from PESA, and the NCPGG and Department of Geology & Geophysics at the University of Adelaide. Major conference sponsors were Beach Petroleum, PIRSA, Santos, AGSO and Schlumberger.

About 90 people from across Australia and overseas attended the event, which consisted two days of presentations followed by a field trip. Everything went fairly smoothly, apart from some locals suffering from involuntary shuddering as they gradually recognised the venue as the site of their undergraduate maths lectures.

Bob Laws from PIRSA opened the event and gave an overview of Reg Sprigg's life and career. For the next two days an interesting and informative sequence of papers followed covering both frontier regions and the application of new techniques. Jane Blevin and her co-authors from AGSO won the best paper award (Hydrocarbon Prospectivity of the Bight Basin - Petroleum Systems Analysis in a Frontier Basin).

A strength of the symposium was the high quality of all the keynote addresses: Australia's Frontier Basins (John Gorter), New Techniques for Exploring Frontier Basins (Geoff O'Brien); Challenges Today in Exploring Frontier Basins (Hector Gordon) and Petroleum Geology and Geological Education (Brian McGowran).

Following happy hour drinks on Thursday night, an enthusiastic audience enjoyed the symposium dinner and an address by Reg Nelson. Reg is the Director and CEO of Beach Petroleum, a company with which Reg Sprigg had a long association. Mr Nelson presented a fascinating story of the difficulties companies can face when they are the target of unethical behaviour.

Nick Lemon maps out the geology of the Willunga Embayment on the McLaren Vale field trip.

The final event in the symposium was the excursion/winery tour on Saturday 1st July. Ably led by Nick Lemon, 18 people explored the link between the wines and geology of the McLaren Vale. First the geology of the Willunga Embayment was examined and then its effect on the wines from Coriole, D'Arenberg and Maglieri wineries. After spirited discussion the trip concluded with a pleasant lunch at the Barn, a local restaurant.

It is planned that several of the papers presented at the Sprigg Symposium will be published in the PESA Journal. The abstract volume can be obtained by contacting Peter Tingate
Phone: 08 8303 4296 or email: ptingate@ncpgg.adelaide.edu.au.