- So geological mapping is the actual practice
of going out into the field,
looking at rocks,
observing the minerals and the structures
that are within them
and then using that information
to compile geological maps.
In New South Wales, we have rocks
that are up to 1.7 billion years old.
- We take those rocks.
We could cut thin sections from them
so we can look at the rocks
close up under a microscope
or we could send pieces of the rock
to laboratories to have various chemical
or physical tests done to find out
what elements and minerals,
things that are actually in the rock.
- It's the nuts and bolts
of what are the rocks?
How old are they?
What has happened to them?
Scientists go out into the field
and they map the rocks.
They analyse what they see.
They then use that to produce maps.
Those maps are then in turn
used to inform industry,
government, used to inform farmers,
researchers, educators.
- So we always get permission
from a landholder to access their land
but most landholders are really fascinated
by what we do.
Geological mapping benefits
the community in many ways
but I think fundamentally it helps
to inform land use decision making,
helps to inform environmental monitoring
or decision making,
helps greatly with a lot of agricultural factors
with soils and water and that sort of thing
and it also of course helps
inform the mining industry
on various decisions that relate
around planning or resource decisions.
- We can also map out
where we're likely to have floods
or landslides or natural disasters.
But if a mine is produced
and starts producing metals or energy,
then those royalties come back into the community,
in terms of hospitals, in terms of schools
and of course that's for all of New South Wales
not just for that local community.
