2021 RSWA Symposium: Swan Coastal Plain – temporal and spatial patterns
May 15, 2021 –
Swan Coastal Plain is the low, dune-rich area between the Darling Scarp and the sea, stretching from Cape Naturaliste in the south, to north of the city of Perth. During the last Glacial sea-level low-stand the plain extended to the edge of the present continental shelf. The surface is dominated by a variety of mainly infertile, Pleistocene sands of mixed fluvial, marine and aeolian origin as well as wetland muds. Rivers drain from the topographically high Yilgarn Craton to the east across the plain, forming significant wetlands and estuaries. The Swan River forms the largest estuary, and its former channel can be traced across the shelf to a deep off-shore canyon, dissecting the shelf edge. The resulting microenvironmental mosaic on the present-day plain and its Pleistocene precursor is a central element in the development of the major botanical diversity hotspot in southwestern WA – now also home to most of Western Australia's human population.
As indicated in the program below, the symposium will cover a range of topics relevant to the Swan Coastal Plain, its formation and history up to what we find today.
Agenda
8:30 Doors open – coffee & tea will be available
8:50 Welcome – Hans Lambers, RSWA President
9:00 CHARMAINE THOMAS: Deep Geology – beneath the Swan Coastal Plain
9:35 JOHN BUNTING: Pleistocene Geology – the ins and outs of the Swan Coastal Plain
10:10 MALCOLM MCCULLOCH: Coral records of global sea level highstands from the Swan
Coastal Plain: past, present and future
10:45 Morning Tea & Coffee
11:15 KARI PITTS: Differentiation of the Pleistocene sands – lessons from Forensic Soil Analysis
11:50 STEPHEN HOPPER: The Holocene/Pleistocene evolution of the botanical hot-spot
12:25 Lunch
13:30 GRAHAM ZEMUNIK: Variation in plant communities across the dune systems on the Swan Coastal Plain
14:05 KAILAH THORN: Pleistocene terrestrial animal communities & extinctions
14:45 GARY KENDRICK: Changing shelf communities over the Pleistocene and under current climate change
15:15 Afternoon Tea & Coffee
15:45 JULIE TROTTER: Unveiling the deep-sea environments of the Perth Canyon
16:20 JOE DORTCH: From scarp to shore: pre-European Aboriginal occupation of the Swan Coastal Plain.
16:55 Closing remarks
Symposium free for RSWA members, $60 non-members