QuakeWatch - Independant Seismographs in Australia

This section is devoted to smaller groups and individuals that are making contributions to seismology in Australia, outside of Government departments or major consulting groups.

These people are using or developing seismic recorders, generally based on one of two main suppliers. The The Environmental Systems and Services group (ESS), in Melbourne Australia manufactures the low-cost digital recorder, the Kelunji "Echo". The two groups in Queensland mentioned below use this system. The other important group uses the Public Seismic Network, or PSN system, built and sold by Larry Cochrane, in California. This system has been preferred by the amateur seismologists in Western Australia.

A third system, which has been used at UWA and by Albie Judge in Perth, is based around the low-cost Axiom digitising board. This board is no longer in production.

Below - those that convened a small " home users group" at the AEES meeting at Mt. Gambier, South Australia, Nov 2004

Left to right - Vic Dent (UWA), Col Lynam(UQ), Ed Cranswick (ex-USGS), Mike Turnbull (CQU), David Love (SA govt)

SEISMIC MONITORING - by state

• Western Australia

(UWA, Bickley, Martin)

• Queensland (Brisbane & UCQ)

• New South Wales

(Sydney University)

Biography  - Ian Everingham

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Whereas Geoscience Australia monitors seismicity in Western Australia with a network of about 15 sensors, there are a number of other operators working on a smaller, experimental scale.

Arie Verveer, a Technical Officer at the Bickley Astronomical Observatory, built a seismograph which has operated from Bickey since 1998 (although temporarily closed from June 2002 to June 2004). Arie's station is the most sophisticated of the independant stations, and images of the data collected are updated and posted to the internet hourly.

Alby Judge is a keen amateur who has operated a triggered seismograph at Martin, an outer suburb of Perth, since 1998. He has recently opened a second station near Chidlow, another of Perth's outer suburbs.

THE UWA EXPERIMENTAL SEISMOGRAPH

The UWA presently operates an experimental seismograph at Shenton Park, approximately 5 km from the University.

The data collection  revolves around an Axiom Analogue-to-digital board, using software written by Glenn Self. The sensors are 4.5 Hz geophones (vertical orientation), and the data is written to the HD drives of computers operating windows 95 and windows 98. The Muresk instrument has GPS timing, but accurate timing has yet to be installed on the Southern Cross instrument. Output from the geophones is sampled at 50 Hz.

THE PURPOSE OF THE INSTRUMENT

Below - earthquake near Koorda, 26 Dec 2004, Mag 3.2, at 0147 GMT, recorded at Shenton Park

Below - the seismograph at Muresk.  PC (recorder) at left, GPS receiver, with amp sitting on it, centre photo, and monitor on right hand side.

BICKLEY SEISMIC OBSERVATORY

	This station, built by Arie Verveer, is based on hardware and software available from the Public Seismic Network. Seismograms recorded by this equipment are posted to Arie's web site (www.geosn.com/data/Drum) with a delay of only about 10 minutes. Left - building underwhich the seismometer is sited.
	Below - seismograph console		Below - seismic vault & SPZ sensor

MARTIN OBSERVATORY

Another prominent amateur is Alby Judge, who operates the Martin Observatory. approximatetely 45 km SouthEast of Perth.

Alby operates several different seismic recorders at his observatory. One of them is an off-the-shelf instrument, called a PS2. It operates in a triggered mode, samples at 50 samples/second, and records three orthogonal components.

 Below are two examples of earthquakes recorded at Martin on the PS2 recorder, and plotted on the accompanying software package.

example 2

Alby's other instrument records the short period vertical component, using a software package called EMON, written by Ted Blank. This instrument has recently (July 2004) been re-installed at Chidlow, which is approximately 50 km east of Perth. It uses an Axiom 5210 A2D board, as does the Muresk seismograph. However, the data is recorded in PSN format, and is viewed by the WINQUAKE software package, written by Larry Cochrane.

 Below is a recording of a SWSZ event near Bencubbin, on 10 April 2004

QUEENSLAND

Most seismographs in Queensland are now operated by the Melbourne-based Environmental Systems and Services (ESS), under contract to the Queensland government. Their local representative is seismologist Russell Cuthbertson.

Left - Russ Cuthbertson.

A number of seismographs in the greater Brisbane region, are operated by The University of Queensland "Quakes" group. This is headed by Peter Mora, and he is assisted by Dion Weatherly and Col Lynam. The group operates five stations in the Brisbane region, as well as the station CTAO in far north Queensland. A map of station locations in the Brisbane region is shown below. BRSA station is continuously recording, whereas the others are triggered recorders.

The group is also hoping to initiate seismic programs in some Queensland high schools.

A relatively new group has formed at the Central Queensland University  (CQU) at Bundaberg, under the direction of Mike Turnbull, although its origins were under Dr. Bruce Boreham. This group runs the North Burnett Seismic Network, which consists of three Kelunji (triggered) seismographs. This group is financially supported by local government bodies in the region.

Stations in the North Burnett Seismic Network

Four Seasons (FS03) - approx 24 km SW of Gin Gin

Rosedale State School (RDSS) - 62 Km north of Bundaberg

Start Point (STPT) - approx 18 km SW of Gayndah

Follow this link to North Burnett Seismic Network web site

NEW SOUTH WALES

The greater part of New South Wales is monitored by Geoscience Australia as part of it's effort to monitor the entire regions under the control of the Australian Government (including Antarctica and some island regions under Australian protectorate).

However, the Melbourne based ESS has a strong presence in NSW, and has a dense network of over 20 stations in the greater Sydney region, operated under the auspices of the Sydney Water Board. Earthquakes in the Sydney region are located with a relatively high degree of accuracy.

On a smaller scale, the University of Sydney has a scientist-in-residence, Dave Dobeson, who is developing an  ultra low-cost seismograph, which it is hoped can be built and operated by high schools in the state. This is based on a horizontal pendulum and a data logger, and can record the larger earthquakes of the south-west Pacific region. Dave's email is ddobeson@geosci.usyd.edu.au

Biographies of some Australian Seismologists

IAN EVERINGHAM 1924 - 1997

Ian Bouchier Everingham was born in Perth in 1924. Geophysics was a second love, which Ian pursued after demobbing from the RAAF, in which he trained as a navigator. He undertook a science degree at the University of Western Australia, and completed his honours year in 1951 as a BMR cadet.

His first field assignment was a gravity survey of the Perth Basin in 1952. The large gravity anomaly due to the Darling Fault at the eastern margin of the basin had been recently discovered, and Ian's work (documented in his first publication, BMR Bulletin 33, with the late Bob Thyer) demonstrated the major extent, depth, and significance of the sedimentary rocks. Gravity surveys of the Carnarvon Basin and Fitzroy (Sub)basin followed, including a detailed survey of the Rough Range Anticline, of which the results in conjunction with seismic data contributed to the selection of the site for drilling Rough Range No. 1 well - Australia's first 'gusher'.

In 1954, he was assigned to the Toolangi (magnetic) and Melbourne (seismic) Observatories, in Victoria, as Observer-in-Charge. In between developing his skills as an excellent observer, he carried out fieldwork, which included recording the seismic waves from the 1956 Maralinga atomic explosions (at a temporary seismograph site on the Nullabor Plain) and from large quarry blasts in the Snowy Mountains.

The Maralinga recordings resulted in the first seismic study of crustal structure in Australia.

This seismic work stirred in Ian an enduring interest in crustal structure, which he was able to extend during a 12-year posting to the Watheroo (subsequently Mundaring) Observatory genesis of BMR's seismological program in Western Australia. In response to a request by the IJS Federal Government in late 1958, BMR recorded the atomic tests at Bikini and Eniwetok. lan participated in the installations and recordings for this exercise: pouring a slab of concrete on a rocky outcrop east of the Darling Fault on a local farmer's property, and erecting a plywood hut over it, lan and his colleagues established a recording station for the first vertical Benioff destined for Mundaring, and a Willmore recorder the first 'Benimore', according to Ian. In his inimitable style, Ian also christened the site Hernando's Hideaway' (the title of a popular song at the time), in deference to the restricted classification imposed on the project.

The apparatus successfully recorded the atomic explosions, and many local earthquakes, probably from the southwest seismic zone, for several months afterwards. Those recordings whetted Ian's appetite for the forthcoming seismology program at Mundaring.

To satisfy his own interest, Ian carried out a series of gravity surveys over a large part of south Western Australia in his own time. Drawing on the experience gained from his first geoscientific study and publication, he used his observations of gravity anomalies to derive a model of the crust. He delineated the Yandanooka Cape Riche Seismic Zone, which intersects the Darling Fault and marks a change in metamorphic style and gravity character in the Precambrian Shield. He presented the results of this work in a thesis, for which he was awarded an MSc degree at the University of Western Australia in 1968. Ironically his last publication, an AGSO Record (1996/ 55; see p. 2), examines the correlation of earthquakes with gravity and magnetic anomalies in the crust of southwest Western Australia.

To collect the data for his MSc thesis, Ian and June used to head off at weekends into the never-never in his old Falcon, gravity meter and carton of beer on board. This activity typified the man's pursuit of his science: much of his working life was spent in remote areas without the support of colleagues and libraries.

His contributions to seismology provided the discipline with important landmarks. His joint paper in 1968 with Doyle & Sutton 'the Seismicity of the Australian continent' was the seismologists' 'bible' for many years. His study of the 1968 Meckering earthquake (BMR Record 1968/ 142) was a classic, and a fitting launching pad for his next career move - a redeployment to Papua New Guinea.

As OIC at Port Moresby Observatory from 1970-78, Ian directed studies of large earthquakes, tectonics, and tsunamis, and the resulting publications are referenced in all contemporary studies of hazard in PNG. As a seismologist, he was fortunate to have been in PNG during the most seismically active decade of the century, notorious for the 1970 Madang, the two 1971 Solomon Sea, and the 1975 Bougainville earthquakes which he studied and documented (BMR Report 176; Journal of the Geological Society of Australia, 22, 61 69; and, with Gaull & Dent, BMR Journal of Australian Geology & Geophysics, 2, 305-310).

Whenever he needed a break, Ian, an accomplished sailor and navigator, would head off single-handedly on a 10-metre catamaran accompanied by his small terrier, and sail up to Galley Reach or some other favourite spot, drop anchor, and contemplate the infinite. He hosted many an enjoyable picnic at Hombrum Bluff with visitors from all over the world, who learnt the dark secrets of 'SP greenies and brownies' (the local bottled ale).

Ian and June spent two years in Canberra before he retired from BMR in 1981. Coincidentally, the position of Seismologist with the Government of Fiji became vacant at this time, and Ian was the ideal choice to fill it.

During the next six years in Fiji, he carried out pioneering earthquake hazard studies which served as a foundation for subsequent research. Among his invaluable legacies, he developed a catalogue of shallow earthquakes, a key to national earthquake risk. An able historian. Ian uncovered the effects of damaging and fatal shallow Fijian earthquakes from the historical record, determined their epicentres, and calculated the attenuation of strong ground shaking with distance from the sources.

Ian's sojourn in Fiji also included explosion seismological studies, to determine the crustal and upper mantle structure of the main island - Viti Levu. He was not averse to exploiting opportunities that presented themselves for facilitating fieldwork, on one occasion commandeering a navy boat to sail around the islands, and dropping explosives overboard, to record seismic-wave velocities in the crust and upper mantle.

Retiring back to Perth in 1987 a few weeks before the Rabuka coup, Ian continued to provide ideas for research into the causes of earthquakes. At the time of his death, he was applying detailed intensity data in a study of microzonation in Perth.

An inventive, thorough investigator with a selfless attitude to science, Ian demonstrated the hallmark of a good scientist by combining a powerful curiosity with a great enthusiasm for his work. He was, too, a warm and generous man exemplified no more so than during his expatriation in PNG, where he would drive distressed local observatory staff to their villages at all hours of the day or night to visit sick relatives and time and again would 'lend' (give) them money. He overcame much sadness - the accidental deaths of both his sons in their 20s, for example - and a serious illness, but remained positive, happy, and gregarious throughout, sailing and partying till he dropped.

( Obituary by Jim Dooley & others)

Hugh Doyle

Hugh was born in Sydney, the son of Richard and Alma Sadie Doyle on
April 21, 1927. He graduated from the University of Sydney with BSc in
1947, and subsequently undertook pioneering geophysical work in many
parts of the Australian continent, its offshore possessions, and New Guinea. He married Brenda Clark, an American. Some of the observations given below come from an unpublished manuscript entitled Fifty Years in Geophysics, written by Hugh himself.

Hugh was employed as geophysicist with the Bureau of Mineral Resources from 1948-1956. In 1951, he began a year at Heard Island as the first geophysicist to winter there. In 1952, by contrast, he took part in a search of the Port Moresby area for the site of a proposed seismic magnetic and ionospheric observatory. Six years later, he was to return to New Guinea to record US nuclear explosions in the Pacific. In 1953 he was assigned to record the first nuclear explosion at the Emu site near Maralinga in South Australia. The seismic party recorded a reflection from the Moho, for the first time in Australia. The following year he was transferred to the Watheroo Magnetic Observatory in Western Australia, which, although professionally rewarding, seems to have represented a low spot on his social calendar. In 1956 he made seismic records of atomic explosions in Australia, producing the first accurate measurements of Australia’ s crustal thickness along the Trans-Australia railway line, where it averages 37 km. The results appeared in Nature.

Hugh became a research fellow in geophysics at ANU from 1956- 69, and in 1965 began a stay of almost two years at the South West Centre for Advanced studies in Dallas Texas, examining delays in S times in tectonic regions. In 1966 he studied the Meckering earthquake with Everingham and Gregson, producing a joint report in Nature.

Hugh was Senior Lecturer at the University of Western Australia from 1970-89, and was the first lecturer in geophysics in Western Australia. He kept his student lecture material meticulously up to date, and was noted for his rigorous marking of student assignments. Hugh was conservative in many of his views, and not surprisingly in a university environment, was rarely short of participants for lively debate. At the conclusion of his teaching career, he generously donated capital for the establishment of the Hugh Doyle Prize in Geophysics, to be awarded annually at The University of Western Australia. He was appointed Honorary Senior Research Fellow at UWA. After the publication of his book "Seismology" (J. Wiley, 1995), Hugh retired to Sydney, where he died on 29th Aug, 2003.

by John Glover