David Inkster

PhD student - Geo

Biography

David was awarded a Bachelor of Engineering degree at Adelaide University in 1971. He worked for Simpson-Pope Ltd and then Mitsubishi Australia until joining ETSA (the Electricity Trust of SA) as Approvals Engineer in 1986. During the next eight years he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Mathematics, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology, both done part time. In 1994 he left ETSA and completed Honours Science in Geophysics as a full time student. In 1996 he joined Normandy Mining as their Geophysicist for the Tennant Creek operations, his work instrumental in successfully targeting the 'Chariot' gold deposit.

After Normandy was taken over he did contract work for Newmont (the new owners) and for Mitsubishi, before joining Brook Engineering as a designer of special purpose machinery in 2002. In 2006 he was offered a position with ASP where he is involved with the Australian Stress Map project, and is enrolled as a PhD student.

Professional Memberships

• Member of The Institution of Engineers, Australia
• The Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
• Australasian Society of Exploration Geophysicists
• Student member of Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia

PhD research project

Understanding the Australian Stress Map

Supervisors: Richard R. Hillis, Peter van Ruth

Project Description:

• Many tectonic plates show a reasonably consistent stress direction, usually parallel to the plate motion
• However, the Australasian plate shows significant changes in stress direction
• Noteworthy is the U-shaped appearance of the trajectories formed by the Amadeus, Bowen and Cooper basins
• This apparent 180° reversal of stress direction demands further data to determine whether it is real, or just an inflection in the stress field
• If real, what is the cause of the stress reversal?

There have been previous efforts to explain the stresses within the plate as the result of the boundary forces on the Australasian Plate. These have been partially successful but do not fully model the change in trajectories mentioned above, especially in the light of the strong and consistent data set from the Cooper Basin. The aim of this project is to advance our understanding of the sources of these stresses, so that interpolations and predictions can be more accurate.