R.C. Sprigg
Reg Sprigg was born at Stansbury, York Peninsula, South Australia on March 1 1919. He graduated B.Sc in Geology and Zoology at Adelaide University in 1940 followed by B.Sc(Hons) and M.Sc. in Geology in 1941. In 1971 he was awarded D.Sc(honouris Causa) by A.N/U (Canberra) and, again by Flinders University (Adelaide) in April 1990 for his early pioneering work in Oceanography.
In 1944 Reg was seconded to the South Australian Geological Survey to reactivate the Radium Hill Uranium Mining field and to regionally map the Mt Painter Uranium field. Later he established the State Geological Mapping Division and undertook a wide range of mineral, hydrological, petroleum and engineering surveys. He married Griselda Paterson in 1951. They have two children - Margaret (born 1952) and Douglas (born 1954). Reg Sprigg died on 2 December 1994.
In 1946 he discovered the world's oldest (620 mya) ' Edicarian' fossil animals and, in 1947, the first submarine canyons in the Southern Hemisphere, south of Kangaroo Island.
In 1954 he set up his own consulting and contracting geological and geophysical companies, Geosurvey of Australia P/L. Its subsidiaries Geoseismic P/L, Geophoto Laboratories P/L, SA Oceanographic Services P/L and Specimen Minerals Ltd. Which supply scientific equipment and specimens (biological, mineral and geological) as well as publishing the Australian Amateur Mineralogist and the Australian (Petroleum) Scouting Service.
In 1954 he took a leading part in setting up SANTOS Ltd and subsequently spear-headed oil exploration widely across Australia. He was instrumental in discovering and developing the oil deposits in the Cooper Basin and the Moomba Gas Fields. Geosurveys operated also in search for Uranium, Nickel and other minerals and in geological and geophysical exploration under contract. He also assisted in directly setting up Alliance Oil Development NL, Beach Petroleum NL, and Tasman Petroleum Ltd (NZ).
In 1983 he was vested an officer of the Order of Australia. In June 1988 he was awarded the Freedom of the city of London in recognition of his work in petroleum exploration and environmental conservation. In March 1989 he was appointed a Vice-Patron of the Alumni Association of Adelaide University and in April 1990 at Flinders University.
He published over 300 scientific and technical papers and four books
Reg Sprigg died in December 1994 and his ashes are scattered on the property"
(2007. Arkaroola Pty LTD)
Sprigg is perhaps best remembered internationally as the discoverer of the Ediacara biota , an assemblage of some of the most ancient animal fossils known, at Ediacara Hills in South Australia .
The Ediacaran biota are ancient lifeforms that represent the earliest known complex mutilcellular organism . They appeared soon after the Earth thawed from the Cryogenian period's extensive galciers , and largely disappeared soon before the rapid appearance of biodiversity known as the Cambrain explosion , which saw the first appearance in the fossil record of the basic patterns and bodyplans that would go on to form the basis of modern animals. Little of the diversity of the Ediacaran biota would be used in this new scheme, and subsequent multicellular life would be based on the Cambrian, not the Ediacaran.
Up until 1947, it was believed that the Cambrian Explosion marked the first true abundance of multicellular life. However, this was discovered to be untrue after Sir Douglas Mawson and R.C. Sprigg mistakenly came across numerous "fossil jellyfish" in the Ediacara Hills while observing what was originally believed to be sandstones belonging to the lowest strata of the Cambrian. At first, these finding were dismissed as "fortuitous inorganic markings."(AAS Biographical Memoirs.) Several years later however, other discoveries of segmented worms, worm tracks, and impressions of two other assemblages that bear no resemblance to any known organism, living or extinct, prompted the South Australian Museum and the University of Adelaide to undertake a joint investigation of the region. Further studies by M. F. Glaessner, a paleontologist at Adelaide showed that the fossils were found well below the oldest Cambrian strata and that the strata actually dated from the Precambrian era. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/dp5/cambrian3.jpg
The Ediacara biota remains one of the greatest enigmas within evolutionary paleobiology. Discovered in 1946 by R. C. Sprigg in the Flinders Ranges of southern Australia, the Ediacara biota --which is 580 to 543 million years old (Ma) -- represents the most ancient complex organisms on Earth. Martin Glaessner (1984) provided the first insights into Ediacaran biology. He saw in the fossils of Ediacaran animals (so remarkably preserved in late Precambrian sandstones) the ancestors of Phanerozoic animal phyla. The Cambrian is the first period with abundant fossils and marks the start of the era of the Phanerozoic or "visible life" that continues through to the present. Before this came the vast interval of the Precambrian, which ranges back to the origins of the Earth about 4600 million years ago.
Reg Sprigg 1983
Reg Sprigg written or co-written:
Arkaroola - Mt Painter in the Flinders Ranges with Griselda Sprigg, 1976
Arkaroola - Mt Painter in the Flinders Ranges: The Last Billion Years, 1984 and 1988
Geology is Fun,1989
A Geologist Strikes Out, Recollections by Reg Sprigg, December 1993
Reg Sprigg was born at Stansbury, York Peninsula, South Australia on March 1 1919. He graduated B.Sc in Geology and Zoology at Adelaide University in 1940 followed by B.Sc(Hons) and M.Sc. in Geology in 1941. In 1971 he was awarded D.Sc(honouris Causa) by A.N/U (Canberra) and, again by Flinders University (Adelaide) in April 1990 for his early pioneering work in Oceanography.
In 1944 Reg was seconded to the South Australian Geological Survey to reactivate the Radium Hill Uranium Mining field and to regionally map the Mt Painter Uranium field. Later he established the State Geological Mapping Division and undertook a wide range of mineral, hydrological, petroleum and engineering surveys. He married Griselda Paterson in 1951. They have two children - Margaret (born 1952) and Douglas (born 1954). Reg Sprigg died on 2 December 1994.
In 1946 he discovered the world's oldest (620 mya) ' Edicarian' fossil animals and, in 1947, the first submarine canyons in the Southern Hemisphere, south of Kangaroo Island.
In 1954 he set up his own consulting and contracting geological and geophysical companies, Geosurvey of Australia P/L. Its subsidiaries Geoseismic P/L, Geophoto Laboratories P/L, SA Oceanographic Services P/L and Specimen Minerals Ltd. Which supply scientific equipment and specimens (biological, mineral and geological) as well as publishing the Australian Amateur Mineralogist and the Australian (Petroleum) Scouting Service.
In 1954 he took a leading part in setting up SANTOS Ltd and subsequently spear-headed oil exploration widely across Australia. He was instrumental in discovering and developing the oil deposits in the Cooper Basin and the Moomba Gas Fields. Geosurveys operated also in search for Uranium, Nickel and other minerals and in geological and geophysical exploration under contract. He also assisted in directly setting up Alliance Oil Development NL, Beach Petroleum NL, and Tasman Petroleum Ltd (NZ).
In 1983 he was vested an officer of the Order of Australia. In June 1988 he was awarded the Freedom of the city of London in recognition of his work in petroleum exploration and environmental conservation. In March 1989 he was appointed a Vice-Patron of the Alumni Association of Adelaide University and in April 1990 at Flinders University.
He published over 300 scientific and technical papers and four books
Reg Sprigg died in December 1994 and his ashes are scattered on the property"
(2007. Arkaroola Pty LTD)
Sprigg is perhaps best remembered internationally as the discoverer of the Ediacara biota , an assemblage of some of the most ancient animal fossils known, at Ediacara Hills in South Australia .
The Ediacaran biota are ancient lifeforms that represent the earliest known complex mutilcellular organism . They appeared soon after the Earth thawed from the Cryogenian period's extensive galciers , and largely disappeared soon before the rapid appearance of biodiversity known as the Cambrain explosion , which saw the first appearance in the fossil record of the basic patterns and bodyplans that would go on to form the basis of modern animals. Little of the diversity of the Ediacaran biota would be used in this new scheme, and subsequent multicellular life would be based on the Cambrian, not the Ediacaran.
Up until 1947, it was believed that the Cambrian Explosion marked the first true abundance of multicellular life. However, this was discovered to be untrue after Sir Douglas Mawson and R.C. Sprigg mistakenly came across numerous "fossil jellyfish" in the Ediacara Hills while observing what was originally believed to be sandstones belonging to the lowest strata of the Cambrian. At first, these finding were dismissed as "fortuitous inorganic markings."(AAS Biographical Memoirs.) Several years later however, other discoveries of segmented worms, worm tracks, and impressions of two other assemblages that bear no resemblance to any known organism, living or extinct, prompted the South Australian Museum and the University of Adelaide to undertake a joint investigation of the region. Further studies by M. F. Glaessner, a paleontologist at Adelaide showed that the fossils were found well below the oldest Cambrian strata and that the strata actually dated from the Precambrian era.
The Ediacara biota remains one of the greatest enigmas within evolutionary paleobiology. Discovered in 1946 by R. C. Sprigg in the Flinders Ranges of southern Australia, the Ediacara biota --which is 580 to 543 million years old (Ma) -- represents the most ancient complex organisms on Earth. Martin Glaessner (1984) provided the first insights into Ediacaran biology. He saw in the fossils of Ediacaran animals (so remarkably preserved in late Precambrian sandstones) the ancestors of Phanerozoic animal phyla. The Cambrian is the first period with abundant fossils and marks the start of the era of the Phanerozoic or "visible life" that continues through to the present. Before this came the vast interval of the Precambrian, which ranges back to the origins of the Earth about 4600 million years ago.
Reg Sprigg written or co-written:
- Arkaroola - Mt Painter in the Flinders Ranges with Griselda Sprigg, 1976
- Arkaroola - Mt Painter in the Flinders Ranges: The Last Billion Years, 1984 and 1988
- Geology is Fun,1989
- A Geologist Strikes Out, Recollections by Reg Sprigg, December 1993
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