GEMOC ARC National Key Centre

BILLION-YEAR EARTH HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA AND NEIGHBOURS IN GONDWANALAND (BYEHA) Tectonic synthesis is an important thread linking all the Research Programs in GEMOC. The publication of BYEHA in July 2000 presents a collation of the vast knowledge that John Veevers has accumulated in his career along with contributions from other GEMOC participants (Paul Morgan, Sue O'Reilly, Erwin Scheibner, Malcolm Walter, David Clark and Phil Schmidt). A selection of excerpts from the reviews show that it has been well-received.

P.R. Evans' review of BYEHA in September 2000 THE AUSTRALIAN GEOLOGIST: "In BYEHA Veevers and colleagues present a cohesive theory and the underlying evidence for the evolution of the Earth's crust during the last billion years.....as a compilation of up-dated studies and theory of crustal evolution, BYEHA is a tremendous resource that brings together results otherwise scattered through the scientific literature and thereby it becomes a starting point for further lines of inquiry."

From John Crowell's review for GEOTIMES: "This remarkable and useful book summarizes the geologic history of a significant part of the Earth's continental crust and its changing settings throughout geologic time since the beginning of the Neoproterozoic. Huge amounts of data are presented in Veevers' trademark "time-space diagrams" and skilfully designed maps and diagrams. The soft-cover book is beautifully produced and printed on high-quality paper, and is a bargain these days at about US$ 54 shipped.."

From Nick Mortimer's review in GEOL SOC NZ NEWSLETTER 123, November 2000: ".....I was thoroughly engrossed by the plethora of thematic paleogeographic maps and event stratigraphy diagrams: terrifyingly impressive in their depth, breadth and number .......... How does the book stack up in terms of what it says about New Zealand geology? Very well.....References are up to date and include such 1990's items as Chris Adams' provenance and the Canterbury-Ireland and GNS groups' basement work....."

From A.J. Crawford's review for EPISODES: "John Veevers and colleagues have produced another outstanding volume..This is an awesome volume in terms of breadth of the material drawn together. As a resource for checking information on the timing , distribution, and nature of tectonic events, lithostratigraphic units and facies, and their interpretation, this book is a gold mine. Time-space plots, morphotectonic maps, tectonic cartoons, time scales, facies maps, age histograms, continent reconstruction maps, all well represented, and all highly annotated...... the sheer amount of information encapsulated in these diagrams strikes me as a lifetime's work of synthesis,..... I found this book novel, stimulating and challenging, I learned many new things, and had the opportunity to rethink in another light aspects of rock sequences and regions that I consider I know well...... The publishers, the contributors, and especially John Veevers, all deserve immense credit for this."

The cover of BYEHA is the painting 'Nunngara' by Robert Juniper

The book can be purchased by contacting John Veevers