AGN Webinar 2: McNaughton SHRIMP legacy collection
Just some of the many hundred of sample boxes and sample mounts that make up the McNaughton collection. Image: supplied
In our second webinar, we heard from Professor Neal McNaughton (Curtin University) and Dr Eleanore Blereau (GSWA) as they discussed how they saved the vast McNaughton SHRIMP collection and secured this valuable asset for the geoscience community. Plus, the AGN and Lithodat team previewed the AusGeochem platform.
Professor Neal McNaughton, who served in the role of SHRIMP geochronologist for the Centre of Global Metallogeny at the University of Western Australia (1994-2005), the Western Australian Centre for Exploration Targeting (2005-2007), and the John de Laeter Centre at Curtin University (2007-2019), donated his collection of geochronological sample mounts to the Geological Survey of Western Australia in 2019.
This collection, representing over 20 years of geochronological research and development, is full of irreplaceable samples and is a valuable resource for future research but lacked a digital footprint. In a jointly funded effort by AuScope, the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) and Curtin University a digital sample catalogue of the collection with digitised materials was successfully created. The final catalogue is now available online on a number of platforms and portals.
These efforts have allowed the preservation of the physical materials for future loans and analysis.
In this webinar Dr Eleanore Blereau (GSWA) describes how the preservation project proceeded, and discusses what was learned from the project providing insights for future collections.
You can watch the Webinar in full here.