Geology and solid Earth geophysics of the Pacific Basin / Геология и геофизика твердой Земли Тихоокеанского бассейна

In Australia, the period from 1920 to the present is split by World War II into two sharply contrasting periods with respect to advances in knowledge of the geology of the continent. Between the two world wars geological work was almost entirely restricted to the Geological Surveys and universities of the six states. The official Geological Surveys were more and more confined to routine and ad hoc tasks, such as examination of mines and prospects, siting water bores, and giving assistance to prospectors and the mining industry generally. Comparatively little systematic mapping was done and funds for publication were very limited. An exception was the geological investigation of mining areas and prospects by the Aerial, Geological and Geophysical Survey of Northern Australia, which was set up by the Commonwealth Government and the Governments of Queensland and Western Australia and operated from 1935 to 1940. Few, if any, mining companies employed geologists until about 1930, when Mt. Isa Mines, Ltd., commenced operations and maintained a full-time geological staff. Some of the other larger companies later followed suit, but only after the war did geological departments come to be regarded as a normal and essential part of a mining company's operations. <...>