Dr Alan Collins

Biography/ Background

Doctor Alan Collins received a BSc (Hons.) degree from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, The University of London, then completed a PhD in 1997 at The University of Edinburgh on the tectonics of SW Turkey. This work identified multiple stages of thrust-sheet movement, foreland basin formation and subsequent consumption in the ophiolite-bearing Lycian nappes along the Aegean and Mediterranean coast of Turkey. After completing this, Alan went down in the crust and back in time to work on the Ediacaran-Cambrian amalgamation of Gondwana, working initially in Madagascar, and later in East Africa, India, Western Australia and East Antarctica. Using tectono-stratigraphic techniques, he has helped unravel much of the East African Orogen to produce a model for the collision of Neoproterozoic India with the central Africa. This work began in Leicester University, UK, and continued in the Tectonics Special Research Centre in Curtin University and The University of Western Australia.

Doctor Alan Collins commenced at The University of Adelaide as a Senior Lecturer in 2005 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2009. His on-going research directs various aspects of geoscience, including palaeomagnetism, structural geology, geochronology and sedimentology to answer geologically significant questions. He was awarded an Australian Research Council 'Future Fellowship' in 2012.

Alan Collins is presently Academic Group Leader of Geology and Geophysics in the School of Earth and Environmental Science

Qualifications

PhD (Edinburgh)
Thesis title "Tectonics Architecture of the Lycian Thrust Sheets, SW Turkey" Advisers: Alastair Robertson, John Dixon

BSc (Hons) 1st class, Geology
Royal School of Mines, Inperial College, University of London

Associate of the Royal School of Mines (ARSM)

2002 F.W. James Chair in Geology at the St Francis Xavier University, NS, Canada

2007 Flinn Award Winner - International Lithosphere Program

Teaching Interests

Alan is a member of the Geology and Geophysics academic group and teaches significant parts of the Geology major.

He is the course coordinator of:

Structural Geology II 

Tectonics III

To do these courses enroll in the flagship course in the Faculty of Science - the Bachelor of Science http://www.adelaide.edu.au/programs/ug/prog/sciences/#sci

Research Interests

Overall, Dr. Collins is interested in linking many of the sub-disciplines of geoscience into a constrained model for the evolution of a region, or the determination of a process. A particular bias in structural geology and geo(thermo)chronology.

Alan is a member of the Centre for Tectonics, Resources and Exploration (TRaX) - http://www.adelaide.edu.au/trax/research/

Specific ongoing research areas:

The tectonics and palaeogeography of the Neoproterozoic world

Palaeoproterozoic plate tectonics and the development of modern plate-margin processes

The Neoproterozoic to recent evolution of the northern Gondwana margin - the Alps, Himalaya and SE Asia

The Proterozoic to Recent tectonic evolution of Australia

Doctor Alan Collins has conducted research in Australia, Canada, India, Madagascar, Pakistan, Poland, Tanzania, Turkey and the UK. Current research projects are located in India, Australia, Tanzania and Antarctica. He welcomes enquiries from potential students and collaborators.

Publications

Since 2005 (students italized)
For full list of publications by TRaX members since 2009 see - http://www.adelaide.edu.au/trax/publications/

Plavsa, D., COLLINS, A.S., Foden, J.F.,  Kropinski, L. Santosh, M., Chetty, T.R.K and Clark, C. in press. Delineating crusal domains in Peninsular India: Age and chemistry of orthopyroxene-bearing felsic gneisses in the Madurai Block. Precambrian Research.

McGee, B., COLLINS, A.S. and Trindade, R.I.F. 2012. G'day Gondwana - the final accretion of a supercontinent: U-Pb ages from the post-orogenic Sao Vicente Granite, northern Paraguay belt, Brazil. Gondwana Research, 21, 316-322.

Tohver, E., COLLINS, A.S., Babinski, M. and Trindade, R.I.F. 2012. Assembling two easy pieces: the geology of western Gondwana and plate tectonic theory - An introduction to the special volume. Gondwana Research 21, 311-315.

COLLINS, A.S., Kinny, P.D., Razakamanana, T. 2012. Depositional age, provenance and metamorphic age of metasedimentary rocks of southern Madagascar. Gondwana Research, 21, 353-361.

Cox, G.M., Lewis, C.J., COLLINS, A.S., Halverson, G.P., Jourdan, F., Foden, J., Nettle, D., Kattan, F. 2012. Ediacaran terrane accretion in the Arabian-Nubian Shield. Gondwana Research, 21, 341-352.

Smithies, R.H., Howard, H.M., Evins, P.M., Kirkland, C.L., Kelsey, D.E., Hand, M., Wingate, M.T.D., COLLINS, A.S., Belousova, E. 2011. High-temperature granite magmatism, UHT metamorphism and crust-mantle interaction - the Mesoproterozoic evolution of the Musgrave Province, central Australia's long-lived hot spot. Journal of Petrology.

Le Heron, D.P., Cox, G.M., Trundley, A.E., COLLINS, A.S. 2011. Sea-ice free conditions in the depths of the early Cryogenian (Sturt) glaciation, South Australia. Geology. 39, 31-34

Le Heron, D.P., Cox, G., Trundley, A.E., COLLINS, A.S. 2011. Cryogenian (Sturt and Elatina) glacial sediment records of South Australia. Precambrian Research.

McGee, B., Giles, D., Kelsey, D.E., COLLINS, A.S. 2010. Feedbacks between deformation, metamorphism and melting in a granulite-facies gold deposit. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 167, 1089-1104.

Jamshidi-Bahr, M., COLLINS, A.S., Masoudi, F., Cox, G., Mohajel, M. in press. The U-Pb age, geochemistry and tectonic significance of granitoids in the Soursat complex, northwestern Iran. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences.

COLLINS, A.S., Clark, C., Chetty, T.R.K., Santosh, M., 2010. Ediacaran-Cambrian tectonic evolution of southern India. Indian Journal of Geology, 80, 23-40.

Halverson, G.P., Hurtgen, M.T., Porter, S.M., COLLINS, A.S. 2009. Neoproterozoic-Cambrian biogeochemical evolution. In C. Gaucher, A.N. Sial, G.P. Halverson and H.E. Frimmel (eds.). Neoproterozoic-Cambrian tectonics, global change and evolution: a focus on southwestern Gondwana. Developments in Precambrian Geology, Volume 16, Elsevier, pp. 351-365.

Raimondo, T., COLLINS, A.S., Hand, M., Walker-Hallam, A., Smithies, R.H., Evins, P.M., Howard, H.M. 2010. The anatomy of a deep intracontinental orogen. Tectonics, doi:10.1029/2009TC002504.

Raimondo, T., COLLINS, A.S., Hand, M., Walker-Hallam, A., Smithies, R.H., Evins, P.M., Howard, H.M. 2009. Ediacaran intracontinental channel flow. Geology, 37, 291-294

Clark, C., COLLINS, A.S., Santosh, M., Taylor, R., Wade, B.P. 2009. The P-T-t architecture of a Gondwanan suture: REE, U-Pb and Ti-in-zircon thermometric constraints from the Palghat Cauvery shear system, South Indi. Precambrian Research, 174, 129-144.

Stewart, J.R., Betts, P.G., COLLINS, A.S., Schaefer, B.F. 2009. Multi-scale analysis of Proterozoic shear zones: An integrated structural and geophysical study. Journal of Structural Geology, 31, 1238-1254.

Halverson, G.P., Hurtgen, M.T., Porter, S.M. & COLLINS, A.S. 2009. Biogeochemical events across the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary. In C. Gaucher, A. Sial, G.P. Halverson, and H. Frimmel (Eds.). Events at the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary: a focus on southwestern Gondwana. Developments in Precambrian Geology, Elsevier.

Reddy, S.M., Mazumder, R., Evans, D.A.D. & COLLINS, A.S. (editors) 2009. Palaeoproterozoic Supercontinents and Global Evolution. Geological Society Special Publication.

Clark, C., COLLINS, A.S., Timms, N.E., Kinny, P.D., Chetty, T.R.K., Santosh, M. 2009.SHRIMP U-Pb age constraints on magmatism and high-grade metamorphism in the Salem Block, southern India. Gondwana Research. 16, 27-36.

Ustaömer, P.A., Ustaömer, T., COLLINS, A.S., Robertson, A.H.F. 2009. Cadomian (Ediacaran-Cambrian) arc magmatism in the Bitlis Massif, SE Turkey: Magmatism along the developing northern margin of Gondwana. Tectonophysics, 473, 99-112.

Ustaömer, P.A., Ustaömer, T., COLLINS, A.S. & Reischpeitsch, J. 2009. Lutetian arc-type magmatism along the southern Eurasian margin: New U-Pb LA-ICPMS and whole-rock geochemical data from Marmara Island, NW Turkey. Mineralogy and Petrology 96, 177-196.

Kelsey D.E., Wade, B.P., COLLINS, A.S., Hand, M., Sealing, C.R. and Netting, A. 2008. A Neoproterozoic basin precursor to UHT metamorphism in the Prydz Bay belt in east Antarctica. Precambrian Research, 161, 355-388.

Li, Z.X., Bogdanova, S.V., COLLINS, A.S., Davidson, A., De Waele, B., Ernst, R.E., Fitzsimons, I.C.W., Fuck, R.A., Gladkochub, D.P., Jacobs, J., Karlstrom, K.E., Lu, S., Natapov, L.M., Pease, V., Pisarevsky, S.A., Thrane, K., Vernikovsky, V. 2008, Assembly, configuration, and break-up history of Rodinia: a synthesis, Precambrian Research, 160, 179-210.

Murphy, J.B. & COLLINS, A.S. 2008. 40Ar-39Ar white mica ages reveal Neoproterozoic/Paleozoic provenance and an Alleghanian overprint in coeval Upper Ordovician-Lower Devonian rocks of Meguma and Avalonia. Tectonophysics. 461, 265-276.

Pisarevsky, S.A., Murphy, J.B., Cawood, P.A and COLLINS, A.S. 2008. Late Neoproterozoic and Early Cambrian palaeogeography: models and problems. In: Brito Neves, B.B., Trouw, R.A.J., de Wit, M.J. and Pankhurst, R.J. (eds). Western Gondwana: Pre-Cenozoic Geology Bordering the South Atlantic. Geological Society, London, Special Publication, 294, 9-31.

COLLINS, A.S., Santosh, M., Braun, I and Clark, C. 2007. Age and Sedimentary Provenance of the Southern Granulites, South India. U-Th-Pb SHRIMP Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry. Precambrian Research, 155, 125-138.

Strachan, R., COLLINS, A.S., Buchan, C., Nance, D., Murphy, B. and D'Lemos, 2007. Provenance and age of metamorphism of basement gneisses within the Avalon terrane, southern Britain: evidence from U-Pb (SHRIMP) detrital zircon geochronology. Journal of the Geological Society, London, Special. 164, 57-60.

COLLINS, A.S., Clark, C., Sajeev, K., Santosh, M., Kelsey, D.E., and Hand, M., 2007, Passage Through India: The Mozambique Ocean Suture, High Pressure Granulites and the Palghat-Cauvery Shear System, Terra Nova, 19, 141-147.

Kelsey, D.E., Clark, C., Hand, M. and COLLINS, A.S. 2006. Comment on "First report of garnet-corundum rocks from southern India: Implications for prograde high-pressure (eclogite-facies?) metamorphism" by Shimpo et al. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 242 (2006) 111-129. Earth & Planetary Science Letters, 249, 529-534.

Clark, C., Schmidt Mumm, A. and COLLINS, A.S. 2006. A coupled micro- and macro structural approach to the analysis of fluid induced brecciation, Curnamona Province, South Australia. Journal of Structural Geology, 28, 745-761.

Kehelpannala, K.V.W. and COLLINS, A.S., 2006. The Role of Sri Lanka and Associated Continental Blocks in the Assembly and Break-up of Rodinia and Gondwana: Introduction. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 28, 1-2.

Santosh, M., COLLINS, A.S., Tamashiro, I., Koshimoto, S., Nagata, M., Tsutsumi, Y. and Yokoyama, K., 2006. The Timing of Ultrahigh-temperature Metamorphism in Southern India: U-Th-Pb Electron Microprobe Ages from Zircon and Monazite in Sapphirine-bearing Granulites. Gondwana Research, 10, 128-155.

Parthasarathy, G., COLLINS, A.S. and Chetty, T.R.K., 2006. Natural graphite from Neoproterozoic psammitic gneiss, Inanalo Mountain, southern Madagascar. Journal of the Geological Society of India, 68, 176-180.

Danelian, T., Robertson, A.H.F., COLLINS, A.S. and Poisson, A. 2006. Biochronology of Jurassic and Early Cretaceous radiolarites from the Lycian Melange (SW Turkey) and implications for the evolution of the Northern Neotethyan ocean. In Robertson, A. H. F. & Mountrakis, D. (eds) Tectonic Development of the Eastern Mediterranean Geological Society, London, Special Publication 260, 229-236.

Santosh, M., Tagawa, M., Yokoyama, K. and COLLINS, A.S. 2006. U-Pb Electron probe geochronology of the Nagercoil Granulites, Southern India: Implications for Gondwana Amalgamation. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 28, 63-80.

COLLINS, A.S., 2006. Madagascar and the Amalgamation of Central Gondwana. Gondwana Research (GR Focus). 9, 3-16

COLLINS, A.S. and Pisarevsky S.A., 2005. Amalgamating eastern Gondwana: The evolution of the Circum-Indian Orogens. Earth Science Reviews, 71, 229-270.

Professional Associations

Member of the Geological Society of Australia

Member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia

Ex-President of the International Association for Gondwana Research. http://www.gondwanaresearchonline.com/General/IAGR.aspx

2005-2009 Secretary of the UNESCO International Geological Correlation Programme Project 509 (Palaeoproterozoic Supercontinents and Evolution). http://earth.geology.yale.edu/igcp509/

2005-2007 Chair of the Specialist Group in Tectonics and Structural Geology (SGTSG) of the Geological Society of Australia. http://www.sgtsg.gsa.org.au/

Associate Editor of the Journal 'Gondwana Research'. http://ees.elsevier.com/gr/

Member of the Editorial Board of Precambrian Research. http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/503357/description#description

2005-2011 Subject Editor for the Journal of the Geological Society, London. http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/template.cfm?name=journals_jgs_home_page

Co-opted editor of the Tanzanian Journal of Earth Sciences

Member of the Mineralogical Society of America Member of the Geological Society of America Member of the American Geophysical Union

Files

• Collins 2006 - Gondwana Reseach - Review of the geology of Madagascar - Collins_2006_-_Gondwana_Research.pdf [852.5K] (application/pdf)
• Collins & Pisarevsky 2005 Earth Science Reviews - Neoproterozoic palaeogeography of eastern Gondwana - Collins_and_Pisarevsky_2005_Earth_Science_Reviews.pdf [2.3MB] (application/pdf)

Expertise for Media Contact

Categories	Science and technology
Expertise	geology; structural geology; earthquakes; tectonics; gondwana; snowball earth; neoproterozoic; rock deformation; formation of mountain ranges; plate tectonics; amalgamation of Australia; faults; folds; dating rocks; geochronology
Notes	Chair of the Geological Society of Australia's Specialist Group in Tectonics and Structural Geology Senior Lecturer in Structural Geology at the University of Adelaide

Entry last updated: Friday, 14 Sep 2012