Down under down under: using multi-scale seismic tomography to image beneath Australia's Great Artesian Basin. Seismic arrays will be deployed in the Great Artesian Basin to image the crust and mantle using distant earthquake and ambient noise sources. This will answer fundamental questions about the tectonic evolution of eastern Australia and elucidate the structure of a region containing significant deep Earth resources.
Advanced gravity and electromagnetic methods for uncovering the deep Earth. Advanced gravity and electromagnetic methods for uncovering the deep Earth. This project aims to improve the sensitivity of airborne gravity gradiometers and electromagnetic sensors so airborne surveys can detect underground structures at greater depths. Aircraft motion and turbulence limit the effectiveness of existing instruments. Advanced vibration isolation and noise reduction algorithms will allow instruments to ima ....Advanced gravity and electromagnetic methods for uncovering the deep Earth. Advanced gravity and electromagnetic methods for uncovering the deep Earth. This project aims to improve the sensitivity of airborne gravity gradiometers and electromagnetic sensors so airborne surveys can detect underground structures at greater depths. Aircraft motion and turbulence limit the effectiveness of existing instruments. Advanced vibration isolation and noise reduction algorithms will allow instruments to image to significantly greater depths, to map geology more accurately. This is expected to contribute to the discovery of new economic mineral and hydrocarbon resources.Read moreRead less
The link between cratonic roots, redox state, and mantle geodynamics. This project aims to understand the role of Earth's redox state on the geodynamic evolution of continental cratonic roots. Cratonic roots form strong, buoyant rafts upon which Australia's oldest crust and mineral deposits survived. Cratons preserve a record of planetary-scale chemical shifts, including the rise of surface oxygen, but it is unclear how these redox shifts themselves affected lithospheric processes. This project ....The link between cratonic roots, redox state, and mantle geodynamics. This project aims to understand the role of Earth's redox state on the geodynamic evolution of continental cratonic roots. Cratonic roots form strong, buoyant rafts upon which Australia's oldest crust and mineral deposits survived. Cratons preserve a record of planetary-scale chemical shifts, including the rise of surface oxygen, but it is unclear how these redox shifts themselves affected lithospheric processes. This project integrates new developments in geochemistry, geophysics, and geodynamics, to map the geochemical state and structure of cratonic roots, aiding mineral exploration, and also shedding light on the processes that modify, mineralise, and sometimes destroy cratonic roots.Read moreRead less
Seeing the unseeable: A new generation of geophysical imaging. This project aims to develop novel mathematical frameworks for probabilistic geophysical imaging and inference, building on recent advances in statistics and machine learning. These will allow us to obtain a more detailed and robust understanding of structures and processes occurring within the Earth, including those relevant to the Australian minerals and/or energy industries. Outcomes of this research include mathematical and compu ....Seeing the unseeable: A new generation of geophysical imaging. This project aims to develop novel mathematical frameworks for probabilistic geophysical imaging and inference, building on recent advances in statistics and machine learning. These will allow us to obtain a more detailed and robust understanding of structures and processes occurring within the Earth, including those relevant to the Australian minerals and/or energy industries. Outcomes of this research include mathematical and computational tools for imaging the subsurface, and greater understanding of Australian and global geoscience. This work can permit more effective exploitation of earth resources, as well as improving our understanding of how the Earth system has developed over geological history. Read moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Research Hubs - Grant ID: IH130200012
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,748,358.00
Summary
ARC Research Hub for Basin GEodyNamics and Evolution of SedImentary Systems (GENESIS). ARC Research Hub for Basin GEodyNamics and Evolution of SedImentary Systems (GENESIS). This Research Hub aims to undertake simultaneous modelling of deep Earth and surface processes, spanning basin scales to individual sediment grains. The Hub will develop and apply cutting-edge basin simulation approaches to transform the seeding and testing of basin exploration models, extending their viability to complex, ....ARC Research Hub for Basin GEodyNamics and Evolution of SedImentary Systems (GENESIS). ARC Research Hub for Basin GEodyNamics and Evolution of SedImentary Systems (GENESIS). This Research Hub aims to undertake simultaneous modelling of deep Earth and surface processes, spanning basin scales to individual sediment grains. The Hub will develop and apply cutting-edge basin simulation approaches to transform the seeding and testing of basin exploration models, extending their viability to complex, inaccessible remote and deep exploration targets. The Hub will fuse multidimensional data into five dimensional basin models (space and time, with uncertainty estimates) by coupling the evolution of mantle flow, crustal deformation, erosion and sedimentary processes, achieving a quantum leap in basin modelling and petroleum systems analysis.Read moreRead less
Unveiling the fine structure of the Australian continent using ocean waves. This project aims to develop new methods to better image lithospheric and upper-mantle structures by using noise from ubiquitous ocean waves, and then use these methods to illuminate fine-scale lithospheric-asthenospheric structures in Australia, from the surface to the upper mantle. Imaging the Earth’s structure using seismic tomography is one of the most fundamental tasks of geoscience. Conventional earthquake-based se ....Unveiling the fine structure of the Australian continent using ocean waves. This project aims to develop new methods to better image lithospheric and upper-mantle structures by using noise from ubiquitous ocean waves, and then use these methods to illuminate fine-scale lithospheric-asthenospheric structures in Australia, from the surface to the upper mantle. Imaging the Earth’s structure using seismic tomography is one of the most fundamental tasks of geoscience. Conventional earthquake-based seismic tomography has difficulties in deciphering fine-scale lithospheric structures. The images from this project will provide a better understanding of the nature of intraplate earthquakes and volcanoes, and improve the assessment of intraplate seismic and volcanic hazards in Australia.Read moreRead less
How the Earth moves: Developing a novel seismological approach to map the small-scale dynamics of the upper mantle. The concept of small-scale convection currents from about 100-400 km below the Earth’s surface is a model proposed to explain the origins of intraplate volcanoes and mountains. However, direct evidence for the physical reality of small-scale convection cells is generally weak. This project will develop a novel seismological approach combining both ambient noise and earthquake data ....How the Earth moves: Developing a novel seismological approach to map the small-scale dynamics of the upper mantle. The concept of small-scale convection currents from about 100-400 km below the Earth’s surface is a model proposed to explain the origins of intraplate volcanoes and mountains. However, direct evidence for the physical reality of small-scale convection cells is generally weak. This project will develop a novel seismological approach combining both ambient noise and earthquake data that can image such small-scale upper mantle convection. The outcomes of this project will help to fill the gap left in the Plate Tectonic paradigm by its inability to explain intraplate geological activity (volcanoes, earthquakes, mountains), which would be a significant step towards unifying conceptual models about how the Earth works.Read moreRead less
Beneath Bass Strait: linking Tasmania and mainland Australia using a novel seismic experiment. A new low-cost approach based on background seismic energy and earthquake recordings will be used to construct three-dimensional maps of the deep structure beneath Bass Strait. Understanding the broad scale geology of southeast Australia is of national importance because the area is host to an abundance of petroleum, geothermal and mineral resources.
Multi-array, multi-frequency probing of the Earth's heterogeneity. Multiple seismic arrays will be combined into an 'internal telescope' to locate sources of seismic energy from earthquakes or by scattering from heterogeneity in the Earth. This will provide strong new constraints on fine scale structure in the crust, mantle and core, and thereby help to define Earth's internal processes.
What lies beneath: unveiling the fine-scale 3D compositional and thermal structure of the sub continental lithosphere and upper mantle. We will produce the first high-resolution images of the thermal and mineralogical structure of the earth's mantle beneath Australia, western USA, and South Africa. This information represents the key to our understanding of society-relevant activities such as ore and energy exploration and natural hazard assessment.