Fragmentation of rocks upon impact. The project aims to create a new understanding of how rocks fragment upon impact to allow more realistic predictions of rockfall hazards. Rockfall results in loss of human life, damage to infrastructure and economic loss; each year in Australia, millions of dollars are spent on rockfall protection. To mitigate rockfall risk, it is important to understand and predict how blocks break as they fall down a slope. Unfortunately, there is limited data and knowledge ....Fragmentation of rocks upon impact. The project aims to create a new understanding of how rocks fragment upon impact to allow more realistic predictions of rockfall hazards. Rockfall results in loss of human life, damage to infrastructure and economic loss; each year in Australia, millions of dollars are spent on rockfall protection. To mitigate rockfall risk, it is important to understand and predict how blocks break as they fall down a slope. Unfortunately, there is limited data and knowledge on this phenomenon. This project aims to produce a comprehensive, high-quality database of fragmentation events and develop an innovative fragmentation model that can be included in existing rockfall codes. This project is expected to lead to optimised and cost-effective rockfall barrier protection measures.Read moreRead less
Origins and distributions of intraplate earthquakes. This project aims to investigate the behaviour and origin of intraplate earthquakes in Australia by developing a multi-million-year record of earthquakes using geological, geochronological, geospatial, seismological, statistical and numerical modelling data. It will use maximum credible magnitudes, maximum shaking intensities of intraplate earthquakes and spatiotemporal relationships between large prehistoric and contemporary earthquakes to im ....Origins and distributions of intraplate earthquakes. This project aims to investigate the behaviour and origin of intraplate earthquakes in Australia by developing a multi-million-year record of earthquakes using geological, geochronological, geospatial, seismological, statistical and numerical modelling data. It will use maximum credible magnitudes, maximum shaking intensities of intraplate earthquakes and spatiotemporal relationships between large prehistoric and contemporary earthquakes to improve models of future seismic hazard in Australia and globally. This will lead to improved predictions of future earthquake impacts in urban and natural environments and development of new paleoseismic techniques.Read moreRead less
New observational constraints on 2004-2007 rupture of the Sumatra megathrust. This project will develop innovative methods and generate new data for studying the rupture of giant subduction zone earthquakes and the generation of destructive tsunamis. This will lead to a better understanding of these phenomena that will enhance our ability to forecast, warn and map the hazards associated with them.
The effective strength of oceanic plate bounding faults. This project will address the anomalously weak behaviour of the seismically active faults on the boundary of the Australian plate, in three key geodynamic areas. This will constrain the mechanisms which weaken such faults, and produce a model for their effective strength and evolution over geological timescales.
Shaping a sunburnt country: fire, climate and the Australian landscape. Fire shapes Australia’s landscape, biodiversity and resources. This project aims to quantify the recent history of fire intensity and severity using several novel proxies in the fire-prone landscapes of south-eastern Australia. Calibration of these new proxies to recent wildfires will be used for a better characterisation of fire regimes. This research will be applied to sedimentary archives to investigate how fire regimes h ....Shaping a sunburnt country: fire, climate and the Australian landscape. Fire shapes Australia’s landscape, biodiversity and resources. This project aims to quantify the recent history of fire intensity and severity using several novel proxies in the fire-prone landscapes of south-eastern Australia. Calibration of these new proxies to recent wildfires will be used for a better characterisation of fire regimes. This research will be applied to sedimentary archives to investigate how fire regimes have evolved over the past 100 years. The outcomes will inform debates about the relationship between climatic variability and fire severity, and this will contribute to increase the preparedness of natural resource management to potential future climate and land-use scenarios.Read moreRead less
A legal framework for resilient electricity infrastructure in Australia. This project aims to develop a legal and governance framework to enhance the resilience of Australia's electricity infrastructure in a changing climate. Building resilience reduces the total cost of disasters in Australia, a major share of which will come from replacing damaged critical infrastructure, without accounting for climate change impacts. This project aims to develop the legal and governance framework by addressin ....A legal framework for resilient electricity infrastructure in Australia. This project aims to develop a legal and governance framework to enhance the resilience of Australia's electricity infrastructure in a changing climate. Building resilience reduces the total cost of disasters in Australia, a major share of which will come from replacing damaged critical infrastructure, without accounting for climate change impacts. This project aims to develop the legal and governance framework by addressing both the integration of smart technologies and disaster risk reduction measures in the electricity system. This is expected to provide significant economic, social and environmental benefits to Australia.Read moreRead less
Institutional transitions to sustainable agriculture: An inter-disciplinary analysis of a novel common-property resource governance system. Efforts to overcome the severe degradation of land resources supporting agriculture and human communities continue to be constrained by institutions and social norms. The knowledge needed for a transition to sustainable agricultural landscapes through institutional change is inadequate. A collaboration between specialists in economics, politics, sociology, ....Institutional transitions to sustainable agriculture: An inter-disciplinary analysis of a novel common-property resource governance system. Efforts to overcome the severe degradation of land resources supporting agriculture and human communities continue to be constrained by institutions and social norms. The knowledge needed for a transition to sustainable agricultural landscapes through institutional change is inadequate. A collaboration between specialists in economics, politics, sociology, ecology and soil science at the University of New England and graziers in an upper Murray-Darling subcatchment will analyse the transition to a common-property institution on this subcatchment. It will make a distinctively Australian contribution to international efforts to understand such transitions, and serve as a model for progress towards sustainability elsewhere in Australia.
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Novel tools for dating explosive volcanic eruptions in the critical window. This project will develop novel dating methods necessary for precise reconstruction of the eruption histories of super-volcanoes in the Asia-Pacific region over the last million years. The project outcomes will provide better models for predicting super-eruptions, thereby informing global climate change research, urban planning, and transport and telecommunications infrastructure engineering. Results will also improve ex ....Novel tools for dating explosive volcanic eruptions in the critical window. This project will develop novel dating methods necessary for precise reconstruction of the eruption histories of super-volcanoes in the Asia-Pacific region over the last million years. The project outcomes will provide better models for predicting super-eruptions, thereby informing global climate change research, urban planning, and transport and telecommunications infrastructure engineering. Results will also improve existing volcanic risk models used by insurers to quantify volcanic risks and calculate expected losses from volcanic eruptions, and greatly improve our ability to use eruption deposits as time markers for important events in human evolution.Read moreRead less
Reconnecting with water: Lessons from a diverse economy. In 2008, the Australian government identified as one of its major development themes water and sanitation services in the Asia Pacific region. Focusing on the complex socio-cultural circumstances impacting on the implementation of water and sanitation policies in Timor Leste, this research will provide an in-depth account of the current barriers and potential opportunities for moving forward and successfully achieving positive outcomes in ....Reconnecting with water: Lessons from a diverse economy. In 2008, the Australian government identified as one of its major development themes water and sanitation services in the Asia Pacific region. Focusing on the complex socio-cultural circumstances impacting on the implementation of water and sanitation policies in Timor Leste, this research will provide an in-depth account of the current barriers and potential opportunities for moving forward and successfully achieving positive outcomes in this area. It will identify effective conceptual and methodological approaches for advancing community engagement and the development of adaptive management strategies which could be applied to achieve greater understandings, sustainability and aid effectiveness elsewhere.Read moreRead less
Developing and testing a new dating tool for Quaternary science. This project plans to use cutting-edge instrumentation to develop a novel method for dating geological materials formed in a critical time window for which no dating technique currently exists. The last million years of Earth’s history has seen dramatic changes in global climate and environment, with catastrophic volcanic eruptions and numerous other natural processes shaping landforms and ecosystems. A major challenge for studying ....Developing and testing a new dating tool for Quaternary science. This project plans to use cutting-edge instrumentation to develop a novel method for dating geological materials formed in a critical time window for which no dating technique currently exists. The last million years of Earth’s history has seen dramatic changes in global climate and environment, with catastrophic volcanic eruptions and numerous other natural processes shaping landforms and ecosystems. A major challenge for studying these phenomena and their impacts is the dating of geological archives in the time window between 50 000 and 1 000 000 years. This project aims to develop a method for dating young volcanic rocks that can close this critical gap. The result would be a new dating tool with broad implications for the Quaternary sciences globally, including paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental reconstructions, natural hazards assessment, hominin evolution and archaeology.Read moreRead less