Low-grade metamorphic phosphate geochronology: High-precision dating of ancient crustal fluid flow, hydrothermal mineralisation and the "Great Oxidation Event". Reliable dating techniques are required to obtain precise ages for ancient crustal fluid flow. Current techniques suffer from inheritance and isotopic resetting, problems that are particularly pronounced in early Precambrian rocks. This project will employ new analytical techniques to date phosphate minerals recently identified as potent ....Low-grade metamorphic phosphate geochronology: High-precision dating of ancient crustal fluid flow, hydrothermal mineralisation and the "Great Oxidation Event". Reliable dating techniques are required to obtain precise ages for ancient crustal fluid flow. Current techniques suffer from inheritance and isotopic resetting, problems that are particularly pronounced in early Precambrian rocks. This project will employ new analytical techniques to date phosphate minerals recently identified as potentially important new chronometers of ancient fluid flow, providing the first precise tectonothermal history of the Archaean Pilbara Craton. The project will also establish the age of giant iron-ore deposits across the Hamersley Province, test the various models for iron-ore formation, and provide a minimum age for the oxidation of the Earth's surface. Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0668377
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$246,000.00
Summary
Western Australia Palaeomagnetic and Rock-magnetic Facility. The WA Palaeomagnetic and Rock-magnetic Facility is an essential piece of infrastructure for geoscience developments in WA and Australia in general. It not only serves the needs of the scientific community, but also supports resource-related projects sponsored by government and the resource industries, and serves the educational needs of postgraduate, undergraduate, and school students. Upgrading of the WA facility will enhance the res ....Western Australia Palaeomagnetic and Rock-magnetic Facility. The WA Palaeomagnetic and Rock-magnetic Facility is an essential piece of infrastructure for geoscience developments in WA and Australia in general. It not only serves the needs of the scientific community, but also supports resource-related projects sponsored by government and the resource industries, and serves the educational needs of postgraduate, undergraduate, and school students. Upgrading of the WA facility will enhance the research capacity of the WA geoscience community and maintain its international position in tectonic, palaeogeographic, and palaeoclimatic studies, and in ore genesis research.Read moreRead less
Computationally Modelling a Volcano: Flow and Stability. Mainland Australia is fortunate not to suffer directly from active volcanism. However, this does not mean volcanoes are of little importance. The products of ancient eruptions can define the wealth of a nation. But they are also highly destructive and there are currently 30 active volcanoes capable of generating a tsunami that could affect Australia. Understanding the physical processes using computational models is essential to save lives ....Computationally Modelling a Volcano: Flow and Stability. Mainland Australia is fortunate not to suffer directly from active volcanism. However, this does not mean volcanoes are of little importance. The products of ancient eruptions can define the wealth of a nation. But they are also highly destructive and there are currently 30 active volcanoes capable of generating a tsunami that could affect Australia. Understanding the physical processes using computational models is essential to save lives and help us benefit from their products. This is a relatively new research field and owing to the resources in Australia, our research team has the potential to be at the forefront. There is also the capability to build and impressive research team within the University of Queensland.Read moreRead less
Integrating Global Multidimensional Datasets to Underpin Subduction Process Modelling During the Past 60 Million Years. Subduction zones are the sites for massive sulphide, orogenic vein gold and porphyry deposits. As Australia derived 47% of it merchandise exports from its mineral and energy resources in 2001, ore-deposits constitute an important component of the Australian economy. Understanding the environment of subduction initiation and development as well as the signal that it imparts on ....Integrating Global Multidimensional Datasets to Underpin Subduction Process Modelling During the Past 60 Million Years. Subduction zones are the sites for massive sulphide, orogenic vein gold and porphyry deposits. As Australia derived 47% of it merchandise exports from its mineral and energy resources in 2001, ore-deposits constitute an important component of the Australian economy. Understanding the environment of subduction initiation and development as well as the signal that it imparts on the magmatic (ore-forming) arc, will provide improved efficiency for targeting Australia's deep-earth ore-deposits.Read moreRead less
Tectonic Reconstruction of the Evolution of the Alpine-Himalayan Orogenic Chain. This project will construct a computationally explicit model of movements in the solid Earth for the past 150 million years, to study the Earth as a complex system during the collision that produced the Alpine-Himalayan mountain belt. This is the youngest collisional mountain belt on Earth, and at times it stretched from Spain to New Zealand. Earth Scientists want to understand the processes that took place to mak ....Tectonic Reconstruction of the Evolution of the Alpine-Himalayan Orogenic Chain. This project will construct a computationally explicit model of movements in the solid Earth for the past 150 million years, to study the Earth as a complex system during the collision that produced the Alpine-Himalayan mountain belt. This is the youngest collisional mountain belt on Earth, and at times it stretched from Spain to New Zealand. Earth Scientists want to understand the processes that took place to make it, in particular the role of ribbon continents. As a result of this work ordinary Australians will be able to better perceive their interactions with their nearest neighbours.Read moreRead less
The early evolution of the Earth system from multiple sulfur isotope records of sediments and seafloor mineral systems. This project addresses the early evolution of the Earth system that is one of the most important questions in Earth Sciences. It will use Australia's unique rock record and analytical techniques developed in Australia in collaboration with leading international researchers. The National Research Priority area 'An environmentally sustainable Australia: developing deep Earth reso ....The early evolution of the Earth system from multiple sulfur isotope records of sediments and seafloor mineral systems. This project addresses the early evolution of the Earth system that is one of the most important questions in Earth Sciences. It will use Australia's unique rock record and analytical techniques developed in Australia in collaboration with leading international researchers. The National Research Priority area 'An environmentally sustainable Australia: developing deep Earth resources' will benefit through the development of better exploration models for Archaean submarine metal deposits. Students will obtain a high level understanding of the early Earth system, ore deposits, stable isotope and transition metal geochemistry, which are directly applicable in both pure and applied research and mineral exploration.Read moreRead less
Multi-arrival wavefront tracking for improved seismic imaging of the Earth's interior. The complex nature of many seismic wavetrains can usually be attributed to the multi-pathing of elastic wave energy between source and receiver. Typical analysis, e.g., seismic tomography, uses few of these arrivals. This project is designed to improve the exploitation of the information on seismograms by tracking the various arrivals in complex media to provide better constraints on Earth structure. To achiev ....Multi-arrival wavefront tracking for improved seismic imaging of the Earth's interior. The complex nature of many seismic wavetrains can usually be attributed to the multi-pathing of elastic wave energy between source and receiver. Typical analysis, e.g., seismic tomography, uses few of these arrivals. This project is designed to improve the exploitation of the information on seismograms by tracking the various arrivals in complex media to provide better constraints on Earth structure. To achieve this goal, new methods for constructing multi-arrival wavefronts will be developed and applied to a range of seismic data from Tasmania to produce high resolution images of the crust and upper mantle.
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Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0560786
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$495,000.00
Summary
A ThermoFinnigan Triton high-sensitivity thermal ionisation mass spectrometer for constraining geoscience rates and environmental processes via Ra and Os analysis. The short-lived isotope 226Ra provides a powerful new tool for constraining the nature of melting and magma/fluid transport processes within the Earth. Conversely, Os isotopes can track ancient recycled components, core-mantle boundary interaction and date organic-rich sediments. The installation of a high-sensitivity thermal ionisati ....A ThermoFinnigan Triton high-sensitivity thermal ionisation mass spectrometer for constraining geoscience rates and environmental processes via Ra and Os analysis. The short-lived isotope 226Ra provides a powerful new tool for constraining the nature of melting and magma/fluid transport processes within the Earth. Conversely, Os isotopes can track ancient recycled components, core-mantle boundary interaction and date organic-rich sediments. The installation of a high-sensitivity thermal ionisation mass spectrometer at Macquarie University will enable research in these exciting endeavours and enhance a world-class analytical facility with widespread and lasting utility. Planned research will constrain deep earth processes, magma/water transport processes, magma-mantle/chromatography, volcanic hazards, ore deposit formation, controversial climatic models, soil erosion and early planet differentiation.Read moreRead less