High-resolution records of climatic change in Australia, both on land and at sea covering the last 20,000 years. This project aims to determine climatic changes in the Australian region since the deglaciation commenced 20,000 years ago at a century scale or better. The information is to be obtained from high-quality records of carefully selected lakes and deep-sea cores in the Australian region. The project will rely on high-resolution chronological records of environmental changes. Several geo ....High-resolution records of climatic change in Australia, both on land and at sea covering the last 20,000 years. This project aims to determine climatic changes in the Australian region since the deglaciation commenced 20,000 years ago at a century scale or better. The information is to be obtained from high-quality records of carefully selected lakes and deep-sea cores in the Australian region. The project will rely on high-resolution chronological records of environmental changes. Several geochemical and micropalaeontological techniques will be used to determine conditions in the lakes and ocean, and links to atmospheric conditions will be determined. This information is of relevance to the international climate community which aims at modelling high-quality and high-resolution records of climate change.Read moreRead less
Exposure dating with manganese-53, neon-21 and beryllium-10: a new toolkit for studying long-term landscape evolution. Australia today is the driest inhabited continent but this was not always the case. Tens of millions of years ago the climate of Australia was considerably wetter. Then, several million years ago, aridity in Australia developed producing most of the desert features of the red Centre that we see today. The age of our deserts and other arid features are not, however, well known. T ....Exposure dating with manganese-53, neon-21 and beryllium-10: a new toolkit for studying long-term landscape evolution. Australia today is the driest inhabited continent but this was not always the case. Tens of millions of years ago the climate of Australia was considerably wetter. Then, several million years ago, aridity in Australia developed producing most of the desert features of the red Centre that we see today. The age of our deserts and other arid features are not, however, well known. This project will determine the age of desertification in Australia, thereby enhancing our understanding of such processes and the response of our landscape to changing climate.
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Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354605
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
The Earth System Dynamics Network for a Sustainable Australia. Earth comprises systems of enormous complexity that sustain all life and control the distribution of mineral, energy and water resources. Thus understanding these dynamic systems provides the key to sustainable resource usage. The aim of The Earth System Dynamics Network is to facilitate scientific interactions through establishment of an earth and environmental sciences grid that links national and regional data assets with high per ....The Earth System Dynamics Network for a Sustainable Australia. Earth comprises systems of enormous complexity that sustain all life and control the distribution of mineral, energy and water resources. Thus understanding these dynamic systems provides the key to sustainable resource usage. The aim of The Earth System Dynamics Network is to facilitate scientific interactions through establishment of an earth and environmental sciences grid that links national and regional data assets with high performance computing through open sourced middleware. The result will be an unparalleled predictive capacity for complex Earth systems. The outcome will be confidence in the knowledge that underpins our decisions as stakeholders to keep Australia sustainable.Read moreRead less
Experimental constraints on Platinum-Group Element geochemistry: developing lithogeochemical exploration tools for nickel-sulfides in mafic and ultramafic systems. Nickel contributes approximately $2 billion per year to Australia's export income. Currently 80% of that is coming from sulfide deposits, which are expected to be exhausted within thirty years barring significant new discoveries. Discovery rates have been declining for two decades, as the 'easy' targets have been found, despite a broa ....Experimental constraints on Platinum-Group Element geochemistry: developing lithogeochemical exploration tools for nickel-sulfides in mafic and ultramafic systems. Nickel contributes approximately $2 billion per year to Australia's export income. Currently 80% of that is coming from sulfide deposits, which are expected to be exhausted within thirty years barring significant new discoveries. Discovery rates have been declining for two decades, as the 'easy' targets have been found, despite a broad increase in nickel exploration expenditure to current levels of around $50 million per year. There is a pressing need for new data sets and techniques to allow industry to target new discoveries based on limited drill sampling of potential host rocks. This project forms part of a broader program to harness the igneous geochemistry of the platinum group elements as a powerful pathfinder in nickel exploration.Read moreRead less
Southern gateways - the icehouse cometh: Eocene to Oligocene evolution of southeast Australia. The 50 to 30 million years old strata of southeastern Australia have great economic importance for Australia. Most of the gas and oil extracted in the region comes from strata of this age. The research will lead to better age constraints on these reserves, thus enhancing petroleum prospectivity in the area. The global environment changes from 50 to 30 million years charted in this project will lead ....Southern gateways - the icehouse cometh: Eocene to Oligocene evolution of southeast Australia. The 50 to 30 million years old strata of southeastern Australia have great economic importance for Australia. Most of the gas and oil extracted in the region comes from strata of this age. The research will lead to better age constraints on these reserves, thus enhancing petroleum prospectivity in the area. The global environment changes from 50 to 30 million years charted in this project will lead to a better understanding of the geological record of greenhouse-icehouse change. Knowledge of the nature of this change in the past is critical to predicting how our climate is going to behave in the future.Read moreRead less
The Windimurra-Narndee Layered Complexes, Western Australia. Mineral resources are a major export earner for Australia. If Australia is to continue benefiting from the current minerals boom then new reserves must be continuously found as existing reserves are mined out. The Windimurra-Narndee complexes represent a relatively new exploration target for platinum, nickel, and iron ore. Identification of a new mineral field in remote West Australia would be very good for the regional (and national) ....The Windimurra-Narndee Layered Complexes, Western Australia. Mineral resources are a major export earner for Australia. If Australia is to continue benefiting from the current minerals boom then new reserves must be continuously found as existing reserves are mined out. The Windimurra-Narndee complexes represent a relatively new exploration target for platinum, nickel, and iron ore. Identification of a new mineral field in remote West Australia would be very good for the regional (and national) economy. Furthermore, advancing Australian's understanding of large intrusive systems will further raise international regard for the Australian academic community. The results of this work will help Australian mining companies better explore similar terranes.Read moreRead less
Carbon and Hydrogen in Melts and Fluids in Planetary Interiors. The Australian community will benefit by the ownership of widely used high impact research in published earth science. This research defines the melting behaviour of silicate-rich materials (terrestrial planets, rocky-moons, meteorites) within the solar system. The research will be required for interpretation of Martian samples and will help to ensure that Australian laboratories participate in 21st Century investigations of the Sol ....Carbon and Hydrogen in Melts and Fluids in Planetary Interiors. The Australian community will benefit by the ownership of widely used high impact research in published earth science. This research defines the melting behaviour of silicate-rich materials (terrestrial planets, rocky-moons, meteorites) within the solar system. The research will be required for interpretation of Martian samples and will help to ensure that Australian laboratories participate in 21st Century investigations of the Solar System by virtue of their leading roles in understanding volcanism and melting behaviour at high pressures and under variable oxidation states. The research will address a national priority in sustainability of earth resources i.e. knowledge underpinning formation of Australian mineral resources.Read moreRead less