LATE PALAEOZOIC PALAEOGEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL ASIA: A PALAEOBIOGEOGRAPHICAL APPROACH USING IMPROVED BIOSTRATIGRAPHY. Fossil data from Central Asia (Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, NW China, Mongolia, Altaids) indicate significant degree of palaeo-latitudinal variation in biogeographical patterns across the Palaeo-Tethys and its flanking shelves during Late Palaeozoic, but details of these patterns and implications for enhancing contemporaneous palaeogeographical models are virtually unknown. Thi ....LATE PALAEOZOIC PALAEOGEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL ASIA: A PALAEOBIOGEOGRAPHICAL APPROACH USING IMPROVED BIOSTRATIGRAPHY. Fossil data from Central Asia (Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, NW China, Mongolia, Altaids) indicate significant degree of palaeo-latitudinal variation in biogeographical patterns across the Palaeo-Tethys and its flanking shelves during Late Palaeozoic, but details of these patterns and implications for enhancing contemporaneous palaeogeographical models are virtually unknown. This project will analyse the biogeographical patterns of Late Palaeozoic brachiopod, coral, fusulinid faunas using advanced statistical methods, and integrate biogeographical signals with palaeomagnetic data to constrain models for the Late Palaeozoic geological evolution of Central Asia-a vast region that is known to bear enormous potential for natural resources but remains geologically little explored.Read moreRead less
Time frame for the evolution of Australia's extraordinary mammals. This Project will refine a national biostratigraphic framework integrating growing understanding about the history of Australia's unique mammals, climate change and geological events. Increasing precision in correlating Australia's phylogenetic, palaeoecological and palaeoclimatological events will clarify how these act synergistically to change environments and biodiversity. Increased precision in the biostratigraphic framework ....Time frame for the evolution of Australia's extraordinary mammals. This Project will refine a national biostratigraphic framework integrating growing understanding about the history of Australia's unique mammals, climate change and geological events. Increasing precision in correlating Australia's phylogenetic, palaeoecological and palaeoclimatological events will clarify how these act synergistically to change environments and biodiversity. Increased precision in the biostratigraphic framework will also serve evolutionary genetics which needs age data to calculate molecular rates of divergence, economic geologists needing to know the age of Cainozoic sediments, biologists trying to understand the origins and nature of biodiversity and conservationists using divergence dates and relative branch lengths to help determine conservation priorities. Read moreRead less
Trace element geochemistry of microbialites: towards an independent record of biogenicity, microbial communities, and seawater chemistry. A vast amount of Australia's mineral wealth is held in rocks of Precambrian age, yet those rocks are notoriously difficult to date and correlate owing to the rarity of fossils. Successful discrimination of different microbialites using biochemically sensitive trace elements will provide a firm basis and rationale for stromatolite biostratigraphy and greatly in ....Trace element geochemistry of microbialites: towards an independent record of biogenicity, microbial communities, and seawater chemistry. A vast amount of Australia's mineral wealth is held in rocks of Precambrian age, yet those rocks are notoriously difficult to date and correlate owing to the rarity of fossils. Successful discrimination of different microbialites using biochemically sensitive trace elements will provide a firm basis and rationale for stromatolite biostratigraphy and greatly increase our ability to understand the geological evolution and distribution of Precambrian rocks and resources. Additionally, a better understanding of the information content of stromatolites will yield considerable insight into the origin of life on Earth and its relationship to Earth's evolving chemistry and environment. Read moreRead less
Unlocking archives of faunal dispersal and extinction: the key to reconstructing palaeoenvironmental change in Southeast Asia. The influence of environmental change on faunal populations is a pressing issue for Australian communities in environmentally sensitive areas. This will be addressed by documenting how fauna (and humans) in Southeast Asia, our nearest neighbours, responded to environmental challenges. Revealing when humans dispersed through the region and how they adapted will contribute ....Unlocking archives of faunal dispersal and extinction: the key to reconstructing palaeoenvironmental change in Southeast Asia. The influence of environmental change on faunal populations is a pressing issue for Australian communities in environmentally sensitive areas. This will be addressed by documenting how fauna (and humans) in Southeast Asia, our nearest neighbours, responded to environmental challenges. Revealing when humans dispersed through the region and how they adapted will contribute to our understanding of the cultural heritage of Australia's indigenous settlers. This project will develop established Indonesian collaborations, encourage new collaborations with Chinese, Thai, English and Dutch researchers to promote Australian research on a world stage, and pioneer new dating methodologies to enhance Australia's place at the forefront of geochronology.Read moreRead less
Australia's oldest jawed fishes: evolution, biostratigraphy and biogeography. The research focusses on a collection of disarticulated remains of placoderms, a group of extinct armoured fishes which dominated Devonian waters (410-354 Mya). The oldest Australian placoderm macroremains so far described are of late Pragian age (400 Mya), and recognized as a highly endemic fauna. An older limestone from New South Wales has yielded new material which includes sclerotic capsules and dermal plates of ....Australia's oldest jawed fishes: evolution, biostratigraphy and biogeography. The research focusses on a collection of disarticulated remains of placoderms, a group of extinct armoured fishes which dominated Devonian waters (410-354 Mya). The oldest Australian placoderm macroremains so far described are of late Pragian age (400 Mya), and recognized as a highly endemic fauna. An older limestone from New South Wales has yielded new material which includes sclerotic capsules and dermal plates of small placoderms. Earliest Devonian (Lochkovian) acanthodians and the new placoderms, unlike the younger taxa, seem closely related to coeval faunas from the circum-Arctic region. The material will help resolve relationships and distribution of these early jawed vertebrates.Read moreRead less
PAST EAST ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET AND GLOBAL SEA-LEVEL VARIATIONS. Unique fossil-bearing, open marine sediments occur inland from the modern Antarctic coastline. These were deposited when a now-glaciated Antarctic basin became a marine embayment, during intervals of significantly reduced ice sheet volume and elevated global sea-level in the past. Urgent palaeontological, sedimentological and geochemical research on these sediments are vital to provide: directly datable in situ evidence for major i ....PAST EAST ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET AND GLOBAL SEA-LEVEL VARIATIONS. Unique fossil-bearing, open marine sediments occur inland from the modern Antarctic coastline. These were deposited when a now-glaciated Antarctic basin became a marine embayment, during intervals of significantly reduced ice sheet volume and elevated global sea-level in the past. Urgent palaeontological, sedimentological and geochemical research on these sediments are vital to provide: directly datable in situ evidence for major ice sheet retreat and global sea-level rise in the past; and quantifiable data concerning the environment during such events; an innovative opportunity to improve predictions of Antarctica's response to global warming and answer international debate about past Antarctic Ice Sheet stability.Read moreRead less
The environmental impact of an extreme event: the Toba mega-eruption, volcanic winter and the near demise of humans. There is widespread concern among scientists, farmers and policy makers over the possible environmental, economic and social impacts of global warming. Certain greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide contribute to such warming, but other gases and dust particles, especially those from volcanic eruptions, may trigger global cooling. This project will evaluate the impact of a major ....The environmental impact of an extreme event: the Toba mega-eruption, volcanic winter and the near demise of humans. There is widespread concern among scientists, farmers and policy makers over the possible environmental, economic and social impacts of global warming. Certain greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide contribute to such warming, but other gases and dust particles, especially those from volcanic eruptions, may trigger global cooling. This project will evaluate the impact of a major prehistoric eruption on global climate and regional plant, animal and human communities. We know that future eruptions will occur, so it is important to clarify the climatic and other effects of past eruptions. The project will also enhance our understanding of prehistoric cultural changes and extinctions.Read moreRead less
Seismic velocity problems associated with Cretaceous-Tertiary carbonate sediments that overlie oil and gas fields of the North West Shelf. The major aim of this collaborative study between Partner Oil Companies and The University of Melbourne is to understand seismic velocity problems associated with tropical carbonate sediments on Australias? North West Shelf. These problems can hinder the hydrocarbon exploration efforts below these carbonates. The project is a multi faceted study and will invo ....Seismic velocity problems associated with Cretaceous-Tertiary carbonate sediments that overlie oil and gas fields of the North West Shelf. The major aim of this collaborative study between Partner Oil Companies and The University of Melbourne is to understand seismic velocity problems associated with tropical carbonate sediments on Australias? North West Shelf. These problems can hinder the hydrocarbon exploration efforts below these carbonates. The project is a multi faceted study and will involve integration of seismic stratigraphy with sedimentological, micropaleontological, and geophysical data. The methods outlined below would underpin any seismic depth migration applications, thereby assisting with the delineation of new gas and oil fields, and help with the estimation of reserves in existing fields.
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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
Understanding mass extinctions and deep-time climate change: International Timescale Calibration of the Late Permian-Early Triassic of Australia. The project will enhance Australia's research strength as world leaders in isotope geochronology, geological timescale calibration, and global biological evolution studies, and will expand knowledge and provide a long overdue robust chronostratigraphic framework for a critical part of Earth's history that is a particular focus for energy resources in A ....Understanding mass extinctions and deep-time climate change: International Timescale Calibration of the Late Permian-Early Triassic of Australia. The project will enhance Australia's research strength as world leaders in isotope geochronology, geological timescale calibration, and global biological evolution studies, and will expand knowledge and provide a long overdue robust chronostratigraphic framework for a critical part of Earth's history that is a particular focus for energy resources in Australia. Our work will provide vital input to enhanced models for deep-time biotic turnover, climate change and global warming that will aid prediction of modern global atmospheric and climate changes due to human impact and provide vital data and information for Australian policy makers.Read moreRead less