Root effects on soil organic matter: a double-edged sword. This project aims to understand how plant roots build and destroy soil organic matter in grasslands and what the impacts are of drought. Soil organic matter is the largest terrestrial reservoir of nutrients for plant growth, but paradoxically, formation of new soil organic matter by plant roots also requires external nutrients. This project will address this apparent paradox by using a new root-centric framework and stable isotope techni ....Root effects on soil organic matter: a double-edged sword. This project aims to understand how plant roots build and destroy soil organic matter in grasslands and what the impacts are of drought. Soil organic matter is the largest terrestrial reservoir of nutrients for plant growth, but paradoxically, formation of new soil organic matter by plant roots also requires external nutrients. This project will address this apparent paradox by using a new root-centric framework and stable isotope techniques. The project will use state-of-the art computer models that incorporate the latest frameworks on soil organic matter interacting with plant roots. Benefits include an improved capacity to manage and predict grassland productivity and soil organic matter dynamics with greater resolution and accuracy.Read moreRead less
Physico-chemical effects on long-time fluid transport for CO2 geostorage. This project aims to develop an efficient multi-scale laboratory-based modelling framework for the analysis of nonequilibrium transport and reaction processes occurring in CO2 storage scenarios. In a significant technological advance two non-destructive analysis techniques, Xray computed tomography and nuclear magnetic resonance, are combined with pore-scale simulations to address uncertainties in dynamic wettability alter ....Physico-chemical effects on long-time fluid transport for CO2 geostorage. This project aims to develop an efficient multi-scale laboratory-based modelling framework for the analysis of nonequilibrium transport and reaction processes occurring in CO2 storage scenarios. In a significant technological advance two non-destructive analysis techniques, Xray computed tomography and nuclear magnetic resonance, are combined with pore-scale simulations to address uncertainties in dynamic wettability alteration occurring during gravity driven convection. Expected outcomes are the in-situ characterisation of solid-surface interactions and predictions of multi-phase fluid flow. The project benefits the Australian resources sector by improving injectivity, storage efficiency and security of supercritical CO2 storage projects.Read moreRead less