Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100205
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$367,000.00
Summary
Searching for Life on Mars on Earth. Australia continues to play a world-leading role in researching planetary habitability. This project will deliver the most comprehensive investigation of Earth’s oldest known river/lake deposits, uniquely preserved in 2.8 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia. Using the candidate’s expertise in field investigation in combination with a cutting-edge analytical approach, the project will produce a detailed reconstruction of the ancient lake environment. S ....Searching for Life on Mars on Earth. Australia continues to play a world-leading role in researching planetary habitability. This project will deliver the most comprehensive investigation of Earth’s oldest known river/lake deposits, uniquely preserved in 2.8 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia. Using the candidate’s expertise in field investigation in combination with a cutting-edge analytical approach, the project will produce a detailed reconstruction of the ancient lake environment. Similar settings will be explored by NASA's upcoming Mars 2020 rover mission at it's landing site in Jezero Crater. Mission data will be analysed by the candidate, who will guide the selection of samples and address the overarching question of whether microbal life ever existed on Mars.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL110100074
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,627,006.00
Summary
Meteorite fireballs - illuminating the origins of the solar system. Meteorites are ancient rocks, containing a record of what conditions were like when the solar system was young; but to understand that record we need to know where they come from. This project will deliver these data, providing us with a template to understand how our planetary system came into being.
Role of water in earth and planetary evolution. This project aims to understand the role of water in the building of our solar system, Mars and Earth. Surprisingly little is known about key issues surrounding the origin of water and its subsequent recycling on Earth. This project will use new techniques for measuring low abundances of water along with oxygen isotopes, to measure water abundances and oxygen isotopes in meteorites and terrestrial rocks to establish how water was delivered to Earth ....Role of water in earth and planetary evolution. This project aims to understand the role of water in the building of our solar system, Mars and Earth. Surprisingly little is known about key issues surrounding the origin of water and its subsequent recycling on Earth. This project will use new techniques for measuring low abundances of water along with oxygen isotopes, to measure water abundances and oxygen isotopes in meteorites and terrestrial rocks to establish how water was delivered to Earth and to understand how water is geologically recycled. This is expected to have direct bearing on where and how Earth's water originated, how water is retained in mantle and crustal minerals and it will have broad implications for understanding volcanic hazards and formation of ore deposits. This will lead to a new capability for combined water and oxygen isotope analysis in Australian geoscience leading to technological development and commercialisation of instrumentation.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE170100106
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$780,000.00
Summary
A global fireball observatory. This project aims to expand the Desert Fireball Network (DFN) and build a Global Fireball Observatory. Nearly everything known about the origin and evolution of the solar system comes from analysis of meteorite falls, but scientists have almost no constraint on where they come from. This project will address this constraint by tracking hundreds of meteorite falls, and pinpointing each one’s origin in the solar system. Benefits include capitalising on the innovation ....A global fireball observatory. This project aims to expand the Desert Fireball Network (DFN) and build a Global Fireball Observatory. Nearly everything known about the origin and evolution of the solar system comes from analysis of meteorite falls, but scientists have almost no constraint on where they come from. This project will address this constraint by tracking hundreds of meteorite falls, and pinpointing each one’s origin in the solar system. Benefits include capitalising on the innovations and technologies that underpinned the DFN, and leveraging a NASA partnership for administrative support and advanced instrumentation development. Tracking for space situational awareness is also expected to benefit Australian national security.Read moreRead less
The Global Fireball Observatory: Illuminating Solar System Origins. Virtually everything we know about the origin and evolution of our solar system comes from analysis of meteorites. But reading the record they contain has proven to be difficult: we have almost no constraint on where they come from. With ARC LIEF support, Australian planetary scientists are leading a consortium of 14 international teams to build a Global Fireball Observatory. The facility, with a unique global footprint, will be ....The Global Fireball Observatory: Illuminating Solar System Origins. Virtually everything we know about the origin and evolution of our solar system comes from analysis of meteorites. But reading the record they contain has proven to be difficult: we have almost no constraint on where they come from. With ARC LIEF support, Australian planetary scientists are leading a consortium of 14 international teams to build a Global Fireball Observatory. The facility, with a unique global footprint, will be complete by end-2019. It will track 100s of meteorite falls, and for each one, pinpoint its origin in the solar system. A NASA partnership will provide administrative support. Curtin University will fund its operation. The proposal here is for a researcher and student who can drive the science program.Read moreRead less
Water in the deep Earth. Water has profound influence on many deep Earth processes ranging from melting to plate movements. Water in deep Earth is replenished by subduction. A significant part of water can be stored in nominally anhydrous minerals, such as olivine, pyroxene and garnet that result from the breakdown of hydrous phases within the subducted lithosphere. The project proposes a combined experimental and analytical project to determine how much water is transported to the deeper mantle ....Water in the deep Earth. Water has profound influence on many deep Earth processes ranging from melting to plate movements. Water in deep Earth is replenished by subduction. A significant part of water can be stored in nominally anhydrous minerals, such as olivine, pyroxene and garnet that result from the breakdown of hydrous phases within the subducted lithosphere. The project proposes a combined experimental and analytical project to determine how much water is transported to the deeper mantle in these minerals. This project aims to determine the incorporation mechanisms of water into these key minerals and to establish an Australian facility for water determination in minerals that has the sensitivity needed for studying deep Earth materials.Read moreRead less
The seismic significance of water and partial melting in planetary interiors. Novel laboratory techniques will be used to measure the influence of dissolved water on the seismic properties of the deep interiors of Earth and Moon. The outcome will be new insight into the crucial role of water in the formation and subsequent evolution of our dynamic planet and its more quiescent moon.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE210100044
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$905,654.00
Summary
Ultra-precise dating in Earth, planetary and archaeological science. An advanced facility incorporating next generation, multi-collector mass spectrometer and ultra-clean gas line systems, capable of ultra-precise dating of Earth, planetary and archaeological material. This joint Melbourne-Curtin facility seeks to generate ultra-precise age data from ever smaller and younger samples, such as minute particles from space return missions and tiny inclusions in diamonds. The facility is expected to ....Ultra-precise dating in Earth, planetary and archaeological science. An advanced facility incorporating next generation, multi-collector mass spectrometer and ultra-clean gas line systems, capable of ultra-precise dating of Earth, planetary and archaeological material. This joint Melbourne-Curtin facility seeks to generate ultra-precise age data from ever smaller and younger samples, such as minute particles from space return missions and tiny inclusions in diamonds. The facility is expected to revolutionise noble gas dating techniques, resulting in new knowledge on solar system genesis, hominid evolution, indigenous migrations, palaeo-climate change, natural hazards and ore deposit formation, while further enhancing Australia’s international leadership and competitive advantage in the discipline.
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Consequences of extraterrestrial impacts on the biosphere and geosphere. This project will investigate whether high-velocity meteorite impacts can account for the Earth's mass extinctions and whether meteorite impacts and mass extinctions were synchronous. This work will help scientists understand the long-term climatic and biologic effects of massive injections of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Decoding the chronology of Mars. This project aims to determine a detailed and accurate geologic timescale for Mars, using image processing, high performance computing, geochemistry and geochronology. Mars is the nearest possibly habitable planet to our own. The project will apply automated feature recognition techniques to high resolution space-craft derived images of the surface of Mars and study formation ages of Martian meteorites. The goal is an absolute chronology for Mars. This contribute ....Decoding the chronology of Mars. This project aims to determine a detailed and accurate geologic timescale for Mars, using image processing, high performance computing, geochemistry and geochronology. Mars is the nearest possibly habitable planet to our own. The project will apply automated feature recognition techniques to high resolution space-craft derived images of the surface of Mars and study formation ages of Martian meteorites. The goal is an absolute chronology for Mars. This contributes to a better understanding of the geologic and habitability history of Mars, facilitating both future mission landing site selection and providing context for comparison to the early history of Earth.Read moreRead less