From Snowball Earth to Animals: the Influence of Mantle Dynamics. This project aims to investigate how solid Earth processes contributed to ‘Snowball Earth’ events around 700 million years ago and to the explosion of complex life 540 million years ago, which will shed light on our origin as a species. The approach consists of merging cutting-edge models of the plate-mantle system with the global rock record. The intended outcome is to understand relationships between mantle convection, the behav ....From Snowball Earth to Animals: the Influence of Mantle Dynamics. This project aims to investigate how solid Earth processes contributed to ‘Snowball Earth’ events around 700 million years ago and to the explosion of complex life 540 million years ago, which will shed light on our origin as a species. The approach consists of merging cutting-edge models of the plate-mantle system with the global rock record. The intended outcome is to understand relationships between mantle convection, the behaviour of the magnetic field, global sea levels, continental-scale topography, and the composition of the ocean and atmosphere. Expected significant benefits include building capacity in Earth Sciences and the development of new models that can be used to explore the mineral endowment of the Australian crust.Read moreRead less
Understanding planetary-scale reorganisations in plate tectonics. This project aims to investigate the dynamics of Earth’s tectonics and its plate motions, with the aim of understanding the mechanisms that force single plates or whole-Earth motions’ changes. The Earth’s tectonics follow regular cycles, in every ~500 million years, of continental aggregation and dispersal, which are intervened by periodic destabilisation and rapid reorganisations. What causes the reorganisations and reversal of t ....Understanding planetary-scale reorganisations in plate tectonics. This project aims to investigate the dynamics of Earth’s tectonics and its plate motions, with the aim of understanding the mechanisms that force single plates or whole-Earth motions’ changes. The Earth’s tectonics follow regular cycles, in every ~500 million years, of continental aggregation and dispersal, which are intervened by periodic destabilisation and rapid reorganisations. What causes the reorganisations and reversal of the tectonics remain standing questions in planetary dynamics. The expected outcomes of the project will provide an understanding of the recent supercontinent formation and its fragmentation into the present-day continents.Read moreRead less
Stochastic Methods in Mathematical Geophysical Fluid Dynamics. The project will develop analytical and numerical methods for long-term weather forecasting and climate modelling. The project deals with the mathematical aspects and fundamental mechanisms underpinning numerical climate forecasting. The project will develop new methodology for accurate modelling of the important and dominant slow global processes without explicitly resolving the precise detail of the weather of each day at all scale ....Stochastic Methods in Mathematical Geophysical Fluid Dynamics. The project will develop analytical and numerical methods for long-term weather forecasting and climate modelling. The project deals with the mathematical aspects and fundamental mechanisms underpinning numerical climate forecasting. The project will develop new methodology for accurate modelling of the important and dominant slow global processes without explicitly resolving the precise detail of the weather of each day at all scales. Using sophisticated mathematics, this project investigates how to parameterize the fast and small processes by using stochastic processes in a controllable and adaptive way.Read moreRead less
Lighting Up Dark Fibre for Seismic Imaging. Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) is a newly emerging passive seismic technique that converts telecommunication fibre-optic cables (dark fibres) into thousands of individual ground motion sensors. This project aims to harness DAS and the big data arising from it to develop unprecedented high-resolution images of the Earth’s structure, detect micro-seismicity, and thereby relate geological observations to Earth processes. Outcomes of this powerful tech ....Lighting Up Dark Fibre for Seismic Imaging. Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) is a newly emerging passive seismic technique that converts telecommunication fibre-optic cables (dark fibres) into thousands of individual ground motion sensors. This project aims to harness DAS and the big data arising from it to develop unprecedented high-resolution images of the Earth’s structure, detect micro-seismicity, and thereby relate geological observations to Earth processes. Outcomes of this powerful technique include fine-scale seismic imaging of the Earth’s subsurface as the best proxy for geological processes and geochemistry. Benefits include transforming exploration of mineral resources, water, changes in subsurface structure, as well as geohazard assessments for Australia and worldwideRead moreRead less
The magnetisation of Earth’s lithosphere: a new view from space. Earth’s magnetic field is an invaluable resource for studying the structure and dynamics of our planet, yet the full nature of Earth's magnetisation remains poorly understood. This project will uncover the dominant sources of magnetisation close to Earth's surface using next-generation satellite data and recent theoretical advances. Expected outcomes include the development of innovative models of lithospheric magnetisation that wi ....The magnetisation of Earth’s lithosphere: a new view from space. Earth’s magnetic field is an invaluable resource for studying the structure and dynamics of our planet, yet the full nature of Earth's magnetisation remains poorly understood. This project will uncover the dominant sources of magnetisation close to Earth's surface using next-generation satellite data and recent theoretical advances. Expected outcomes include the development of innovative models of lithospheric magnetisation that will be used to gain crucial insights into the dynamic evolution of our planet's crust and uppermost mantle. The benefits of the project address both economic and environmental issues, unravelling the nature of structures that control both mineral systems and heat flow variations beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. Read moreRead less
Resolving the mystery of how rare earth elements are mobilised and concentrated in continental crust. Rare earth elements are regarded as the vitamins for modern industries and technologies. This project will investigate the geological processes that mobilise and concentrate these elements in the Earth's crust. The results will aid discovery of new ore deposits, which is essential to meet rapidly growing demand for these elements.
New Insights into the Origin and Evolution of Life on Earth. This project aims to provide new insights into the origin of life on Earth, life’s diversification through the Precambrian, and the co-evolution of life and early Earth environments. It will be discipline-leading in that it will take the study of early life to the sub-micrometre and hence sub-cellular level. This will facilitate new opportunities for identifying the types of life present during early Earth history, their metabolisms, c ....New Insights into the Origin and Evolution of Life on Earth. This project aims to provide new insights into the origin of life on Earth, life’s diversification through the Precambrian, and the co-evolution of life and early Earth environments. It will be discipline-leading in that it will take the study of early life to the sub-micrometre and hence sub-cellular level. This will facilitate new opportunities for identifying the types of life present during early Earth history, their metabolisms, cellular chemistry and interactions with their environment. This project aims to also provide new search engines and more robust assessment criteria for life on other planets, and help to resolve specific scientific controversies, for example, the validity of claims for cellular life from 3.5 billion-year-old rocks.Read moreRead less
Lifting the lid on a supercontinent. This project will reveal the time-integrated growth and collapse of a supercontinental orogen in order to advance knowledge on the influence that mountain-building events have on the cycling of materials between the major near surface Earth reservoirs. Given that this cycling is key to understanding deep-time climate and the formation of mineral resources the outcomes of this study will have important economic benefits for targeting mineral resources and plac ....Lifting the lid on a supercontinent. This project will reveal the time-integrated growth and collapse of a supercontinental orogen in order to advance knowledge on the influence that mountain-building events have on the cycling of materials between the major near surface Earth reservoirs. Given that this cycling is key to understanding deep-time climate and the formation of mineral resources the outcomes of this study will have important economic benefits for targeting mineral resources and placing the geochemical proxies for the deep-time climate in context. Read moreRead less
The origin of Australian Gondwana: using isotopic proxies for subduction to reconstruct ancient oceans. This project will, for the first time, include ancient ocean basins in Neoproterozoic plate tectonic reconstructions. It will provide new insights into the geography of Australia between 850 and 500 million years ago, a time of major climatic extremes, the origin of multi-cellular life and the accumulation of the first major petroleum deposits.
Game changing anchoring solution for Australia’s deep water gas development. This Fellowship aims to establish a novel dynamically installed anchor shape for economic and safer mooring of floating gas drilling platforms in Australia’s deep water calcareous seabed. The novel anchor pairing with the advanced floating platforms are expected to allow for unlocking Australia’s 50% gas reserves that are considered to be stranded. This Fellowship expects to extend a sophisticated numerical analysis tec ....Game changing anchoring solution for Australia’s deep water gas development. This Fellowship aims to establish a novel dynamically installed anchor shape for economic and safer mooring of floating gas drilling platforms in Australia’s deep water calcareous seabed. The novel anchor pairing with the advanced floating platforms are expected to allow for unlocking Australia’s 50% gas reserves that are considered to be stranded. This Fellowship expects to extend a sophisticated numerical analysis technique and a soil constitutive model, and use field testing in the Swan River and centrifuge modelling for extensive investigation on the novel anchor shape, leading to calculation methods for assessing the anchor embedment during dynamic installation and capacity under operational monotonic and cyclic loadings.Read moreRead less