A new paradigm for the geochemistry of mineral precipitation and dissolution in aquatic systems: Polymer-based numerical modelling. The ability to predict the formation and dissolution of solids (minerals and precipitates) in aquatic systems is currently constrained by limitations of the traditional thermodynamic approach. A new approach based on the kinetics of the underlying chemical reactions is expected to overcome these limitations and greatly improve the ability to describe these processes ....A new paradigm for the geochemistry of mineral precipitation and dissolution in aquatic systems: Polymer-based numerical modelling. The ability to predict the formation and dissolution of solids (minerals and precipitates) in aquatic systems is currently constrained by limitations of the traditional thermodynamic approach. A new approach based on the kinetics of the underlying chemical reactions is expected to overcome these limitations and greatly improve the ability to describe these processes. This new fundamental knowledge will be useful in many diverse fields including aquatic geochemistry, soil chemistry, water engineering, and nanotechnology. The new approach will be specifically applied to improve understanding of processes related to the globally significant environmental issues of marine iron fertilisation, ocean acidification and acid sulfate soils.Read moreRead less
Unravelling the synergistic effect of ocean acidification and pore water advection on carbonate sediment dissolution: a global sink for CO2? The purpose of this project is to investigate the role of ocean acidification and pore water advection on the release of calcium and alkalinity from carbonate sediments. The expected outcomes of this project is a better understanding of the role of carbonate sediments in buffering ocean acidification and the uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Unravelling how aquatic coastal networks regulate nitrogen removal . The aim of this project is to determine the nitrogen removal pathways of the coastal zone using a number of innovative field and modelling approaches. Little is known about how the complex coastal landscape controls trade-offs that maximise nitrogen removal but minimise nitrous oxide (a potent greenhouse gas) emissions. The outcomes of this study will significantly advance our understanding of the coastal zone in regional and g ....Unravelling how aquatic coastal networks regulate nitrogen removal . The aim of this project is to determine the nitrogen removal pathways of the coastal zone using a number of innovative field and modelling approaches. Little is known about how the complex coastal landscape controls trade-offs that maximise nitrogen removal but minimise nitrous oxide (a potent greenhouse gas) emissions. The outcomes of this study will significantly advance our understanding of the coastal zone in regional and global nitrogen budgets. This will provide significant benefits such as a new science-based quantitative framework to facilitate best practice management to reduce terrestrial nitrogen loads and associated downstream impacts such as eutrophication, and reduce nitrous oxide emissions and associated global warming.
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Elemental release and oxidant production from mixed coal mine dusts. The aim of this project is to understand the implications of physical and chemical characteristics of mixed coal mine dusts to their elemental release and oxidant production. The re-emergence of occupational lung diseases in recent years has revealed a major knowledge gap in the area of respirable particle reactivity. This research will examine the role between coal mine dust and their capacity to produce reactive oxygen specie ....Elemental release and oxidant production from mixed coal mine dusts. The aim of this project is to understand the implications of physical and chemical characteristics of mixed coal mine dusts to their elemental release and oxidant production. The re-emergence of occupational lung diseases in recent years has revealed a major knowledge gap in the area of respirable particle reactivity. This research will examine the role between coal mine dust and their capacity to produce reactive oxygen species, with the focus being on the role of physical and chemical properties of particles and how they transform with age. The findings will be used to develop screening protocols and develop novel monitoring / mitigation strategies for coal mine workers.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE120100180
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$150,000.00
Summary
An Australian fluid-inclusion facility for climate-change science. Understanding past temperature and rainfall changes is essential for improving climate projections. The proposed facility will generate new palaeotemperature and palaeorainfall information from cave deposits, leading to a better understanding of natural climate variability and change.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140101733
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$395,220.00
Summary
The mangrove carbon pump: Resolving the contribution of underground respiration to mangrove greenhouse gas and carbon budgets. Mangroves are considered an important global carbon sink. However, there is an imbalance of about 50 per cent in mangrove carbon budgets. This project will resolve whether advective pore water exchange and associated underground respiration represents the missing component of mangrove carbon and greenhouse gas budgets. This innovative project will examine the previously ....The mangrove carbon pump: Resolving the contribution of underground respiration to mangrove greenhouse gas and carbon budgets. Mangroves are considered an important global carbon sink. However, there is an imbalance of about 50 per cent in mangrove carbon budgets. This project will resolve whether advective pore water exchange and associated underground respiration represents the missing component of mangrove carbon and greenhouse gas budgets. This innovative project will examine the previously overlooked concept that crab burrow flushing is a major driver of biogeochemical reactions in mangroves. It will use a combination of new experimental and modelling approaches and will contribute to closing a significant gap in our understanding of the coastal carbon cycle.Read moreRead less
Untangling metabolism and greenhouse gas production in intermittent streams. Freshwater streams are disproportionately large producers of greenhouse gases. Identifying the factors controlling their greenhouse gas production is critical as stream function is increasingly altered by both changing rainfall patterns and human pollution. This project aims to resolve the factors controlling stream greenhouse gas production. It will apply an unprecedented combination of continuous stream function and i ....Untangling metabolism and greenhouse gas production in intermittent streams. Freshwater streams are disproportionately large producers of greenhouse gases. Identifying the factors controlling their greenhouse gas production is critical as stream function is increasingly altered by both changing rainfall patterns and human pollution. This project aims to resolve the factors controlling stream greenhouse gas production. It will apply an unprecedented combination of continuous stream function and intensive isotope measurements to perennially flowing and intermittent streams in disturbed and undisturbed landscapes. This project is significant because it will quantify the changing role of streams in greenhouse gas emissions. Outcomes will provide critical information for managing Australia’s freshwater resources. Read moreRead less
Are subterranean estuaries a source or sink of greenhouse gases? The aim of this project is to investigate the role of subterranean estuaries and submarine groundwater discharge on the marine cycle of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The expected outcome of this project is a better understanding of the role of coastal environments as a net source or sink of greenhouse gases.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100305
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$434,042.00
Summary
Unravelling the pathways of methane production and oxidation in mangroves. This project addresses a long-standing conundrum of why high methane emissions are sustained in saline coastal wetlands by identifying and quantifying methane production and oxidation processes in mangrove ecosystems. Using a novel combination of cutting-edge instrumentation for greenhouse gases, radiocarbon/stable isotope analysis, this project will generate a first complete picture of the mangrove methane cycle, to accu ....Unravelling the pathways of methane production and oxidation in mangroves. This project addresses a long-standing conundrum of why high methane emissions are sustained in saline coastal wetlands by identifying and quantifying methane production and oxidation processes in mangrove ecosystems. Using a novel combination of cutting-edge instrumentation for greenhouse gases, radiocarbon/stable isotope analysis, this project will generate a first complete picture of the mangrove methane cycle, to accurately quantify, for the first time, Australia’s contribution to global coastal mangrove emissions. The outcomes will establish currently lacking fundamental understanding of wetland methane cycling, advance global biogeochemical models, and improve strategies for natural climate solutions of coastal wetlands in Australia.Read moreRead less
Improving climate models through new insights on long-term inter-hemispheric climate synchronicity from speleothems. It is important that palaeoclimatologists continue to improve understanding of how the Earth responds to climate forcing, so that climate models can be rigorously validated and refined. Since the Earth responds to most of this forcing over time scales that exceed the length of instrumental weather measurements, the recovery of datable palaeoclimate archives that are highly sensiti ....Improving climate models through new insights on long-term inter-hemispheric climate synchronicity from speleothems. It is important that palaeoclimatologists continue to improve understanding of how the Earth responds to climate forcing, so that climate models can be rigorously validated and refined. Since the Earth responds to most of this forcing over time scales that exceed the length of instrumental weather measurements, the recovery of datable palaeoclimate archives that are highly sensitive to past climate changes is essential. Our project will provide important new palaeoclimate data from both hemispheres on how key regions of the Earth responded to past climate changes. This will bring improved understanding of past oceanic-atmospheric processes that can be fed into climate models, ultimately producing better forecasts to the benefit of all Australians.Read moreRead less