Large-scale three dimensional deformation of the lithosphere by subduction and mantle flow. We will be modelling of the dynamics of the Earth's crust and shallow lithosphere in response to the huge stresses created by plate motions. For Australia these stresses are transmitted from the distant plate boundaries, but they have a direct controlling influence on the evolution of the petroleum rich basins of Australia. These basins have reached maturity; further exploration will be in deep water wher ....Large-scale three dimensional deformation of the lithosphere by subduction and mantle flow. We will be modelling of the dynamics of the Earth's crust and shallow lithosphere in response to the huge stresses created by plate motions. For Australia these stresses are transmitted from the distant plate boundaries, but they have a direct controlling influence on the evolution of the petroleum rich basins of Australia. These basins have reached maturity; further exploration will be in deep water where geophysical prospecting methods are unreliable. Model-driven "exploration geodynamics" methods such as those we are developing will be needed to support traditional exploration techniques in these areas.Read moreRead less
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
Three dimensional computational models of geological basin and hinterland evolution incorporating lithospheric mantle and surface processes. Petroleum exploration in deepwater areas offshore Australia is becoming increasingly important as more accessible, shallow water oil reserves near exhaustion. Geological simulation is an important tool for understanding deep water basins where geophysical imaging techniques are less effective. This project will develop 3D computational models relevant to un ....Three dimensional computational models of geological basin and hinterland evolution incorporating lithospheric mantle and surface processes. Petroleum exploration in deepwater areas offshore Australia is becoming increasingly important as more accessible, shallow water oil reserves near exhaustion. Geological simulation is an important tool for understanding deep water basins where geophysical imaging techniques are less effective. This project will develop 3D computational models relevant to understanding the development and evolution of geological basins and the sediments that fill them. The models will be integrated with available offshore data for potentially prospective Australian basins in the Northwest Shelf and the Southern Australian margin.Read moreRead less
Relationship between subduction zone geometry, trench kinematics and great subduction earthquakes. The devastating Boxing Day 2004 earthquake near Sumatra and the four other largest earthquakes in recorded history all occurred along subduction zones. This research will compare the geodynamic setting of these subduction zones with those surrounding the Australian continent and assess whether the Australian subduction zones are capable of producing great earthquakes and tsunamis that might pose a ....Relationship between subduction zone geometry, trench kinematics and great subduction earthquakes. The devastating Boxing Day 2004 earthquake near Sumatra and the four other largest earthquakes in recorded history all occurred along subduction zones. This research will compare the geodynamic setting of these subduction zones with those surrounding the Australian continent and assess whether the Australian subduction zones are capable of producing great earthquakes and tsunamis that might pose a risk for the east and northwest coast of Australia. Also, Eastern Australia is a composite of fossil arcs rich in ore deposits and the Tasman Sea region is composed of basins that host hydrocarbons, all of which formed by subduction processes. The proposed research will thus improve the basis for mineral and hydrocarbon exploration.Read moreRead less
Thermo-mechanical interactive atlas of basin evolution. We propose to create a thermo-mechanical interactive atlas of basin evolution as a desktop geodynamic modelling resource for exploration geologists. The atlas will allow the user to iteratively run our 2D/3D basin modelling software ELLIPSIS to alter model parameters until they match observed basin geometries or thermal history. Model iteration will be based on interactive user evaluation of model outputs and genetic algorithms, which pr ....Thermo-mechanical interactive atlas of basin evolution. We propose to create a thermo-mechanical interactive atlas of basin evolution as a desktop geodynamic modelling resource for exploration geologists. The atlas will allow the user to iteratively run our 2D/3D basin modelling software ELLIPSIS to alter model parameters until they match observed basin geometries or thermal history. Model iteration will be based on interactive user evaluation of model outputs and genetic algorithms, which progressively modify the solution set by mimicking the evolutionary behavior of biological systems (selection, cross-over and mutation), until an acceptable result is achieved. The interactive atlas will be applied to Australian and international case studies.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354575
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$30,000.00
Summary
Earth and Ocean Informatics and Technology Network (EON-ITnet). Sustainable resource exploration and mining onshore, as well as marine planning, exploration, and defence depend on effective cross-disciplinary investigation, sharing of expertise and technologies for integration and computational analysis of multidimensional data spaces. EON-ITNET will cross-fertilise the use of artificial intelligence, advanced computing and smart information sharing for management, analysis, visualisation and me ....Earth and Ocean Informatics and Technology Network (EON-ITnet). Sustainable resource exploration and mining onshore, as well as marine planning, exploration, and defence depend on effective cross-disciplinary investigation, sharing of expertise and technologies for integration and computational analysis of multidimensional data spaces. EON-ITNET will cross-fertilise the use of artificial intelligence, advanced computing and smart information sharing for management, analysis, visualisation and metadata modelling between these traditionally separate research groups, with the outcome of improving research efficiency and lowering costs. EON-ITNET will form an alliance with the Caltech-based GeoFramework, which is advancing a novel object-oriented data analysis environment, binding community software for Earth visualisation and simulation to 4D data bases.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0346878
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$190,000.00
Summary
GeoWulf: An Inference Engine for Complex Earth Systems. The project is to build a `Beowulf' cluster as a platform for solving
complex data inference problems in the Earth sciences, and in
particular the fields of thermochronology, seismology, crustal and
mantle dynamics, and landform evolution. A Beowulf cluster is a
network-linked set of commonly available `off-the-shelf' PC-computers
configured to give unprecedented performance/cost ratio. Projects
using the Beowulf facility will combine ....GeoWulf: An Inference Engine for Complex Earth Systems. The project is to build a `Beowulf' cluster as a platform for solving
complex data inference problems in the Earth sciences, and in
particular the fields of thermochronology, seismology, crustal and
mantle dynamics, and landform evolution. A Beowulf cluster is a
network-linked set of commonly available `off-the-shelf' PC-computers
configured to give unprecedented performance/cost ratio. Projects
using the Beowulf facility will combine state-of-the-art computational
techniques recently developed at ANU, and high quality data sets
collected over the past decade to address fundamental questions in
the Geosciences.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0882836
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$160,000.00
Summary
A novel isotope facility to characterise high-molecular-weight fractions of natural organic matter in soils, sediments, water, petroleum and coal. This facility will improve our ability to forecast environmental responses to future climate change, and help Australia manage current threats to its biodiversity. Furthermore, this research will increase the ability to identify crude oil sources, to the benefit of petroleum exploration in Australia. This facility will also contribute to an improved u ....A novel isotope facility to characterise high-molecular-weight fractions of natural organic matter in soils, sediments, water, petroleum and coal. This facility will improve our ability to forecast environmental responses to future climate change, and help Australia manage current threats to its biodiversity. Furthermore, this research will increase the ability to identify crude oil sources, to the benefit of petroleum exploration in Australia. This facility will also contribute to an improved understanding of controls on water quality and will help to protect our precious freshwater resources, already under intense pressure from climate change. Importantly, this project will enable students and young professionals to be trained in state-of-the-art technology, leading to quality scientists ready for employment in industry.
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Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354778
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$30,000.00
Summary
Deep Earth Resource Characterisation and Extraction - An Integrated Geoscience Approach. Sustainability, economy and safety in resource recovery require a high level of understanding of the mechanics of geomaterials in their natural conditions and a multidisciplinary approach to the geotechnical issues involved. This initiative aims to bridge gaps between geotechnical disciplines, to combine the testing, analytical skills and experience of the research groups and to incorporate expertise and ide ....Deep Earth Resource Characterisation and Extraction - An Integrated Geoscience Approach. Sustainability, economy and safety in resource recovery require a high level of understanding of the mechanics of geomaterials in their natural conditions and a multidisciplinary approach to the geotechnical issues involved. This initiative aims to bridge gaps between geotechnical disciplines, to combine the testing, analytical skills and experience of the research groups and to incorporate expertise and ideas from the cognate disciplines of geology and geophysics so that innovative engineering practice will develop. This approach should achieve breakthroughs in understanding the behaviour of, and the safe economic extraction from deep resources including minerals, coal, gas drainage, petroleum and geothermal energy.Read moreRead less