Beach groundwater dynamics: measurement and modelling. Beach groundwater is a highly complex, dynamic system interacting with tides, waves and swash. Such interactions affect beach sediment movement and contaminant transport/transformation in coastal aquifers. This project aims to measure and model the groundwater's behaviour at three different types of beaches: sand, gravel and gravel-sand mixed beaches. The study will provide much needed understanding and quantification of the beach groundwate ....Beach groundwater dynamics: measurement and modelling. Beach groundwater is a highly complex, dynamic system interacting with tides, waves and swash. Such interactions affect beach sediment movement and contaminant transport/transformation in coastal aquifers. This project aims to measure and model the groundwater's behaviour at three different types of beaches: sand, gravel and gravel-sand mixed beaches. The study will provide much needed understanding and quantification of the beach groundwater dynamics over a range of time scales. The outcome will help to assess the extent and intensity of mass and momentum exchanges across the beach face, and the resulting effects on beach stability and the fate of contaminants in coastal aquifers.Read moreRead less
Palaeoclimate reconstruction in northwestern China. Records of climatic change between semi-arid regions of the two large continents, China and Australia, provide invaluable data on the manner in which the globe has responded to past environmental changes. Such reconstructions impose constraints on possible patterns of future change.
The visit by an established researcher in Prof. Sun Jiamin will provide new data (including new dates) on the evolution of lakes and dunefields in China, and on ....Palaeoclimate reconstruction in northwestern China. Records of climatic change between semi-arid regions of the two large continents, China and Australia, provide invaluable data on the manner in which the globe has responded to past environmental changes. Such reconstructions impose constraints on possible patterns of future change.
The visit by an established researcher in Prof. Sun Jiamin will provide new data (including new dates) on the evolution of lakes and dunefields in China, and on the climatic conditions which controlled them. The visit builds on and extends the established links between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and staff in the Melbourne University, School of Earth Sciences.
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Weathering History and Cenozoic Landscape Evolution in Northern Queensland and New Caledonia. Rates of rock weathering impose a major control on the CO2 global budget. Increased weathering rates consume atmospheric CO2, possibly resulting in cooler climates. We intend to determine rock weathering rates on similar lithologies currently placed on equatorial positions, Northeastern Australia and New Caledonia, but possibly differing in climatic history. Geochronology of continental weathering prof ....Weathering History and Cenozoic Landscape Evolution in Northern Queensland and New Caledonia. Rates of rock weathering impose a major control on the CO2 global budget. Increased weathering rates consume atmospheric CO2, possibly resulting in cooler climates. We intend to determine rock weathering rates on similar lithologies currently placed on equatorial positions, Northeastern Australia and New Caledonia, but possibly differing in climatic history. Geochronology of continental weathering profiles in the areas will permit correlating known paleoclimatic cycles, derived from the isotopic composition of ocean floor sediments, with the variation in continental weathering rates. This comparison will test current models proposing that cooling of Cenozoic climates results from increase rates of rock weathering.Read moreRead less