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
Coupled subduction dynamics and continent deformations: understanding the Asian and Red Sea tectonics. Modeling slab pull forces and lithospheric deformation provides a new insight in the dynamics of plate tectonics. Unraveling the self-consistent formation of faults, rifts, shear zones and up to passive margin will further the understanding of our planet. Furthermore the application of these models to specific geological contexts will support the exploration and assessment of inaccessible Ear ....Coupled subduction dynamics and continent deformations: understanding the Asian and Red Sea tectonics. Modeling slab pull forces and lithospheric deformation provides a new insight in the dynamics of plate tectonics. Unraveling the self-consistent formation of faults, rifts, shear zones and up to passive margin will further the understanding of our planet. Furthermore the application of these models to specific geological contexts will support the exploration and assessment of inaccessible Earth's resources, such as hydrocarbons pools, located along the deep Australian continent margins, and diamonds and ore deposits, associated with continental shear zones, which potential is still to be fully discovered.Read moreRead less
Submarine explosive eruptions of silicic magma: constraints on products and processes from modern sea-floor examples, ancient successions and experiments. Volcanoes are common on the sea-floor. Many have been the sites of devastating explosive eruptions throughout Earth history, producing thick layers of pumice and volcanic ash in both modern and ancient ocean basins. None of these events has been witnessed, hence, little is known about submarine explosive eruptions and the associated volcanoes. ....Submarine explosive eruptions of silicic magma: constraints on products and processes from modern sea-floor examples, ancient successions and experiments. Volcanoes are common on the sea-floor. Many have been the sites of devastating explosive eruptions throughout Earth history, producing thick layers of pumice and volcanic ash in both modern and ancient ocean basins. None of these events has been witnessed, hence, little is known about submarine explosive eruptions and the associated volcanoes. This detailed, multidisciplinary study will link exploration of modern explosive sea-floor volcanoes (western Pacific Ocean), field-work on older, submarine volcanic formations (Japan, Greece) and experiments that simulate explosive eruptions and their products. The results will elucidate sea-floor explosive volcanism and its contribution to the geology of ocean basins.Read moreRead less
Investigating mineral alteration and infilling of discontinuities in naturally deformed rocks as a guide to rock mass rheology. Structural analysis of naturally deformed rock will be used to investigate the origin, physical characteristics and frictional behaviour of naturally formed discontinuity surfaces. Discontinuities in naturally deformed rock masses are typically altered and infilled with complex combinations of mineral matter and are a major control on the rheology, including strength a ....Investigating mineral alteration and infilling of discontinuities in naturally deformed rocks as a guide to rock mass rheology. Structural analysis of naturally deformed rock will be used to investigate the origin, physical characteristics and frictional behaviour of naturally formed discontinuity surfaces. Discontinuities in naturally deformed rock masses are typically altered and infilled with complex combinations of mineral matter and are a major control on the rheology, including strength and stability, of rock masses in engineering excavations. By combining structural geology techniques and laboratory experiments, and with reference to existing data on field-scale rock mass deformation derived from engineering rock mechanics investigations, a methodology for predicting rock mass rheology from fundamental geological observations will be devised and tested.Read moreRead less
Order-disorder behaviour in Bi-tellurides: a tool to monitor gold scavenging by Bi-Te melts. This project addresses a group of minerals (bismuth tellurides) that are often part of the exotic assemblages present in gold deposits, yet their potential to model the gold-forming processes is only recently apparent. These minerals also have the capacity to record their genetic history due to crystal modularity. Materials scientists target the analogous synthetic compounds because of the same structura ....Order-disorder behaviour in Bi-tellurides: a tool to monitor gold scavenging by Bi-Te melts. This project addresses a group of minerals (bismuth tellurides) that are often part of the exotic assemblages present in gold deposits, yet their potential to model the gold-forming processes is only recently apparent. These minerals also have the capacity to record their genetic history due to crystal modularity. Materials scientists target the analogous synthetic compounds because of the same structural modularity for applications in nanotechnology. The dataset on the mineral compounds, using the geological environment as a natural laboratory, will serve materials science research, as much as delivering key information relevant to understanding the reasons for gold enrichment in economically important types of ores. Read moreRead less
How responsive are continental interiors to the geodynamic evolution of plate margins? An Australian case study. The outcomes of this project will advance our understanding of the evolution and dynamics of the Australian plate by improving knowledge of the way plate driving forces shaped the continental interior. This will lead to a refinement of existing geological models describing the history of the Australian continent, and will provide a valuable backdrop for the current focus on the cont ....How responsive are continental interiors to the geodynamic evolution of plate margins? An Australian case study. The outcomes of this project will advance our understanding of the evolution and dynamics of the Australian plate by improving knowledge of the way plate driving forces shaped the continental interior. This will lead to a refinement of existing geological models describing the history of the Australian continent, and will provide a valuable backdrop for the current focus on the contemporary state of the Australian plate. The study will also provide a framework for petroleum exploration models in the central Australian basins, since they rely crucially on the thermal and structural datasets that will be produced in this project.Read moreRead less
Thermal regimes, flexure and duration: establishing the framework for intracratonic orogeny in central Australia. Intracratonic orogeny is a confronting phenomena because it contradicts the plate tectonic paradigm, which highlights the apparently rigidity of the lithospheric plates. Central Australia contains an exceptional record of intracratonic orogeny, expressed by the formation of the Petermann and Alice Springs orogens. This project will quantify the duration, and thermal conditions assoc ....Thermal regimes, flexure and duration: establishing the framework for intracratonic orogeny in central Australia. Intracratonic orogeny is a confronting phenomena because it contradicts the plate tectonic paradigm, which highlights the apparently rigidity of the lithospheric plates. Central Australia contains an exceptional record of intracratonic orogeny, expressed by the formation of the Petermann and Alice Springs orogens. This project will quantify the duration, and thermal conditions associated with the comparatively poorly known Petermann Orogen. Given the importance of intracratonic deformation in shaping the lithospheric architecture of central Australia, understanding the history of the Petermann Orogeny is essential to developing models that describe the evolution of the Australian continent, and continental interiors in general.Read moreRead less
MACQUARIE ISLAND: A UNIQUE WINDOW INTO THE OCEAN BASEMENT AND THE LINK BETWEEN OCEAN RIDGES AND OPHIOLITES. Knowledge about the composition and structure of the oceanic crust is limited due to the inaccessibility of the deep-ocean floor. Macquarie Island is the only fragment of ocean crust and mantle exposed above sea-level in the world, providing a unique opportunity to study processes of oceanic floor generation in-situ. Our project will carry out detailed mapping of the lower crust and mantle ....MACQUARIE ISLAND: A UNIQUE WINDOW INTO THE OCEAN BASEMENT AND THE LINK BETWEEN OCEAN RIDGES AND OPHIOLITES. Knowledge about the composition and structure of the oceanic crust is limited due to the inaccessibility of the deep-ocean floor. Macquarie Island is the only fragment of ocean crust and mantle exposed above sea-level in the world, providing a unique opportunity to study processes of oceanic floor generation in-situ. Our project will carry out detailed mapping of the lower crust and mantle sections on the island, followed by an integrated microstructural, petrological, and geochronological analysis of samples. Such investigations may lead to fundamental advances in the understanding of formation, deformation, and emplacement of oceanic crust at mid-ocean ridge spreading centres.Read moreRead less
Microscale evolution of deformed rocks and glaciers. Scientific outcomes from this research have significant implications for predictions on material properties and are applicable to rock behaviour in mineralised systems, a focus of Australia's minerals industry, and the development of new materials for the Australian manufacturing industries. It will help maintain Australia's excellent international research reputation in the fields of microstructural geology and glaciology.
Deciphering the tectonic history of the Musgrave Block to assist mineral explorers and regional synthesis programs. Effective mineral exploration strategies in complex basement terrains are increasingly reliant on integrated, data-rich, tectonic models. In this project we will focus a large multidisciplinary team to develop a tectonic model for the evolution of the Musgrave Block in central Australia. This large, poorly understood terrain occupies a critical structural location, separating the ....Deciphering the tectonic history of the Musgrave Block to assist mineral explorers and regional synthesis programs. Effective mineral exploration strategies in complex basement terrains are increasingly reliant on integrated, data-rich, tectonic models. In this project we will focus a large multidisciplinary team to develop a tectonic model for the evolution of the Musgrave Block in central Australia. This large, poorly understood terrain occupies a critical structural location, separating the northern and southern Australian cratons. By constraining models of crustal evolution and architecture, the project will underpin future mineral exploration programs in this highly prospective greenfields region and define the role of the Musgrave Block in the assembly of Proterozoic Australia.Read moreRead less