A highly resolved chronostratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental framework for Pre-Salt Brazilian core basins. Hydrocarbon production and exploration today support viable economies. The engagement of industry with higher learning institutions will advance and enhance the discipline of petroleum geology, with a resultant spectrum from new sources of oil and gas to significantly reducing CO2 emissions (and decreasing the impact of global warming). National and community benefits are diverse: training ....A highly resolved chronostratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental framework for Pre-Salt Brazilian core basins. Hydrocarbon production and exploration today support viable economies. The engagement of industry with higher learning institutions will advance and enhance the discipline of petroleum geology, with a resultant spectrum from new sources of oil and gas to significantly reducing CO2 emissions (and decreasing the impact of global warming). National and community benefits are diverse: training and research support for many graduate students and staff in Australia, a better understanding of ancient greenhouse climates, testing and refinement of new techniques (e.g. bioevents, biosteering) in petroleum studies and practical experience of integrating data from frontier exploration wells.Read moreRead less
Gondwana in East Asia? A biogeographic test using Permian marine invertebrate biota. Combining Permian fossil collections from key Australian, NE Chinese, East Russian and Japanese localities, coupled with a detailed quantitative biogeographical analysis, this project will provide fundamental data for evaluating current plate tectonic models regarding the palaeo-positions of some of the tectonic blocks in East Asia. In particular, this project will test, using biogeographical data, the validity ....Gondwana in East Asia? A biogeographic test using Permian marine invertebrate biota. Combining Permian fossil collections from key Australian, NE Chinese, East Russian and Japanese localities, coupled with a detailed quantitative biogeographical analysis, this project will provide fundamental data for evaluating current plate tectonic models regarding the palaeo-positions of some of the tectonic blocks in East Asia. In particular, this project will test, using biogeographical data, the validity of several recently proposed claims that continental East Asia contains some tectonic blocks of Gondwana origin. An improved understanding of the Permian palaeogeographical relationship between Gondwanaland and East Asia is critical for improving geological models for resources exploration and the understanding of earth history.Read moreRead less
The bipolarity of Late Palaeozoic marine faunal distributions: origin, processes and implications for modern global marine biogeography. The fossil record of 'deep-time' ecological processes provides the only tangible tool and material to probe into the dynamics of past biotic responses to global environmental perturbations at a temporal scale extending well beyond the human impact. It is in this context that the project is linked to the National Research Priority Goal 1.5 (Australia's biodivers ....The bipolarity of Late Palaeozoic marine faunal distributions: origin, processes and implications for modern global marine biogeography. The fossil record of 'deep-time' ecological processes provides the only tangible tool and material to probe into the dynamics of past biotic responses to global environmental perturbations at a temporal scale extending well beyond the human impact. It is in this context that the project is linked to the National Research Priority Goal 1.5 (Australia's biodiversity), Goal 1.7 (climate change and variability) and Goal 3.1 (breakthrough new knowledge). In addition, the project will enhance Australia's global research profile through multinational and multidisciplinary research collaborations, and, importantly, also provide a crucial training opportunity for the next generation of Australian palaeobiologists.Read moreRead less
LATE PALAEOZOIC PALAEOGEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL ASIA: A PALAEOBIOGEOGRAPHICAL APPROACH USING IMPROVED BIOSTRATIGRAPHY. Fossil data from Central Asia (Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, NW China, Mongolia, Altaids) indicate significant degree of palaeo-latitudinal variation in biogeographical patterns across the Palaeo-Tethys and its flanking shelves during Late Palaeozoic, but details of these patterns and implications for enhancing contemporaneous palaeogeographical models are virtually unknown. Thi ....LATE PALAEOZOIC PALAEOGEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL ASIA: A PALAEOBIOGEOGRAPHICAL APPROACH USING IMPROVED BIOSTRATIGRAPHY. Fossil data from Central Asia (Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, NW China, Mongolia, Altaids) indicate significant degree of palaeo-latitudinal variation in biogeographical patterns across the Palaeo-Tethys and its flanking shelves during Late Palaeozoic, but details of these patterns and implications for enhancing contemporaneous palaeogeographical models are virtually unknown. This project will analyse the biogeographical patterns of Late Palaeozoic brachiopod, coral, fusulinid faunas using advanced statistical methods, and integrate biogeographical signals with palaeomagnetic data to constrain models for the Late Palaeozoic geological evolution of Central Asia-a vast region that is known to bear enormous potential for natural resources but remains geologically little explored.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
Molecular fossils, the evolution of Earth's early oceans and the origin of the oldest oil. Australia retains undiscovered oil reserves. We believe that a change in primitive marine life forms may have fundamentally changed the chemistry of the Earth's oceans and is responsible for the world's oldest oil reserves. While these reserves have been found, and successfully commercialised, overseas, similar reservoirs in Australia remain elusive. The project will develop and apply technologies based on ....Molecular fossils, the evolution of Earth's early oceans and the origin of the oldest oil. Australia retains undiscovered oil reserves. We believe that a change in primitive marine life forms may have fundamentally changed the chemistry of the Earth's oceans and is responsible for the world's oldest oil reserves. While these reserves have been found, and successfully commercialised, overseas, similar reservoirs in Australia remain elusive. The project will develop and apply technologies based on hydrocarbon biomarkers to help determine the oil-producing rock types of Precambrian sedimentary rocks. This allows us to estimate the oil's age and predict where petroleum reservoirs may be hidden. PhD students involved in the project will gain valuable knowledge about the link between changes in ecology and the carbon cycle.Read moreRead less
Reconstruction of marine ecosystems following the greatest mass extinction during the Phanerozoic history of Earth life: Lessons for the present. Frequent defaunation events strongly threaten sustainable development of marine resources and human environments especially in countries that are surrounded by oceans such as Australia. By analysing recovery mechanisms of marine ecosystems following the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, the greatest crisis of Earth life, we will develop predictive tool ....Reconstruction of marine ecosystems following the greatest mass extinction during the Phanerozoic history of Earth life: Lessons for the present. Frequent defaunation events strongly threaten sustainable development of marine resources and human environments especially in countries that are surrounded by oceans such as Australia. By analysing recovery mechanisms of marine ecosystems following the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, the greatest crisis of Earth life, we will develop predictive tools for analysing restoration of modern marine defaunated ecosystems. Understanding biotic extinction and recovery is crucial to understanding the evolution of the Earth's biosphere. This study increases Australia's research profile on this global issue. The target strata are quality oil source rocks in Perth Basin, and thus this project is beneficial to the Australian petroleum industry.Read moreRead less
Links Between Modern and Fossil Microbes and the Evolution of Life in Earth's Extreme Early Environments. The quest to understand early and modern life in extreme environments tackles some of the most profound questions of humankind. The novel application of spectroscopic techniques to investigate modern and fossil microbes presents an unprecedented opportunity to establish the link between primitive living and fossil organisms, thus enriching our understanding of the early evolution of life and ....Links Between Modern and Fossil Microbes and the Evolution of Life in Earth's Extreme Early Environments. The quest to understand early and modern life in extreme environments tackles some of the most profound questions of humankind. The novel application of spectroscopic techniques to investigate modern and fossil microbes presents an unprecedented opportunity to establish the link between primitive living and fossil organisms, thus enriching our understanding of the early evolution of life and its interactions with Earth's early environments. The project links fundamental processes that shaped the Earth and thus fits into the National Research Priority 1: An Environmentally Sustainable Australia. Read moreRead less