Origins and distributions of intraplate earthquakes. This project aims to investigate the behaviour and origin of intraplate earthquakes in Australia by developing a multi-million-year record of earthquakes using geological, geochronological, geospatial, seismological, statistical and numerical modelling data. It will use maximum credible magnitudes, maximum shaking intensities of intraplate earthquakes and spatiotemporal relationships between large prehistoric and contemporary earthquakes to im ....Origins and distributions of intraplate earthquakes. This project aims to investigate the behaviour and origin of intraplate earthquakes in Australia by developing a multi-million-year record of earthquakes using geological, geochronological, geospatial, seismological, statistical and numerical modelling data. It will use maximum credible magnitudes, maximum shaking intensities of intraplate earthquakes and spatiotemporal relationships between large prehistoric and contemporary earthquakes to improve models of future seismic hazard in Australia and globally. This will lead to improved predictions of future earthquake impacts in urban and natural environments and development of new paleoseismic techniques.Read moreRead less
Cause and effect: new mechanisms of particles formation in thunderstorms. This project aims to identify meaningful and specific indicators for predicting particle formation and alteration during thunderstorms. How thunderstorms develop is well-understood. However, identifying meaningful and specific indicators for predicting particle alteration during a thunderstorm is still not clear. This project will practically contribute to the evidence of the impact of air particulates, thereby having dire ....Cause and effect: new mechanisms of particles formation in thunderstorms. This project aims to identify meaningful and specific indicators for predicting particle formation and alteration during thunderstorms. How thunderstorms develop is well-understood. However, identifying meaningful and specific indicators for predicting particle alteration during a thunderstorm is still not clear. This project will practically contribute to the evidence of the impact of air particulates, thereby having direct implications for meteorological, and air pollution policy in Australia and worldwide. This project will allow researchers to understand the impact of these factors on the escalation of the causative effects, and to find a way to prevent unnecessary fatal outcomes.Read moreRead less
Anomalous interfacial air-bubble dynamics: the importance of electrokinetic effects in thin film drainage. Air bubbles play important roles in numerous systems including plastics and paper recycling, water treatment and mineral separation processes, foodstuffs, beverages, cosmetics, cleaning products, fire retardants, and natural systems such as rivers, oceans and biological fluids. The properties and behaviour of these systems and processes depend on how air bubbles in water interact with each ....Anomalous interfacial air-bubble dynamics: the importance of electrokinetic effects in thin film drainage. Air bubbles play important roles in numerous systems including plastics and paper recycling, water treatment and mineral separation processes, foodstuffs, beverages, cosmetics, cleaning products, fire retardants, and natural systems such as rivers, oceans and biological fluids. The properties and behaviour of these systems and processes depend on how air bubbles in water interact with each other, and/or with other materials. Currently our understanding of the bubble interactions is incomplete. The improved understanding gained from this research project will lead to better ability to control the properties of systems and processes such as those listed above.Read moreRead less
An integrated study of dynamic interactions in soft matter systems. Established Australian pharmaceutical, dairy and food processing industries and growing high-value biotechnology and nanotechnology rely on the processing and control of a generic class of materials called Soft Matter. Cost driven demands for high throughput and increasing water and energy conservation requirements will be met by advances in the underpinning engineering science pursued in this project. In addition to increasing ....An integrated study of dynamic interactions in soft matter systems. Established Australian pharmaceutical, dairy and food processing industries and growing high-value biotechnology and nanotechnology rely on the processing and control of a generic class of materials called Soft Matter. Cost driven demands for high throughput and increasing water and energy conservation requirements will be met by advances in the underpinning engineering science pursued in this project. In addition to increasing the international competitiveness of Australian industries in high value products, the research outcomes also add to the knowledge capacity of the nation for future technological developments.Read moreRead less
Limits to ocean surface temperature in future climates. This project aims to investigate whether ocean surface temperatures can increase beyond the 35 degree centigrade threshold for the survival of humans and many other mammal species. Climate models predict that ocean surface temperatures will exceed 35 degree centigrade in parts of the middle east and throughout much of South East Asia in as little as 50 years. This project will use a series of laboratory experiments to test whether parts of ....Limits to ocean surface temperature in future climates. This project aims to investigate whether ocean surface temperatures can increase beyond the 35 degree centigrade threshold for the survival of humans and many other mammal species. Climate models predict that ocean surface temperatures will exceed 35 degree centigrade in parts of the middle east and throughout much of South East Asia in as little as 50 years. This project will use a series of laboratory experiments to test whether parts of the ocean surface can be warmed beyond this limit under natural conditions. Expected outcomes of this project are a new understanding of what sets the maximum surface temperature of the ocean, thereby allowing us to determine whether coastal regions of the humid tropics and sub-tropics will remain habitable for humans and other mammal species in the near future.Read moreRead less
Nano-Particle Suspension Behaviour in Salt Solutions: Effect of Ion Hydration and Attractive Forces. Understanding and controlling the flow behaviour of nano-particle suspensions is crucial to the processing of ceramics with nano-scale features. Interparticle forces influence the flow behaviour and depend upon the the adsorption of ions to the particle's surface. The proposed research investigates the effect of ion hydration and surface type on ion adsorption, the resulting attractive forces a ....Nano-Particle Suspension Behaviour in Salt Solutions: Effect of Ion Hydration and Attractive Forces. Understanding and controlling the flow behaviour of nano-particle suspensions is crucial to the processing of ceramics with nano-scale features. Interparticle forces influence the flow behaviour and depend upon the the adsorption of ions to the particle's surface. The proposed research investigates the effect of ion hydration and surface type on ion adsorption, the resulting attractive forces and suspension flow behaviour. The outcomes of the project have potential for significant increase in fundamental understanding of the relationship between ions, surfaces and forces. The benefits of this knowledge include producing nano-ceramics with improved properties and better understanding biopolymer behaviour.Read moreRead less
Australia's variable rainfall - how dry or wet can it really get? Australia’s rainfall is extremely variable, which means existing weather records are too short to calculate the true risk posed by droughts and floods. This project aims to quantify how naturally variable the rainfall coming from the Indo-Pacific mid-latitudes is, allowing recent rainfall extremes and future projections to be assessed in a long-term context. This project expects to produce new estimates of atmospheric moisture bud ....Australia's variable rainfall - how dry or wet can it really get? Australia’s rainfall is extremely variable, which means existing weather records are too short to calculate the true risk posed by droughts and floods. This project aims to quantify how naturally variable the rainfall coming from the Indo-Pacific mid-latitudes is, allowing recent rainfall extremes and future projections to be assessed in a long-term context. This project expects to produce new estimates of atmospheric moisture budgets between Australia and Antarctica based on a novel, 1000-year length reconstruction of moisture-bearing southern Indian Ocean storms. This new information is critically needed by water managers so that they can properly calculate (and ultimately prepare for) the worst of Australia’s rainfall-related risks.Read moreRead less
The application of clumped isotope thermometry to the terrestrial environment. Clumped-isotope geochemistry, a novel method for measuring the temperature of formation of carbonate minerals, will be applied to terrestrial materials (soil carbonates, lake deposits and speleothems) from Australia and New Zealand. The method relates the abundance or 'clumping' of rare isotopes (for example, carbon dioxide of mass 47 as carbon-13, oxygen-18, oxygen-16) extracted from carbonates to their formation tem ....The application of clumped isotope thermometry to the terrestrial environment. Clumped-isotope geochemistry, a novel method for measuring the temperature of formation of carbonate minerals, will be applied to terrestrial materials (soil carbonates, lake deposits and speleothems) from Australia and New Zealand. The method relates the abundance or 'clumping' of rare isotopes (for example, carbon dioxide of mass 47 as carbon-13, oxygen-18, oxygen-16) extracted from carbonates to their formation temperature and is independent of the oxygen-18:oxygen-16 value of the host water from which the mineral precipitated. The materials to be investigated span the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition and will provide robust past temperature estimates and the delta-oxygen-18 values of waters, thereby permitting hydrological balances (for example, precipitation/evaporation) to be constructed. Read moreRead less
Pyrogenic carbon sequestration in Australian soils. Pyrogenic Carbon ('charcoal') is a poorly understood component of the global carbon cycle, important because it is resistant to degradation and hence has potential soil carbon sequestration benefits. This project applies a new technique (hydrogen pyrolysis), in combination with spectroscopic techniques, to quantify charcoal in a pan-Australian soil sample set, collected using uniform stratified sampling and preparation protocols. This will ena ....Pyrogenic carbon sequestration in Australian soils. Pyrogenic Carbon ('charcoal') is a poorly understood component of the global carbon cycle, important because it is resistant to degradation and hence has potential soil carbon sequestration benefits. This project applies a new technique (hydrogen pyrolysis), in combination with spectroscopic techniques, to quantify charcoal in a pan-Australian soil sample set, collected using uniform stratified sampling and preparation protocols. This will enable the mapping of soil charcoal stocks in relation to environmental and soil variables across Australia. The results will enable understanding of the controls on charcoal sequestration potential in Australian soils and contribute to efforts to quantify soil charcoal stocks and dynamics globally.Read moreRead less
The evolution of effective stress in sedimenting clayey slurries. Activities such as water treatment, mining and dredging produce enormous volumes of semi-solid waste annually. The safe and environmentally responsible management of these wastes is costly, consumes vast quantities of water, and sterilises large areas of land. We will address these issues through understanding and manipulating the interaction between individual particles in these slurries to produce desired engineering outcomes. T ....The evolution of effective stress in sedimenting clayey slurries. Activities such as water treatment, mining and dredging produce enormous volumes of semi-solid waste annually. The safe and environmentally responsible management of these wastes is costly, consumes vast quantities of water, and sterilises large areas of land. We will address these issues through understanding and manipulating the interaction between individual particles in these slurries to produce desired engineering outcomes. This will be done by developing a laboratory testing column in which the gain in strength and rigidity of a settling slurry are fully characterised, enabling an improvement in design of safe and economical impoundment structures for these waste materials.
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