From Snowball Earth to Animals: the Influence of Mantle Dynamics. This project aims to investigate how solid Earth processes contributed to ‘Snowball Earth’ events around 700 million years ago and to the explosion of complex life 540 million years ago, which will shed light on our origin as a species. The approach consists of merging cutting-edge models of the plate-mantle system with the global rock record. The intended outcome is to understand relationships between mantle convection, the behav ....From Snowball Earth to Animals: the Influence of Mantle Dynamics. This project aims to investigate how solid Earth processes contributed to ‘Snowball Earth’ events around 700 million years ago and to the explosion of complex life 540 million years ago, which will shed light on our origin as a species. The approach consists of merging cutting-edge models of the plate-mantle system with the global rock record. The intended outcome is to understand relationships between mantle convection, the behaviour of the magnetic field, global sea levels, continental-scale topography, and the composition of the ocean and atmosphere. Expected significant benefits include building capacity in Earth Sciences and the development of new models that can be used to explore the mineral endowment of the Australian crust.Read moreRead less
Early Career Industry Fellowships - Grant ID: IE230100098
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$417,000.00
Summary
Hunting high and low: mapping ancient topography to find copper. Transitioning to a decarbonised society requires significant amounts of copper; however, preventing a systems-based exploration approach for copper is the lack of a first-order dataset of the Earth’s surface evolution, known as palaeogeography. This project aims to unearth potential areas of porphyry copper through deep time by developing innovative global palaeogeography reconstructions. Expected outcomes of this project include n ....Hunting high and low: mapping ancient topography to find copper. Transitioning to a decarbonised society requires significant amounts of copper; however, preventing a systems-based exploration approach for copper is the lack of a first-order dataset of the Earth’s surface evolution, known as palaeogeography. This project aims to unearth potential areas of porphyry copper through deep time by developing innovative global palaeogeography reconstructions. Expected outcomes of this project include new quantitative palaeogeography reconstructions, as well as the first well-constrained reconstructions of copper preservation potential. This should provide benefits such as an improved understanding of the porphyry copper lifecycle, with significant impacts for resource exploration and decarbonisation efforts.Read moreRead less
The lost ocean of eastern Australia and its critical metals endowment. This project aims to unravel the tectonic origin and economic potential of ultramafic rocks (rocks which host elevated concentrations of nickel, cobalt, chromium, and platinum-group elements). Such rocks are outcropping in eastern Australia along a contorted ~1500 km long belt that may record relics of an ancient ocean. Through detailed mapping and cutting-edge analytical techniques, the project is expected to fill a crucial ....The lost ocean of eastern Australia and its critical metals endowment. This project aims to unravel the tectonic origin and economic potential of ultramafic rocks (rocks which host elevated concentrations of nickel, cobalt, chromium, and platinum-group elements). Such rocks are outcropping in eastern Australia along a contorted ~1500 km long belt that may record relics of an ancient ocean. Through detailed mapping and cutting-edge analytical techniques, the project is expected to fill a crucial knowledge gap in Australian tectonics, while providing information on ore mineralisation. The expected outcomes, including new tectonic models unveiling the scale, geometry, and economic potential of the ultramafic bodies, could benefit critical mineral exploration, carbon storage solutions, and geoecology conservation.Read moreRead less