Deep and smelly: exploring the roles of pressure and sulphur in hydrothermal metal transport. Hot, salty fluids carry metals in the Earth's crust and are responsible for the formation of Australia's mineral wealth. This project combines exciting new experiments with molecular-level simulations to predict metal transport, providing a sound basis for improving mineral exploration models and sustaining discovery of new deposits.
In-situ solubility and speciation studies in super-critical H2O-NaCl-CO2 mixtures using synchrotron radiation. Understanding the physics and chemistry of metals in hypersaline and supercritical solutions represents a major scientific challenge with wide-ranging applications in the fields of mineral processing, economic geology, or CO2 sequestration. The advent of very bright sources of x-rays (synchrotrons) and development of spectroscopic cells that can contain corrosives samples at high pressu ....In-situ solubility and speciation studies in super-critical H2O-NaCl-CO2 mixtures using synchrotron radiation. Understanding the physics and chemistry of metals in hypersaline and supercritical solutions represents a major scientific challenge with wide-ranging applications in the fields of mineral processing, economic geology, or CO2 sequestration. The advent of very bright sources of x-rays (synchrotrons) and development of spectroscopic cells that can contain corrosives samples at high pressure and temperature allow for the first time the in-situ observation of these solutions. This project creates strong link between Australian and French scientists. By sharing the know-how developed at the European Synchrotron Research Facility, we aim to create a world-class facility at the Australian Synchrotron that will open in Melbourne in 2007.Read moreRead less