Timescales of mixing and volatile transfer leading to volcanic eruptions

H. Handley, S. Turner, M. Reagan, J. Barclay: Supported by ARC Discovery (commencing 2015)

Summary:  The short-lived lead isotope, 210Pb, has the unique ability to place timescale constraints on volcanic processes, such as the input, mixing and degassing of magma. These processes are believed to be of fundamental importance in the triggering of volcanic eruptions. This project will measure 210Pb isotopic compositions and elemental diffusion profiles in crystals of volcanic rocks that represent the end members of mixed magmas to constrain the volume and timescale of volatile transfer from magmatic recharge and also the time between magma mixing events and eruptions. The project aims to test the paradigm that magma recharge triggers volcanic eruptions and aims to yield significant outcomes for understanding eruption triggers at hazardous volcanoes.

Migmatites, charnockites and crustal fluid flux during orogenesis

I. Fitzsimons, M. Holness, C. Clark: Supported by ARC Discovery (commencing 2015)

Summary:  Migration of volatile fluid and molten rock controls many Earth processes including rock deformation and the formation of mineral and energy deposits. Deep crustal fluids are hard to study directly, and their characteristics are usually inferred from lower crustal rock brought to the surface by erosion. For over 30 years one such rock called charnockite has been used to argue that lower crust is dehydrated by influx of carbon dioxide -rich fluid, while other evidence supports dehydration by water extraction in silicate melt. This project aims to use the shape, distribution and chemistry of mineral grains to trace the passage of volatiles and melt through charnockite, constrain the nature of lower crustal fluids and resolve a long-standing controversy.

The global consequences of subduction zone congestion

L. Moresi, P. Betts, J. Whittaker, M. Miller: Supported by ARC Discovery (commencing 2015)

Summary:  This project will use a combination of 3D geodynamic modelling, plate kinematic reconstruction and geological and geophysical synthesis to determine how congested subduction zones influence plate kinematics, subduction dynamics and tectonic evolution at orogen and global scales. The project aims to deliver a transformation change in understanding the links between congested subduction, mantle flow, trench migration, crustal growth, transitions between stable convergent margin configurations and deformation in the overriding plates of subduction zones. Determining these relationships is significant because it will provide dynamic context to interpret the geological record of ancient convergent margins, which host a large percentage of Earth’s metal resources.

Unravelling the geodynamics of eastern Australia during the Permian: the link between plate boundary bending and basin formation

G. Rosenbaum, S.A. Pisarevsky, C.R. Fielding, F. Speranza: Supported by ARC Discovery (commenced 2013)

Summary:  The Permian evolution of eastern Australia is poorly understood. It involved bending of the southern New England Orogen and simultaneous development of widespread sedimentary basins. This project will combine palaeomagnetic and structural investigations to unravel the palaeogeography and plate kinematics of eastern Australia during the Permian. We will generate a comprehensive database on palaeolatitudes, block rotations and magnetic fabric, and will link, for the first time, the process of oroclinal bending with the development of the east Australian rift system. Outcomes will elucidate the fundamental tectonic process of oroclinal bending and will fill a knowledge gap in our understanding of the evolution of the Australian continent.

Bromine isotopic evolution of the Earth and solar system

B. Schaefer: Supported by ARC Discovery (commenced 2013)

Summary:  A world first capability of innovative isotopic tracing within the earth and solar system materials will be developed. Insights into how planets are formed and the transport of materials and heat within them will be tracked through the application of the naturally occurring isotopes of Bromine.

What lies beneath: Unveiling the fine-scale 3D compositional and thermal structure of the subcontinental lithosphere and upper mantle

J.C. Afonso, Y. Yang, N. Rawlinson, A.G. Jones, J.A.D. Connolly, S. Lebedev: Supported by ARC Discovery (commenced 2012)

Summary:  Characterising the compositional and thermal structure of the lithosphere and upper mantle is one of the most important goals of Geoscience. Yet, a method capable of providing robust estimates of these two fields in 3D has still not been achieved. This limitation is the focus of this project, which will develop the first full 3D method that integrates multiple geophysical and petrological datasets. We will apply our methodology to image the fine-scale thermochemical structure of the lithosphere beneath Australia, South Africa, and western USA. This project will not only help us understand the evolution of continental lithosphere but its outcomes will be translatable into predictive exploration methods for Australia’s Deep Earth Resources.

Investigation of the early history of the Moon: implications for the understanding of evolution of Earth and Solar System

A. Nemchin, M.L. Grange: Supported by ARC Discovery (commenced 2012)

Summary:  The goal of the project is to characterise the chemistry and timing of processes that shaped the specific evolutionary path followed by the Moon during the early history of the Solar System. This is not only vital for evaluation of lunar history, but is also essential for a better understanding of early evolution of the Earth, where the record of the first 500 m.y. of history has been erased by the continuous activity of the planet. The project will test existing models of lunar evolution describing initial global differentiation, early plutonic magmatism, impact history and volcanic activity, shedding new light on the processes driving these major events on the Moon and determining the ability of these models to describe the early history of the Earth.

Investigating the fundamental link between deformation, fluids and the rates of reactions in minerals

S. Piazolo, N.R. Daczko, A. Putnis, M.W. Jessell: Supported by ARC Discovery (commenced 2012)

Summary:  In Earth’s crust and mantle, minerals are constantly undergoing chemical changes while simultaneously being deformed. In this project we use a novel combination of techniques in order to advance our understanding of how deformation influences these chemical changes.

Supercells and the supercontinent cycle

W.J. Collins, J.B. Murphy, E. Belousova, M. Hand: Supported by ARC Discovery (commenced 2012)

Summary:  Phanerozoic plate motions can be explained by westerly and northerly migration of continental blocks toward Laurentia during protracted (~500 Ma) northerly mantle flow, confined within a hemispheric supercell. The other supercell on Earth encompasses the oceanic Pacific realm, characterised by E-W mantle flow diverging from the East Pacific Rise. We aim to determine if similar supercells and mantle flow patterns existed during the Proterozoic, by characterising contrasting orogenic systems within different supercells through tectonostratigraphic review, isotopic fingerprinting using Lu-Hf isotopes in zircon, and by paleomagnetic analysis. This is a new holistic approach to solving Precambrian geodynamics and continental reconstructions.

Oxygenating the Earth: using innovative techniques to resolve the timing of the origin of oxygen-producing photosynthesis in cyanobacteria

M.R. Walter, B.A. Neilan, S.C. George, R.E. Summons, J.W. Schopf: Supported by ARC Discovery (commenced 2011)

Summary:  The early Earth was a hostile place with little oxygen in the atmosphere. Then cyanobacteria (‘blue green algae’) invented oxygen releasing photosynthesis. That profound event affected many fundamental processes, from the course of evolution to the formation of ore deposits. However, estimates of when these bacteria originated are disputed with uncertainties of hundreds of millions of years. We will resolve those uncertainties. We have developed new analytical techniques that we will apply to well preserved 2.7-2.8 billion year old rocks in Western Australia. We will couple that approach to the use of the latest genetic techniques to reveal the origins of living cyanobacteria.

Down under down under: using multi-scale seismic tomography to image beneath Australia’s Great Artesian Basin

Y. Yang, N.Rawlinson: Supported by ARC Discovery (commenced 2011)

Summary:  Seismic arrays will be deployed in the Great Artesian Basin to image the crust and mantle using distant earthquake and ambient noise sources. This will answer fundamental questions about the tectonic evolution of eastern Australia and elucidate the structure of a region containing significant deep Earth resources.

New insights into the origin and evolution of life on Earth

D. Wacey: Supported by ARC Future Fellowship and MQ (commenced 2014)

Summary:  This project aims to provide new insights into the origin of life on Earth, life’s diversification through the Precambrian, and the co-evolution of life and early Earth environments. It will be discipline-leading in that it will take the study of early life to the sub-micrometre and hence sub-cellular level. This will facilitate new opportunities for identifying the types of life present during early Earth history, their metabolisms, cellular chemistry and interactions with their environment. This project aims to also provide new search engines and more robust assessment criteria for life on other planets, and help to resolve specific scientific controversies, for example, the validity of claims for cellular life from 3.5 billion-year-old rocks.

Roles of deep-Earth fluid cycling in the generation of intra-continental magmatism

X.C. Wang: Supported by ARC Future Fellowship and MQ (commenced 2014)

Summary:  This project aims to test a provocative and potentially ground-breaking hypothesis that fluid released from subducted oceanic slabs and stored in the mantle transition zone, may trigger or control some major intra-plate geotectonic phenomena. It aims to provide a self-consistent model that links geological processes occurring at plate boundaries with those far-field effects well away from plate boundaries via deep-Earth fluid cycling. The outcomes of this project aim to help to better understand links between plume and plate tectonic processes in the first-order dynamic system of Earth, and identify ways to improve success in future mineral exploration.

A new approach to quantitative interpretation of paleoclimate archives

D. Jacob: Supported by ARC Future Fellowship and MQ (commenced 2013)

Summary:  Skeletons of marine organisms can be used to reconstruct past climates and make predictions for the future. The precondition is the knowledge of how climatic and environmental information is incorporated into the biominerals. This project will use cutting-edge nano-analytical methods to further our understanding of how organisms build their skeletons.

How the Earth moves: Developing a novel seismological approach to map the small-scale dynamics of the upper mantle

Y. Yang: Supported by ARC Future Fellowship (commenced 2013)

Summary:  The concept of small-scale convection currents from about 100-400 km below the Earth’s surface is a model proposed to explain the origins of intraplate volcanoes and mountains. However, direct evidence for the physical reality of small-scale convection cells is generally weak. This project will develop a novel seismological approach combining both ambient noise and earthquake data that can image such small-scale upper mantle convection. The outcomes of this project will help to fill the gap left in the Plate Tectonic paradigm by its inability to explain intraplate geological activity (volcanoes, earthquakes, mountains), which would be a significant step towards unifying conceptual models about how the Earth works.

Dating Down Under: Resolving Earth’s crust - mantle relationships

E. Belousova: Supported by ARC Future Fellowship and MQ (commenced 2012)

Summary:  How the continental crust has grown is a first-order problem in understanding the nature of the surface on which we live. Was most of the crust formed early in Earth’s history or did it grow episodically? Was its growth related to underlying mantle processes? The project will use in-situ isotopic and trace-element microanalysis of the mineral zircon (a geological “time capsule”), extracted from rocks and sediments worldwide, to answer these fundamental questions. It will develop a new model for the timing of crustal formation and the tectonic and genetic links between Earth’s crust and mantle. The results will be relevant to the localisation of a wide range of mineral resources.

From Core to Ore: emplacement dynamics of deep-seated nickel sulphide systems

M. Fiorentini: Supported by ARC Future Fellowship (commenced 2012)

Summary:  Unlike most mineral resources, which are generally concentrated in a wide range of crustal reservoirs, nickel and platinum are concentrated either in the core or in the mantle of our planet. In punctuated events throughout Earth history, large cataclysmic magmatic events have had the capacity to transport and concentrate these metals from their deep source to upper crustal levels. This project aims to unravel the complex emplacement mechanism of these magmas and constrain the role that volatiles such as water and carbon dioxide played in the emplacement and metal endowment of these systems.

The timescales of Earth-system processes: extending the frontiers of uranium-series research

H. Handley: Supported by ARC Future Fellowship and MQ (commenced 2012)

Summary:  This project will advance our understanding of the timescales of Earth processes using short-lived (22 to 380,000 years) isotopes. The results will provide better constraints on the timescales of magmatic processes and frequency of large-scale eruptions for volcanic hazard mitigation and also soil production rates for landscape erosion studies.

Flow characteristics of lower crustal rocks: developing a toolbox to improve geodynamic models

S. Piazolo: Supported by ARC Future Fellowship and MQ (commenced 2012)

Summary:  This project will investigate in detail how rocks flow in the lowest part of the Earth’s crust. The results will be used to improve sophisticated computer simulations of large-scale geological processes, allowing a better understanding of earthquakes, the formation of volcanic areas and location of energy resources.

Strength and resistance along oceanic megathrust faults: implications for subduction initiation

C. O’Neill: Supported by ARC Future Fellowship and MQ (commenced 2010)

Summary:  Plate tectonics is enabled by the sinking of dense oceanic lithosphere at ocean trenches - a process known as subduction, but how this process initiates is poorly understood. The development of an incipient subduction zone involves a major evolution of the plate boundary, into an oceanic megathrust fault system, capable of generating devastating earthquakes. An example is the Hjorta Trench, at the Australian-Pacific plate boundary south of Macquarie Island. This project will explore the evolution of this plate-boundary fault system during subduction initiation. Recent advances in our understanding of physical processes along plate-bounding faults will be incorporated into regional geodynamic simulations of this evolving fault system.

A new approach to revealing melting processes in the hidden deep Earth

A. Giuliani: Supported by ARC DECRA (commencing 2015)

Summary:  Kimberlite magmas are very rich in volatiles (for example carbon dioxide and water); they are the major host of diamonds and provide the deepest samples from Earth’s mantle. The primary compositions of these melts can provide unique information on the nature of the deep mantle. However, kimberlite melts mix and react with wall rocks on the way up, obscuring their primary composition. To see through these secondary processes, the project aims to use a novel approach integrating the study of melt inclusions in magmatic minerals with analysis of radiogenic and stable isotopes, and investigating reactions between kimberlite magmas and wall-rock fragments. The project aims to provide new understanding of the constraints on melting processes and recycling of crustal material in the deep mantle.

How does the continental crust get so hot?

C. Clark: Supported by ARC DECRA (commenced 2012)

Summary:  This project is aimed at constraining the tectonic drivers of high geothermal gradient crustal regimes. The key outcomes of this project are better constraints on the tectonic drivers of high geothermal gradient metamorphism and the development of quantitative tools to assess the evolution of heat within areas of mountain building.

Laser ablation multiple split streaming

A. Kemp, M. McCulloch, M. Fiorentini, T. McCuaig, A. Rate, C. Clark, B. Rasmussen, N. Evans, S. Reddy, P. Bland, T. Raimondo, N. Pearson, E. Belousova, D. Jacob, D. Rubatto, C. Spandler, S. Barnes: Supported by ARC LIEF (commencing 2015)

Summary:  This geochemical facility with an innovative, world-leading micro-analytical capability intends to support research of fundamental and strategic problems at the frontiers of the Earth and Environmental Sciences. The facility aims to allow new insight into the age, composition, thermal history and structure of the Australian continent, as necessary for delineating mineral endowment and for tracing the sources of ore metals. It will provide a higher resolution record of climate and environmental change which will better inform assessment of the impacts, both locally and regionally. It is intended that the facility will amplify national and international scientific collaboration and create unique research opportunities for Australian-based scientists.

A fully automated, fully shielded palaeomagnetic system

Z.X. Li, E. Tohver, A. Roberts, G. Rosenbaum, C. O’Neill, S. Pisarevsky, C. Clark, C. Elders, P. Bland, S. Wilde: Supported by ARC LIEF (commencing 2015)

Summary:  This project aims to establish the first fully automated and magnetically fully shielded superconducting palaeomagnetic data acquisition system in Australia. Palaeomagnetism is a key research field that has applications to a broad range of pure and applied geoscience disciplines. Australia has been a world leader in this field, including the application of palaeomagnetism to both global and regional tectonic studies. Palaeomagnetic studies demand a labour-intensive process of treating and measuring a large number of samples. The system will significantly enhance the efficiency and accuracy of palaeomagnetic analysis, and thus enhance Australia’s research capacity in this and related research fields.

A digital mineralogy and materials characterisation hub for petrology, mineralogy, exploration, metallurgy and reservoir characterisation research

B.I. McInnes A. van Riessen, P.A. Bland, S. Iglauer, J.J. Eksteen, A.I. Kemp, J.R. Muhling, M. Fiorentini, N.J. Thébaud, M.T. Wingate, C. Kirkland, G. Senanayake, A.N. Nikoloski: Supported by ARC LIEF (commencing 2014)

Summary:  This project will establish a digital mineralogy and materials characterisation hub for applications in petrology, geometallurgy, reservoir characterisation, environmental science, soil science, mineral processing and extractive metallurgy research. An automated mineral analysis instrument would complement the mineral separation (selFrag HV pulse fragmentation) and microanalytical facilities (SHRIMP/Cameca ion microprobes and ELA-ICP-MS) available to the participants via the John de Laeter Centre for Isotope Research. The instrument and software package making up the FEI QEMSCAN 650F model is the most advanced configuration on the market, and ideally suited for the high level research projects undertaken by the partner institutions.

Australian membership of the International Ocean Discovery Program

R.J. Arculus, E.J. Rohling, A.P. Roberts, N.F. Exon, C.J. Yeats, S.Y. O’Reilly, S.C. George, D. Muller, J.C. Aitchison, J.M. Webster, M.F. Coffin, P.M. Vasconcelos, K.J. Welsh, T.C. McCuaig, A.D. George, C.G. Skilbeck, A.T. Baxter, J.M. Hergt, S.J. Gallagher, C.L. Fergusson, C.R. Sloss, A.D. Heap, W.P. Schellart, J.D. Stilwell, J.D. Foden, A.P. Kershaw, W.R. Howard, M.B. Clennell, J.J. Daniell, L.B. Collins: Supported by ARC LIEF (commencing 2014)

Summary:  This project is for an Australian membership of the International Ocean Discovery Program. The Program will recover drill cores, situate observatories, and conduct down-hole experiments in all the world’s oceans from lowest to highest latitudes to address fundamental questions about Earth’s history and processes within four high-priority scientific themes: climate and ocean change - reading the past and informing the future; biosphere frontiers - deep life, biodiversity, and environmental forcing of ecosystems; earth connections - deep processes and their impact on earth’s surface environment; earth in motion - processes and hazards on a human time scale.

AuScope Australian Geophysical Observing System - Geophysical Education Observatory

C. O’Neill: Supported by DIISR EIF and Macquarie University (commenced 2011)

Summary:  AuScope Australian Geophysical Observing System is designed to augment existing NCRIS AuScope infrastructure with new capability that focuses particularly on emerging geophysical energy issues. It will build the integrated infrastructure that facilitates maximum scientific return from the massive geo-engineering projects that are now being considered – such as deep geothermal drilling – in effect building the platform for treating these as mega geophysical science experiments. AuScope AGOS infrastructure will enable collection of new baseline data including surface geospatial and subsurface imaging and monitoring data, thereby providing for better long-term management of crustal services, particularly in our energy-rich sedimentary basins. The Geophysical Education Observatory – comprising the development of digital real-time connection to existing teaching laboratories, will use the national observatory to provide a unique opportunity for integrating scientific research and education by engaging students, teachers, and the public in a national experiment that is going on in their own backyard

A new view on diamonds: Deformation textures of polycrystalline diamond

S. Piazolo, Griffins, Venter, Luzin: Supported by Braggs Institute, ANSTO (commenced 2013)

Summary:  In-depth knowledge of the orientation characteristics of diamondites will allow us to interpret these rocks in terms of their deformation history.

Mineral Systems Flagship Cluster

T.C. McCuaig: Supported by CSIRO Flagship Collaboration Fund (commenced 2013)

Summary:  As Australian mineral exploration moves into areas of deep cover, the expense of exploration drilling wil increase dramatically. Explorers will demand increasingly sophisticated targeting tools to plan drilling programs and an improved understanding of the processes that influence the transport and deposition of metals by ore-forming fluids. The cluster has 3 Themes to deliver on each of the advertised requirements notably: Theme 1: An experimental program to assess the behaviour of meta-stable organic compounds in targeting mineral systems and validate thermodynamic models and interpretations. Theme 2: A complementary field program aimed at providing data from key mineral systems to support the thermodynamic and experimental programs. Theme 3: An integrated thermodynamic treatment of organic and inorganic systems that includes recently documented organometallic complexes.