International links in CCFS

BACKGROUND

CCFS’ International links provide leverage of intellectual and financial resources on a global scale, and an international network for postgraduateexperience. International Partners provide the core of such collaborations. Other international activity includes funded projects and substantialcollaborative programs with major exchange-visit programs in France, Norway, Germany, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada, USA, Taiwan, Italy, Spain, SouthAfrica, South America, China, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Thailand and Russia.

FORMAL MEMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU)

Formal MOU between international institutions promote the Centre’s collaborative research and facilitate visits by Centre staff and postgraduates as wellas joint PhD research projects. CCFS has agreements with the following international institutions:

China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) - 2011 (& Cotutelle)
Constitution of the International University Consortium in Earth Science - 2012
University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei - 2012 (& Cotutelle)
Institute of Geology and Geophysics, China University of Geosciences (Beijing) - 2014
Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS (Beijing) - 2014
Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Germany - 2015

COTUTELLE MOU

Cotutelle MOU aim to establish deep, continuing relationships with international research universities through joint research candidate supervision. CCFShas agreements with the following international institutions:

China University of Petroleum, Beijing, China
Durham University, United Kingdom
Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary
Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen, Nuremberg, Germany
Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Nanjing University, China
Peking University, China<
Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay
Université Montpellier 2, France
Université Paul Sabatier, France
University Jean Monnet, France
University of Barcelona, Spain
University of Zaragoza, Spain

2015 COLLABORATIVE ACTIVITY

INTERNATIONAL LINKS - 2015 HIGHLIGHTS

• A formal Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Germany

• Delegates from several International Institutions visited CCFS in 2015 to discuss programs including the exchange of staff, joint research activities andthe exchange of students. Cotutelle workshop visitors from China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) and delegates from China University of Geosciences(Beijing) met with CCFS and toured the GAU facilities.

Visitors from China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) meeting with members of the MQ FSE Faculty and CCFS.

CCFS members meeting with representatives from the China University of Geosciences (Wuhan).

• Two representatives from Universidad Tecnológica del Uruguay (UTEC) and National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII), Dr Rodolfo Silveira,President, Technological Laboratory of Uruguay (LATU) and Advisor, Universidad Tecnológica del Uruguay (UTEC) and Ms María Laura Fernandez, Head ofInternational Cooperation, National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII) met with members of CCFS to discuss developing international programs,research and international strategies, industry partnerships and to seek collaborations in areas of mutual interest.

• Professor Zheng Xiang Li conducted the first ACTER (Australia-China Joint Research Centre for Tectonics and Earth Resources annual field workshop from the 2^nd to the 11^th of March 2015, with the theme of the ‘Tectonic History of the South China Block and Approaches for Tectonic Analysis’.

ACTER is a joint research centre led by the Institute for Geoscience Research at Curtin University, and the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of theChinese Academy of Sciences, and participated in by key collaborating institutions from the two countries.

ACTER aims to facilitate: collaborative research and research training in geotectonics and mineral and hydrocarbon resources, the exchange of staff andjoint supervision of research students, shared access to analytical facilities, organise joint conferences and annual focused field-based workshops and theexchange of academic materials and information.

• CCFS participants attended a collaborative two-week field trip in July to the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) of Inner Mongolia. The Fieldtrip wasjointly funded by Xuan-Ce Wang’s ARC Future Fellowship and the National Key Basic Research Program of China and a NNSF grant to Prof Jian-Bo Zhou. Thefield trip aimed to understand the petrogenesis of Paleozoic mafic and felsic rocks of the Xing-Meng Orogenic Belt and their geodynamic processes, toinvestigate the major sutures that mark the final closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean and to test if the Solonker suture zone really is the main suture.Participants included Dr Xuan-Ce Wang and Professor Simon Wilde from Curtin, Prof J. Zhou and his team from Jilin University, PhD student Y. Wang fromPeking University, and Dr Chongjin Pang from Guilin University of Technology.

Former CCFS PhD students Chongjin Pang and Shan Li (far left), together with Profs Jianbo Zhou (Jilin University) and Simon Wilde and Xuan-Ce Wang (CCFS) and two PhD students from Jilin University, undertaking fieldwork in the Solonker-Xar Moron shear zone of Inner Mongolia.

• Professor Simon Wilde visited the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Sao Paulo, Brazil from 29 July to 10 August to discuss future collaborative projectsand undertake fieldwork in the Sao Francisco Craton with Prof Elson Oliveira and colleagues. The visit was supported by a Scientific Cooperation Agreementbetween ATN 2014 and FAPESP. The joint project runs from October 2104 to September 2016 and involves three themes: (a) dating the deposition age ofsedimentary rocks (b) using geochronology to determine the precise timing of ore body formation and (c) dating high-grade rocks in the Sao FranciscoCraton. The project evolved through long-standing collaboration between Elson Oliveira and Neal McNaughton.

CCFS'S INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIVE NETWORK

• Dr Xuan-Ce Wang from Curtin, Prof Wu-Xian Li from CAS, Dr Chongjin Pang from Guilin University of Technology and two PhD students from CAS participatedin a ten-day field trip to the Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, China. The field trip was jointly funded by Xuan-Ce Wang’s ARC Future Fellowship andcollaborating Chinese partners and aimed to investigate the formation of the Neoproterozoic rift basin in South China, in particular the tectonic settingof mafic and associated sedimentary rocks.

Tibet

• Several field sessions related to the TARDIS Program were conducted in Tibet In 2015:
- 2-13 July; Bill Griffin, Ming Zhang, Jin-Xiang Huang and Qing Xiong, together with colleagues from the Tibetan Plateau Research Institute (CAS, Beijing)as part of the CCFS TARDIS-II Program.
- 5 July to 29 August; Bo Xu. Bo is affiliated with the group of Prof Zeng-Qian Hou (CAGS), and this work is part of the TARDIS Program.

Kelsie Dadd at the Qomolangma (Mt Everest) Base Camp at 5,200 m.

• Associate Professor Kelsie Dadd, a member of the ANZIC (IODP) Governing Council, took part in a field trip to observe the geology of the Himalayas inTibet. The field trip was associated with the Second Post-Cruise meeting following IODP Exp 349 to the South China Sea and led by Xixi Zhao of Tongji University in Shanghai.

• Dr Weihua Yao visited Chengdu, China in October for 16 days fieldwork as part of a collaborative research grant with the China Geological Survey(Chengdu).

Members from Flagship Program 5. L-R: Yebo Liu (PhD student), Galen Halverson (CCFS visitor from McGill University), Zheng-Xiang Li, Weihua Yao, Sergei Pisarevsky, Sarah Chamberlain (Honours student), and Camilla Stark (PhD student). (photo Zheng-Xiang Li)

• Associate Professor Galen Halverson (pictured) from McGill University, Montreal, Canada visited Zheng Xiang Li and members of CCFSFlagship Program 5 at Curtin on Study leave to work on Neoproterozoic global paleogeography, basaltic weathering and paleoclimate

Bill Griffin with geologist Johannes Vik Seljebotn and Togeir Garmo.

• Professor Bill Griffin visited Norway to discuss Norwegian eclogite localities with geologist Johannes Vik Seljebotn and Togeir Garmo, Norway's foremostmineral collector, and to plan a joint CCFS-China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) field workshop to be run in the Western Gneiss Region in 2016.

• Professor Qin-Yan Wang (petrologist pictured left) and Professor Yi-Xian Xu (geophysicist, pictured centre) visited CCFS in2015 from the China University of Geosciences (Wuhan). They analysed trace-elements of garnet, with the help of Dr Qing Xiong.

CCFS fosters many of its international links through visits by collaborators to undertake defined short-term projects, or
short-term visits to give lectures and seminar sessions.

International visitors are listed in Appendix 7.