ARC Centre of Excellence for Core to Crust Fluid SystemsAppendix 2: CCFS workplan 2018
1. DEEP-EARTH FLUIDS IN COLLISION ZONES AND CRATONIC ROOTS (TARDIS II)
Activities planned include:
• completing and publishing the remaining studies on the Iranian Tethys
• continuing the detailed analytical work on the Mt Carmel magmatic system
• carrying out analytical work on an analogue from Devonian kimberlites from the Azov area, Ukraine
• publishing work on the Mt Carmel system in at least three papers
• continuing work on kimberlitic carbonates, and publishing at least one paper.
2. GENESIS, TRANSFER AND FOCUS OF FLUIDS AND METALS
Writing up of results of the various projects that are still in progress in the three modules will continue. In Module 1, focus will continue on unravelling the genesis of adakites by looking at the natural laboratory provided by Patagonia. In order to provide the necessary constraints to the working hypotheses that are being developed as part of the continuing PhD project of Gonzalo Javier Henriquez, a modelling project will be carried out in parallel in Module 3. The study will examine the style of emplacement of magmas in the crust under a compressive regime and model the evolution of the subducting Nazca plate during the opening of the slab window. In Module 2, we anticipate that further high-precision TIMS dating, as well as the completion of pending trace element analyses on apatite and zircon crystals from selected porphyry copper systems globally, will elucidate the key constraints on ore genesis in magmatic arcs. It is expected that the work carried out in 2018 will have laid the foundations for new collaborations into the future.
3. MODELLING FLUID AND MELT FLOW IN MANTLE AND CRUST
During 2019 the foundation project will see the maturation of many of its numerical approaches and the application to a wide range of CCFS projects. In addition, we will continue to expand the capabilities of the current numerical platform. We foresee immediate applications to a multitude of problems through collaborations across CCFS nodes.
The development of a statistical approach to modelling the transport of melt and crustal production in global mantle convection models will continue to extend into simulations on the interaction of mantle melts, eclogitisation and lithosphere recycling.
Further seismic imaging combining surface waves and body waves continues in NE China to investigate the origin of intraplate volcanism in NE China. This work is carried out in collaboration with China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) and Southern University of Science and Technology of China.
The experimental laboratory at MQ is closed until mid 2019 for renovations. Some experiments will be carried out in the laboratories of partner institutions (e.g. Australian National University, University of Mainz, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan), whereas other projects will concentrate on data collection and analysis from experiments already run. Current projects include volatile-induced melting of mantle peridotite, carbonate/silicate rock reactions in subduction zones, the deep Earth nitrogen cycle, trace elements in mantle orthopyroxenes, and trace elements in olivine phenocrysts from eastern Australian volcanic rocks.
4. ATMOSPHERIC, ENVIRONMENTAL AND BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
In 2019, Research will continue on established CCFS FP4 projects, including:
Evidence of early life in the Dresser Formation of the North Pole Dome, funded by two new major grants, one by the ARC Discovery Program (to CIs Van Kranendonk and Fiorentini “A terrestrial hot spring setting for the origin of life? Darwin’s Warm Little Pond revisited”) and a nearly $1M NZD Marsden Fund grant to Prof Kathy Campbell (U Auckland) and CI Van Kranendonk, which includes a significant component for a new diamond drilling program through the 3.5 Ga Dresser Formation. Stefano Caruso joins the UNSW team as a 2-year ARC funded post-doctoral fellow, where he will join another UWA alumnus, Raphael Baumgartner, to continue work on unravelling the Dresser volcanic caldera system and its microbial inhabitants. New PhD candidate Luke Steller will join the Dresser team, tasked with unravelling the processes that help to concentrate prebiotically important elements.
Writing up and further research will continue on the evolution of complex life in the immediate aftermath of the Great Oxygenation Event, with contributions from PhD candidates Erica Barlow, Georgia Soares, Brendan Nomchong, and Bonnie Teece, who came to UNSW from Macquarie University, to undertake organic geochemical studies of these complex life-bearing rocks. Late in 2019, Prof Clark Johnson from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will spend a month at UNSW to write up a major paper on global changes that are tied to the supercontinent cycle and link the geosphere with the exosphere, including the biosphere, over the Precambrian history of the Earth.
At UWA, Marco’s team continues to investigate the role of sulfur in magmatic and life systems through detailed understanding of sulfur isotope systematics, as well as the continued study of a variety of ore deposits.
5. AUSTRALIA’S PROTEROZOIC RECORD IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT
Numerous exciting new findings, supported by Li’s ARC Laureate Fellow project, are due to be published in 2019. Writing up of palaeomagnetic results from the Yilgarn and Kimberley cratons will continue in 2019.
6. FLUID REGIMES AND THE COMPOSITION OF EARLY EARTH
Work in Australia will remain focused on Jack Hills. The characterisation of the oldest zircons from the W74 site and other locations along the traverse of former PhD student Qian Wang will continue with the aim of placing tighter constraints on the nature of Earth’s oldest crust. Further work on Pb mobility in these grains will be undertaken using the Atom Probe.
The atom probe investigation of lead (Pb) nanospheres in ancient zircons from the Napier Complex, Antarctica, will continue in order to precisely determine their distribution and isotopic composition.
Another field trip to Labrador will be undertaken in mid-2019 to focus on the distribution of the most ancient gneissic components identified in the 2017 field season. In addition, fieldwork will commence in several locations in West Greenland.
Work will continue on both lunar rocks and Martian meteorite samples with the aim of constraining the age of the oldest crust and the precise timing of events in the early solar system.
7. PRECAMBRIAN ARCHITECTURE AND CRUSTAL EVOLUTION IN WA
Preparations are also underway for the acquisition of six highresolution seismic reflection lines by the Geological Survey of Western Australia in February and March 2019. This seismic survey has been funded through the Western Australian Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS Phase 4).
Seismic models utilising data from field deployments under Flagship 7 program will continue to be published. Various seismic models, including the Capricorn and the Perth Basin projects are currently in preparation for publication in 2019.