In lakes and oceans, organic matter from dead organisms is usually recycled back into CO 2 and water. However, a small fraction of this dead biomass, particularly pigments and lipids, escapes the remineralization process and accumulates in the bottom sediment. Over millions of years, the lipids will turn into...

ARC Discovery Project 2013
Signal enhancement exploiting multiple arrays of seismic recorders will provide information on fine scale structure in the Earth that cannot be directly imaged, yet is vital for reconciling geophysical and geochemical understanding. Novel methods linking adaptive stacking, 3-...

We wish to understand the Earth’s internal structure and processes, but we cannot observe these directly: everything must be inferred from data that can be collected at (or above) Earth’s surface. This project explores novel mathematical and computational methods for solving these challenging problems.

Utilize the state of the art AMS and radiocarbon preparation labs at RSES to trace carbon through the environment.

The Indonesian throughflow (ITF) is thought to play an important role in global thermohaline circulation and influence global climate by funneling Pacific Warm Pool water into the Indian Ocean. Observations suggest the ITF is composed of North Pacific subtropical and thermocline waters that flow through Makassar...

Convection is one of the major modes of heat transfer in fluids and is especially important given the large scales of most geophysical flows. Heat transfer by natural convection plays a significant role in the structure of Earth's atmosphere, oceans and mantle. Flow in a horizontal...

The melting of Antarctica’s marine-terminating ice sheets is controlled by heat delivered from the Southern Ocean to the Antarctic margins, and is the largest uncertainty in future sea level rise. This project will use a combination of ocean modelling, theory and observations to predict future Antarctic melt rate.

Turbulent mixing plays an important role in the oceanic circulation energy balance. Energy is input at large scales from tides and surface wind stresses, and provides the energy required to bring deep, dense water back towards the surface via mixing. Mixing can...

The global meridional overturning circulation of the oceans (a major component of the thermohaline circulation) is forced by density differences owing to heat and water fluxes at the sea surface. Wind stress on the surface and injections of energy into turbulent mixing from the winds and tides modify this...

The ocean is a sea of internal gravity waves. Similar to the gravity waves that propagate over the ocean surface and break along our coastlines, internal waves propagate great distances through the ocean interior. These waves are generated at the ocean surface and the seafloor by a variety of mechanisms. As the...

Microstructural analysis with micro-scale based 40 Ar/ 39 Ar geochronology has been used to differentiate between different deformational events in the extensional zone of the central Agean Sea, Greece. North/south directed extension in the central Aegean has been largely accommodated by the...

Copper ore

The Early Paleozoic is a critical time for the evolution of life on Earth, deposition of organic-rich rocks and the generation of global petroleum accumulations. Canning Basin Ordovician cores contain the microfossils G. prisca and E. maureeniae, representing a unique opportunity to investigate their molecular fossils

Nature of Project(s):
Investigation of ancient ecosystems using molecular fossils. This involves chemical laboratory work.
Essential Background:
Either chemistry, biology, palaeobiology or sedimentary geology. EMSC8022 (Advanced Analytical Techniques) and EMSC 8024 (Foundations of...

Magnetic minerals are almost ubiquitous in nature, which means magnetic techniques can be used to understand Earth’s magnetic field and deep-Earth dynamo processes, and act as proxies for system processes in palaeoclimate, paleoceanography, pollution tracing, and archaeology.