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Research Activities 2007

PRISE

 

Click on the links below to read the 2007 PRISE research highlights or Click HERE to download the PDF version 10 pages 572 Kb

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Introduction

PRISE operates as a unique entity within the Research School of Earth Sciences, providing commercial and collaborative access to the Research School's specialised equipment and expertise in areas of geochronology, geochemistry and petrology.  

PRISE staff are involved in wide-ranging collaborative research projects with academic colleagues throughout the world, as well as providing research and analytical skills to industry and Government agencies on a commercial basis.  During 2007 PRISE hostedthirty-three visitors from Australia and overseas, most of whom undertook collaborative projects using the SHRIMP, Laser ablation- and solution ICPMS, electron microprobe and TIMS analytical facilities. PRISE staff participated in a number of field-orientated studies in Australia, Africa, South America and Europe.

As members of a self-funded research group, PRISE scientists also undertake their own research projects and supervise postgraduate students, both within the Research School and internationally.

Some areas of current research include:

  • Constraints on the timing of world-wide Neoproterozoic glacial events: the "Snowball Earth" hypothesis
  • Planetary perspectives on early evolution of the solar system
  • High pressure experimental investigations into melting of heterogeneous upper mantle
  • Use of sulphur isotopes to aid in understanding the origin and conditions of formation of metal sulphides
  • Geological Connection between West Antarctica and Patagonia since the late Paleozoic: Tectonism, Paleogeography, Biogeography and Paleoclimate
  • Bioarchaeology in early Cambodian populations and in situ oxygen and strontium analysis of human teeth
  • New techniques for interpretation of indicator minerals used in diamond exploration
  • Linking of geochemical and petrographic data with regional tectonic models to improve predictive capabilities with respect to the quality of petroleum reservoirs

Research Projects

Rapid in situ measurement of sulphur isotope ratios: new developments and results using the SHRIMP II - Richard A. Armstrong

The Petrography and Chemistry of Cosmic Spherules from Lewis Cliff, Antarctica - Simeon S. M. Hui

New Perspectives on the Lunar Cataclysm from Pre-4 Ga Impact Melt Breccia and Cratering Density Populations - Marc Norman

Exploring the melting behaviour of the Earth's heterogeneous upper mantle - Anja Rosenthal

High pressure partial melting of gabbro and its role in the Hawaiian magma source - Gregory M Yaxley