ARC Centre of Excellence for Core to Crust Fluid SystemsEarth Today
Dynamics, decoding geophysical imaging, and Earth resources
Geophysical imagery gives us a snapshot of the current status of the deep Earth but also carries the imprints of past processes. Realistic interpretation of these data will give us new insights into Earth's internal dynamics and will have practical consequences, e.g. for resource exploration. We will develop thermodynamically and physically self-consistent dynamic codes to model complex processes and their expression in geophysical and geochemical observables. This code will be used to identify the processes that have controlled the fluid cycle through Earth's history. Measurement of the physical properties of potential deep Earth materials at extreme conditions will feed into petrophysical modelling of seismic data in terms of composition, temperature and anisotropy. Measurements of metal complexing at realistic conditions that mimic real ore system fluids/melts will provide new ways to interpret observations on fluid/melt inclusions in minerals. We will investigate the role of organo-metallic compounds in metal transport, using the capabilities of the Australian Synchrotron, to understand the role of such compounds in the formation of large mineral systems.