Potential projects for new students

PhD and Master of Earth Science (Advanced) positions as part of the Structure Tectonics Team @ ANU.
Eligible applicants must be able to commence during 2015 or in early 2016.

Applicants for the Master of Earth Sciences (Advanced)

Australian residents are eligible for Commonwealth scholarships. Domestic honours students will be given one year credit. Non-residents require IELTS or TOEFL. Applicants need an undergraduate GPA that must exceed 70%. Successful applicants will be guaranteed project support and a tax free stipend of $12,000

For detailed information as to scholarships, fees, and ANU English language requirements.
N.B. ANU College offers remedial courses in English langauge proficiency.

Applicants for PhD candidature

The successful applicants for the available PhD projects must also apply in the 2015 scholarship round at ANU. Non-residents require IELTS or TOEFL. To succeed an applicant will need a GPA that must exceed 80%. Successful candidates will be guaranteed project support and a top-up scholarship.

For detailed information about scholarships and to begin the online application process.
Read the ANU English language proficiency requirement.

Projects available are in either of these two research programs

Porphyry and epithermal deposits of SE Asia and South America

ANU was awarded funds by the Australian Research Council to conduct research on “Where to find giant porphyry and epithermal gold and copper deposits”. The research involves interaction with Australian mining companies and universities in Indonesia, in the United Kingdom, and in The Netherlands.

Master of Earth Sciences (Advanced) applicants should note that many of the methods and technologies being employed are innovative and extraordinary, and not at all part of the normal undergraduate curriculum either in Australia or in any other tertiary institution. Hence on-the-job-training is required so you can be given experience in the practical application of these methods and technologies in order to achieve a level of expertise sufficient to allow you to be profitably involved in the research project. The research project for the Master of Earth Sciences (Advanced) will occupy approximately half of your time. You will also undertake advanced training courses designed to increase your skill set, and to remedy any deficiencies accumulated during your undergraduate coursework.

There are two types of project: EITHER the structural geology and tectonics of an ore deposit, including field work, focussed on the timing of orebody formation and emplacement in the context of the regional tectonics; OR the tectonics of a region, from the outside looking in, employing the methods of virtual exploration, involving 4D tectonic reconstruction and seismotectonic analysis of the geometry of the subducting slabs. These applied research projects are at the forefront of academic understanding of structural geology and tectonics.

Timing and duration of movement during Himalayan orogenesis

Large-scale ductile shear zones play a critical role in determining how the Earth works because such structures define dominating mechanical weaknesses at depth and thus control the development and evolution of tectonic architecture. Determining how and when movement in large-scale shear zones takes place helps understand phenomena as diverse as the accumulation and release of stress in giant earthquakes, or fluid migration and magmatic events that localise and thus determine when and where mineral and/or hydrocarbon accumulations eventually form. A significant opportunity is presented by the exposure of the ~3000 km strike extent of now inactive strands of the Main Central Thrust (MCT) in the Himalayan ranges in northern India. But, despite being the largest shear zone exposed on the planet, the nature of the MCT has remained shrouded in controversy. Similarly, although it has long been evident that the MCT controlled the architectural evolution of the Himalaya, its movement history is poorly understood. This project will remedy the above deficiencies, and would benefit considerably by the involvement of a motivated and intelligent students, one at the level of a Master of Earth Sciences (Advanced), and one as a full-time PhD candidate.

Apply, including CV, IELTS/TOEFL, GPA and a statement of expectations, by email to gordon.lister@anu.edu.au