Earth Dynamics Research Group
Research Highlights
Why supercontinents became shorter lived as the Earth evolved
Geodynamic modelling performed by EDRG has shown that the lifespan of the supercontinents has been decreasing due to the weakening of the orogens formed during the assembly phase. The work published in Science Bulletin suggests that this is likely caused by Earth's secular cooling.
Evolutionary results for test case 1 at four critical time points. (a)–(d) Continental drift and orogenesis during the supercontinent assembly and its eventual break-up. The orogens are converted to new ocean when materials at 20-km depth are replaced by upwelling mantle during continental break-up. Black arrows in (a), (b), and (d) denote the motion directions of the continents. (e)–(h) The evolving mantle structure, including cold downwellings (dark blue to blue) and the undulating lower mantle thermo-chemical layer (red to yellow).
Forensic Geochemistry: fingerprinting basalts
Work from the team at EDRG has applied a big data approach to the geochemical discrimination of basalts worldwide. This novel and unique chemical ‘fingerprinting’ approach has been published in an Earth-Science Reviews paper.
Global map showing the distribution of sample locations used in this study for both reference and test datasets. The geochemical data for basalts are sourced from online database EarthChem (https://www.earthchem.org/) and GEOROC (http://georoc.mpch-mainz.gwdg.de/georoc/).
News
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Dr Silvia Volante awarded prestigious Chris Powell Medal
Dr Silvia Volante, a PhD graduate from the EDRG, was recently awarded the prestigious Chris Powell Medal by the Geological Society of Australia for her outstanding PhD paper in the journal of Tectonics (Volante et al., 2020.).
Congratulations on this exceptional honour Silvia! -
Simulating one billion years of mantle convection
An informative article in Eos Magazine discusses the intriguing mantle reference frame geodynamic model published by the EarthByte Group, and invitied EDRG's Prof Zheng-Xiang Li to comment on the findings and the importance of incorporating geological constraints.
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Pia Wajarri school students the next science rock stars
EDRG member Dr Luc Doucet has been instrumental in organising the visit of Pia Wadjarri remote community students to Curtin University in Perth.
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PhD gradute awarded "best Ph.D" at award ceremony
Dr Gamaleldien was awarded the Krishna & Pamela Sappal Prize, acknowledging his exceptional doctoral research and producing the best doctoral thesis in Geoscience during 2021.
Congratulations Hamed! -
2022 EDRG Annual Science retreat
The Earth Dynamics Research Group held their Annual Science Retreat in May, coming full circle to once again visit the venue where the original planning meeting was held in 2016.
Social Media 
Twitter: @EarthDynamicsRG
YouTube: Earth Dynamics Research Group
Important upcoming events
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Joint Conference: International Dyke Conference (IDC 8)-Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs 8)-Rodinia 2023
This will be a joint conference of the Eighth International Dyke Conference (IDC8), the Large Igneous Provinces conference series, and the Rodinia conference series.
It will be held in the Cadi Ayyad University Conferences Center in Marrakech, Morocco.
The meeting will be held between 5-9 June, 2023, with both pre-, mid-, and post-conference field trips available.
Abstract and on-line registration opens:15 Feb. 2023
More information and registration can be found at marrakech.sciencesconf.org.
Information is also contained in the First Circular. -
AESC 2023 Special Symposium: Dynamic Evolution of Earth and its Environment: magnetics, geochemistry, data mining, and numerical simulation
The 2023 Australian Earth Sciences Convention will be held in the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, June 27-30, during which a special symposium will take place.
This special symposium, convened by Zheng-Xiang Li, Maria Seton, & Andrew Roberts, is designed to take advantage of involvement by Australian researchers in the latest geoscience revolution, to take stock of where we are in answering numerous blue-sky questions, and to develop new ideas and collaborations for the coming decades.
Please see the many session themes and information on how to participate, here. -
IGCP 648 Virtual Seminar Series
The final seminar of series 5 was held on Thursday 22nd December 2022.
The next seminar series is still to be announced.
Please email us (IGCP648.vss@curtin.edu.au) if you wish to sign up and participate in our future seminar series. Feel free to also email us with any comments, recommendations, or future speaker requests.
View more information about the seminar series and watch some of the recorded previous seminars.
Community Feature Article
Prof. Li was recently featured in an article discussing the work that we do in the Earth Dynamics Research Group. The article was produced by Futurum, a magazine and online platform aimed at inspiring young people to follow a career in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
The article also includes a link to an activity sheet for students and teachers. For more information, teaching resources, and course and career guides, see www.futurumcareers.com.
