Honours in Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Geoscience
Join the Department of Earth Sciences for your honours project and you will be a member of a research team working at the leading edge of geological and geophysical sciences.
We offer three honours programs which are led by teaching and research staff who are international leaders in their fields of science:
- Honours in Geology
- Honours in Geophysics
- Honours in Environmental Geoscience
Our honours handbook will provide you with an in-depth summary of what an honours degree with us will involve and the available projects for 2020.
Earth sciences honours projects
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Geology
Honours in Geology
Constraining the deformation history of the ‘Top End’ in relation to mineral prospectivity
Honours project: Explore when the northernmost part of Australia deformed.
Read more about Constraining the deformation history of the ‘Top End’ in relation to mineral prospectivity
The Curnamona Cube
Honours projects: Fly across remote Australia in a helicopter, for one of the world's biggest geophysical science projects.
Read more about The Curnamona Cube
The Proterozoic Planetary Pivot: Oxygen, Snowballs and Metals
Honours project: A MinEx CRC project looking at how sediments of the Adelaide Superbasin record the Neoproterozoic Oxygenation Event.
Read more about Oxygen, Snowballs and Metals
Dating ore-remobilising fluids in the Olympic Cu-Au province
Honours project: Use novel tools to shed more light on the most prolific mineral province of South Australia.
Read more about Dating ore-remobilising fluids in the Olympic Cu-Au province
Nanosatellites and multi-sensor geophysics: new technologies for Earth, Moon and Mars
Honours project: Be part of the exciting space exploration program, connecting remote networks of geophysical sensors to satellites.
Read more about new technologies for Earth, Moon and Mars
Textures and chemistry of pyrite in the Padthaway Ridge region, Delamerian Orogen
Honours project: A geological project assessing zinc-copper mineralisation potential in volcanic rocks of the Padthaway Ridge using pyrite trace elements.
Read more about Textures and chemistry of pyrite in the Padthaway Ridge region, Delamerian Orogen
Building a terrestrial planet: Chromium isotope constraints on metal-silicate differentiation
Honours project: New insights into the formation of planets from metal isotopes in meteorites.
Read more about Chromium isotope constraints on metal-silicate differentiation
Noble gases in ancient fluid droplets in minerals
Honours projects: Extract rare noble gas isotopes from specific mineral phases such as quartz.
Read more about Noble gases in ancient fluid droplets in minerals
Unravelling metal source and transport in the Cu-Mo prospects of Delamerian Orogen using iron isotopic systematics
Honours project: A geological project investigating metal source and migration in porphyry copper-molybdenum prospects using novel iron isotopic compositions.
Read more about Unravelling metal source and transport in the Cu-Mo prospects of Delamerian Orogen using iron isotopic systematics
Biogenesis of landscapes: insights from new isotope techniques and paleo-soils from WA
Honours project: Has life engineered its environment? Testing the biogenesis hypothesis for the formation of soils.
Read more about insights from new isotope techniques and paleo-soils from WA
ORE-SOME: OZ Minerals Carrapateena (Cu-Au) deposit projects
Honours project: Exciting new honours projects investigating the origin of copper and gold at South Australia's newest mine.
Read more about OZ Minerals Carrapateena (Cu-Au) deposit projects
Fault stability and sustainable fluid pressures for CO2 storage in the Cooper Basin
Honours project: Fault stability require the determination of fault orientations, pore pressures and in-situ stresses to assess potential CO2 storage.
Read more about Fault stability and sustainable fluid pressures for CO2 storage in the Cooper Basin
Effects of bushfires on the estuarine systems of Kangaroo Island
Honours project: Use selected novel metal isotope tracers to better understand the sources and pathways of heavy metals released during the 2020 bushfires into local soils, streams and estuaries around Kangaroo Island.
Read more about Effects of bushfires on the estuarine systems of Kangaroo Island
Why are only some peraluminous granites hot?
An honours project combining an interest in chemistry and rocks to understand why some granites are so hot.
Read more about Why are only some peraluminous granites hot?
Drainage landscapes of the Australian Continental Shelf
Honours project: Exploration datasets reveal rivers on the continental shelf from the last glacial maximum; vital to First Nation peoples.
Read more about Drainage landscapes of the Australian Continental Shelf
Isotope tracing of ammonium in the Coorong Lagoons: From where is that nitrogen coming from?
Honours project: New ways to trace nutrient sources and cycling in the Coorong lagoons.
Read more about From where is that nitrogen coming from?
The Face of the Neoproterozoic Earth
A multidisciplinary project reconstructing the largest mountain belt of the last billion years.
Read more about The Face of the Neoproterozoic Earth
Determining fluid flow in the subsurface using fault and fracture mapping
Honours project: Fluid movement in the subsurface is important to many industries; and faults and fractures are recognised as a control.
Read more about Determining fluid flow in the subsurface using fault and fracture mapping
Fossils under a new light
Honours projects: Use new fluorescence imaging techniques to analyse fossils that range in age from half-a-billion to some tens of thousands of years old.
Read more about Fossils under a new light
Beneath the Never-Never: be the first to explore under Southeast Northern Territory
Honours project: A MinEx CRC project looking at exploring unknown sedimentary basins deep beneath the Northern Territory.
Read more about be the first to explore under Southeast Northern Territory
What type of structure is that?
Honours project: Resolving the complex damage zones around faults when outcrop is not available is difficult and requires detailed modelling.
Read more about What type of structure is that?
What’s beneath the Murray?
Honours project: A MinEx CRC project looking at mapping the ancient sedimentary rocks buried beneath the Murray Basin.
Read more about What’s beneath the Murray?
What goes down, must come up?
Honours project: Explore the chemistry of magma to trace what the inputs to volcanoes are at depth.
Read more about What goes down, must come up?
Untapped potential: How did the Mount Gunson sediment-hosted Cu deposits form?
Honours project: Research the origin of deposits which produced over a billion dollars' worth of copper, silver and cobalt.
Read more about How did the Mount Gunson sediment-hosted Cu deposits form?
Petrogenesis of magmas in the Antillanca volcanic complex (Southern Chile) over space and time
Honours projects: Combine mineralogy and geochemistry to look at the magmatic evolution of Chilean volcanoes.
Read more about Petrogenesis of magmas in the Antillanca volcanic complex (Southern Chile) over space and time
The fire down below: Heat generation in the lower crust
Honours project: Help develop a crustal radioactivity model using pieces of rock brought to the surface and trapped in lavas.
Read more about Heat generation in the lower crust
What role do mafic magmas play in metal transport from mantle to crust?
Honours project: A geochemical project investigating the copper content of magmas and their importance to economic geology.
Read more about What role do mafic magmas play in metal transport from mantle to crust?
Depths of erosion: A global map of denudation
Honours project: Where were the rocks at the surface created? Help discover why in this geology honours project.
Read more about A global map of denudation
Tracing metal pathways from host to vein using traditional and novel metal isotopes
Honours project: Investigate how important economic metals are transported through the crust to mineral deposits.
Read more about Tracing metal pathways from host to vein using traditional and novel metal isotopes
Hot water: The impact of fluid flow on crustal radioactivity
Honours project: Head into the field to analyse natural radioactivity of fluid-altered crust.
Read more about The impact of fluid flow on crustal radioactivity
more...01
Sep
Uncovering the low temperature thermal history of Queen Mary Land, Antarctica
Honours project: Step into the footsteps of Douglas Mawson and uncover when the Antarctic margins exhumed to the surface.
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Sep
Crustal evolution through the lens of apatite crystals
Honours project: Contribute to the development of a new archive of the evolution of the continents.
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Sep
Honours project: Work at the cutting edge of applying novel isotope geochemistry to understand subduction zone processes.
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Sep
Albitite metasomatism and links to copper mineralisation: A case study from the Mt Lofty Ranges
Honours project: Work with industry to help understand the link between metasomatism, intrusive magmatism and copper mineralisation in the Adelaide Hills.
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Sep
Origin of Koppamurra: Australia’s first ionic clay hosted rare earth element prospect
Honours project: Discover the origins and distribution of a unique style of rare earth element mineralisation in south-east SA.
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Sep
Rare metal ore potential of the Tertiary Peak Ranges volcanics, Central QLD
Honours project: Unravel the geological origins of unusual volcanic systems and their associated rare metal mineralisation in central QLD.
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Sep
Compositional controls on physical properties: new constraints from laboratory measurements
Honours projects: Improve predictive models of density and thermal conductivity to improve geophysical models by making new lab measurements.
01
Sep
The Adelaidean… But in New South Wales… What is that all about!?!
Honours project: How do the Adelaidean rocks that form a salient in NSW relate to the SA rocks and what do they tell us about the Adelaide Superbasin?
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Jan
Geochemical exploration of environmental controls on the Australian flora
Honours project: Use carbon isotope ratios of plants to identify their photosynthetic pathway and map their geographic distributions.
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Geophysics
Honours in Geophysics
The Curnamona Cube
Honours projects: Fly across remote Australia in a helicopter, for one of the world's biggest geophysical science projects.
Read more about The Curnamona Cube
Nanosatellites and multi-sensor geophysics: new technologies for Earth, Moon and Mars
Honours project: Be part of the exciting space exploration program, connecting remote networks of geophysical sensors to satellites.
Read more about new technologies for Earth, Moon and Mars
Predicting concentration-gradient-driven fluid flow in 2D membranes
Honours project: Chemistry honours opportunities that aim to predict concentration-gradient-driven fluid flow in two-dimensional (2D) membranes.
Read more about Predicting concentration-gradient-driven fluid flow in 2D membranes
Depths of erosion: A global map of denudation
Honours project: Where were the rocks at the surface created? Help discover why in this geology honours project.
Read more about A global map of denudation
Hot water: The impact of fluid flow on crustal radioactivity
Honours project: Head into the field to analyse natural radioactivity of fluid-altered crust.
Read more about The impact of fluid flow on crustal radioactivity
more...01
Sep
Compositional controls on physical properties: new constraints from laboratory measurements
Honours projects: Improve predictive models of density and thermal conductivity to improve geophysical models by making new lab measurements.
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Environmental geoscience
Honours in Environmental Geoscience
Fossils under a new light
Honours projects: Use new fluorescence imaging techniques to analyse fossils that range in age from half-a-billion to some tens of thousands of years old.
Read more about Fossils under a new light
It’s space water, but not as we know it
Honours projects: Explore laser-induced fluorescence of water and aqueous minerals for space applications.
Read more about It’s space water, but not as we know it
Noble gases in ancient fluid droplets in minerals
Honours projects: Extract rare noble gas isotopes from specific mineral phases such as quartz.
Read more about Noble gases in ancient fluid droplets in minerals
Reconstructing past marine life using ancient DNA
Honours project: Reconstruct past marine life using ancient DNA from deep ocean sediments.
Read more about Reconstructing past marine life using ancient DNA
Spatial information, environmental remote sensing & GIS
Honours project: Use spatial information tools and data in a wide range of applications and settings, including terrestrial, wetland and marine ecology, wildlife and habitats, land assessment and management and earth science.
Read more about Spatial information, environmental remote sensing & GIS
Key contacts
Dr Derrick Hasterok
Geology and Geophysics Honours Coordinator
Dr Jonathan Tyler
Environmental Geoscience Honours Coordinator
Dr Katie Howard
Teaching Support Officer