A Proterozoic Framework for Australia's Critical Mineral Systems

Chief Investigator

Recent advances in high-performance computing and open-source geodynamic modelling codes now make it possible to simulate the complexity of Proterozoic tectonic processes in three dimensions, capturing how a hotter lithosphere rifts, how basins subside and fill, and how heat and fluids move through the crust over millions of years. This project leverages these technologies to investigate: • RQ1: How does the mode of continental rifting under hot Proterozoic conditions control basin architecture, fault spacing, and subsidence patterns? • RQ2: How do wide rift basins evolve towards narrow rifts, and what are the structural and geomorphological consequences of narrow rift development within already-thinned crust? • RQ3: How is strain partitioned when a wide rift is inverted, and does this explain the structural traps and fluid pathways that characterise world-class Proterozoic ore districts?

01 Jun 2026 - 01 Jun 2027

N/A