History of life and environments

History of life and environments covers a range of disciplines including sedimentology, stratigraphy, palaeontology, sedimentary geochemistry, petroleum geology and sediment-hosted ore deposits.

These disciplines are applied to a wide range of research projects that include age and origin of Indo-Pacific reefs, Southern Australian cool water carbonate systems, and Neoproterozoic reefs and palaeoceanography.

Sedimentary rocks record four billion years of the evolution of life and environmental change on Earth.

Research in sedimentary geology can be used to identify past climate and vegetation history, paleo-environmental conditions and the evolution of the oceans and atmosphere. Our group’s work covers a range of disciplines including sedimentology, stratigraphy, palaeontology, paleo-botany, sedimentary geochemistry, and sediment-hosted ore deposits. We apply these techniques to unravel the evolution of sedimentary systems, and links to biological evolution over the last 4 billion years of Earth’s history.

These disciplines are applied to a wide range of research projects that include:

Australian sedimentary systems
The evolution of reefs
Precambrian-recent palaeoceanography
Micropaleontology and biostratigraphy
Paleo-climate and botanical history of Australia
Earth’s oxygenation
Diagenesis and mineralisation
Astrobiology
Basin evolution
International Ocean Drilling Program

More information: Sedimentology and Earth’s surface evolution