My research mainly deals with weathering, regolith, mineral exploration and landscapes. What on earth is regolith? Precisely, the near surface mantle on the Earth, otherwise in most countries referred to as soil, is regolith. However, in Australia and many other southern hemisphere continents, the weathered, unconsolidated mantle is much deeper than the soil. This mantle is often referred to as the “critical zone” because it is the center of interaction between the geosphere (lithosphere), atmosphere and the biosphere.
By virtue of studying the regolith in Australia, research scope encompasses the landscapes within which regolith resides, the chemistry and biology of the regolith, its age, which is surprisingly old across the Australian continent, and the environmental issues that have the regolith as their core.
The main research topics currently are:
Application of geochemistry in residual and shallow transported cover areas
Mineral weathering reactions that are fundamental to forming much of the regolith
Study of paloesols hosted in the regolith across Australia
Nature and genesis of supergene deposits in the regolith, particularly bauxite and gold