GEMOC ARC National Key CentreInternational Links
Asia Links
GEMOC has strong international links particularly with Russia and with Asia, including China, Japan, Mongolia, Burma and Thailand. These links arise from the direct relevance of joint projects in these areas to the interpretation of significant Australian geological problems.
Targeted Asian regions have geological similarities and contrasts that will help us to interpret the geological structure and metallogenic framework of the Australian continent. They are important to understanding the geological evolution of the Australian continent because (i) they provide more easily studied analogues to some of the tectonic terranes and (ii) models for continental breakup and reassembly show that during at least two major times of continental rearrangement, parts of the Australian continent split off and ultimately docked to form parts of east Asia. Detailed investigations of terrane boundaries in Asia and eastern Australia should be able to shed more light on this aspect of great significance to the location of some economic deposits.
Examples of active projects in Asia:
- nature and geophysical signature of the lithosphere in eastern China
- fundamental terrane boundaries in Japan
- nature of volcanism at collision margins from deep-sea ashes
- metallogenesis of southeastern China
- granitoid genesis in southeastern China
- diamond exploration in Asia
- basaltic volcanism and basin development, north China
- structure and composition of Mongolia lithosphere
- thermal contrasts and paleogeotherms in Siberia, Mongolia, eastern China
- sapphire occurrences
- diamond exploration, tectonism, and geophysical nature of the lithosphere, Siberia
- Rodinia and Gondwana dispersal and docking of Australian terranes in Asia
Formal collaborative links with Asia include:
- DEET Targeted Institutional Links Program: "4-D Lithosphere Mapping in China and Australia" . This program involves a comprehensive field and laboratory program in Australia, China, Taiwan and Mongolia and has complementary funding from two Universities in China, the National Science Foundation of China and the Chinese Ministry of Geology. The International Union of Geology and Geophysics has dedicated a symposium to showcasing the results of this program at the 23rd International Geological Congress in Beijing in 1996.
- PhD Exchanges: formal PhD exchange visits have been implemented with 3 universities in China
Other International Links
Other research collaborations with reciprocal funding are active in USA and Europe. This is reflected in the visitor list (Appendix 4).