Current Fields of Research
Remote Sensing
Data from satellites is returned to earth, but is of no use until it is analyzed to obtain the information required.
This relies heavily on computers such the powerful Silicon Graphics and data from NOAA satellites which can be received
on campus. Remote sensing has important applications in area such as meteorology, the detection of minerals, analysis
of ocean currents, detection of pollution in the atmosphere and the measurement of land vegetation cover.
The Remote Sensing group is headed by Assoc. Prof. M. Lynch. The main laboratory facilities are located in the New
Technologies building. Remote Sensing is also one of the partners in the W.A. Satellite and Technology Consortium (WASTAC),
which has a major facility at Floreat Park.
Isotope Science
Mass spectrometers can be used to measure the abundances of elements and isotopes, in a wide range of gaseous, liquid
and solid samples. These results can be used in a surprising number of applications in geology, chemistry, health, nuclear
and environmental physics, and astronomy and astrophysics. Applied Physics Professors, Kevin Rosman and John de Laeter are
major contributors to this research group which is part of state wide collective of scientists that make up the Centre of
Excellence in Mass Spectrometry (CEMS).
The principal groups within CEMS are from the
Department of Applied Physics (Curtin University)
Department of Applied Chemistry (Curtin University)
Department of Applied Geology (Curtin University)
Department of Geology (University of Western Australia)
The Geological Survey of Western Australia
Collaborative research programs are also underway with a number of universities, companies and organizations including
the Garvin Institute, University of Grenoble, Australian Antarctic Survey and the International Union of Pure and
Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).
Isotope Science research investigates such diverse topics as, age determination of Western Australian rock and minerals,
lead pollution in the environment, mineralization processes, the constituents of lunar rocks, and the concentrations of
impurities in Antarctic ice. One of the achievements of the group has been to measure the atomic weights of some elements
more accurately than ever before.
The main CEMS facilities associated with the Department of Applied Physics include the mass spectrometers (TIMS & SHRIMP)
located in laboratories within the Building 301.
Some of the samples, such as Antarctic ice, analysed by the TIMS mass spectrometers have such low concentrations of the
element of interest that it is very easy to contaminate these samples during preparation. To prevent this requires the use
of special ultra-clean laboratories within which special procedures and chemicals are used to process these types of samples.
The SHRIMP instrument is Australian designed and made, and is capable of making isotopic measurements and geological age
determination on individual mineral grains. For more information you can access the Centre of Excellence in Mass Spectrometry
web site.
Marine Geology
This area has carried our traditions but now expanded to synthesize different seismic methods to explore the
sub-seafloor structures. A portable side scan sonar (IZANAGI) is used to survey deep-sea bottom textures and
bathymetry. Crustal faults and folds are imaged in a vertical section by seismic reflected waves emitted in short
time intervals from controlled source towed behind the research vessel (multi-channel seismic reflection survey).
A 24-ch MCS system and a water-gun array system were added to our existing system in 1989.
Deeper structure is investigated using newly developed digital ocean bottom seismographs (OBS). Images obtained from
these instruments are essential in understanding the earth's internal structure, its dynamics and evolution. Recent
experiments were carried out at Izu-Ogasawara island arc, Nankai Trough, Japan Sea, South China Sea, Kurile Trench, and
Oki-no-Torishima, Solomon island arc, and Tyrrhenian Sea, representing different tectonics.