“With copper demand projected to increase by 350% by 2050 for renewable energy and electric vehicles, understanding the formation of porphyry copper deposits is critical. We investigate the role of subducting seafloor anomalies—fracture zones, seamount chains, and large igneous province remnants—in promoting porphyry copper emplacement along convergent margins. Our analysis reveals that the geodynamic regime of subduction, including slab dip and crustal thickness, exerts a first-order control on where the largest copper deposits form.”
This talk explores the origins of enigmatic intraplate volcanism that occurs far from plate boundaries, and its implications for discovering critical metal deposits. By integrating geodynamic modelling with plate tectonic reconstructions, we trace how mantle processes drive volcanic activity in unexpected locations and how these processes relate to the concentration of economically important metals.
This talk examines the deep-time tectonic carbon cycle by linking thermodynamic models of carbon storage and release with global plate tectonic reconstructions. We quantify carbon fluxes at subduction zones and mid-ocean ridges through geological time, building on the framework of Kelemen and Manning (2015) to constrain how plate tectonics has regulated atmospheric CO2 over hundreds of millions of years.
“Porphyry copper deposits are critical for the energy transition, yet no significant discoveries have been made in the last decade. We investigate how subducting seafloor anomalies—including fracture zones, seamount chains, and large igneous province remnants—influence the emplacement of porphyry copper deposits along convergent margins. Our results show that crustal thickness, slab dip, and the geodynamic regime of subduction exert first-order controls on deposit formation, providing new predictive criteria for copper exploration.”
Workshop presentation at the University of Tasmania exploring geodynamic and geophysical research themes relevant to the geology of Tasmania and southeastern Australia.
Subducting slabs transport water deep into the mantle, where it is stored within minerals such as ringwoodite and wadsleyite in the mantle transition zone. We predict the influx of water from cold, hydrated slabs by coupling plate tectonic reconstructions with thermodynamic models, and validate these predictions against seismic tomography observations. The resulting maps of mantle water reservoirs may help explain the distribution of enigmatic intraplate volcanism far from plate boundaries.
We examine the spatial relationship between subducting seafloor features—fracture zones, seamount chains, and large igneous provinces—and the distribution of porphyry copper deposits along the Americas. Statistical analysis reveals that 96% of all deposits are located within 800 km of a subducting fracture zone and 70% lie within 250–650 km of a synthetic seamount trail, suggesting these features play a key role in promoting copper mineralisation.
“We present a continent-scale groundwater flow model for eastern Australia that eliminates the need for prescribed side boundary conditions by simulating the entire basin system. Built using the Underworld parallel computing framework, the model integrates regional geological complexity to simulate groundwater flow fields and residence times, with particular strength in resolving flow through deep aquifers.”
Large igneous provinces repeatedly form where mantle plumes intersect mid-ocean ridges, yet the dynamics of plume-ridge interaction remain poorly understood. We investigate how the coupling and decoupling of plumes from ridges influences plate motion, demonstrating that ridge segments anchored to plumes migrate significantly less than adjacent segments. This interaction can cause slowly spreading ridges to jump towards plumes, producing asymmetric spreading rates and deviations in hotspot tracks.
Mantle plumes and mid-ocean ridges interact in ways that influence both plate motion and volcanism, yet these dynamics are poorly captured in existing plate tectonic models. We examine how the coupling and subsequent decoupling of plumes from ridges drives rapid changes in plate velocity and generates intraplate volcanism, with implications for understanding large igneous province formation and asymmetric seafloor spreading.