Sydney University is fronting an international research group using big data sets and high performance computers to better identify exploration targets in basins in remote Australia. The university’s School of Geosciences today said it will receive $5.4 million over the next five years from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and industry to undertake a new approach to analysing sedimentary basins. The group, called the Basin GENESIS Hub, will model the interaction between processes on the earth’s surface and deep below. The research is expected to create a new ‘exploration geodynamics toolbox’ for exploration, mining, and energy companies to improve estimates of what resources might be found in individual basins, Sydney University said today. Sedimentary basins form when sediments eroded from highly elevated regions are transported through river systems and deposited into lowland regions and continental margins. Groundwater and energy resources are found in these basins. The space between grains of sand in them can also be used to store carbon dioxide. Associate professor Patrice Rey, a researcher at the School of Geosciences, said the group will incorporate data from multiple sources to create five dimensional models, combining three dimensional space with extra dimensions of time and estimates of uncertainty. The modelling will span scales of time from entire basins hundreds of kilometres wide to individual sediment grains across the north-west shelf of Australia, Papua New Guinea, and the Atlantic Ocean continental margins. The researchers will use computer simulations to understand the formation of sedimentary basins and the changes they have undergone recently and over hundreds of millions of years, Rey said. Professor Dietmar Muller, director of the Hub, said the previous approach to analysing these basins has been based on interpreting geological data and two-dimensional models. “We apply infinitely more computing power to enhance our understanding of sedimentary basins as the product of the complex interplay between surface and deep Earth processes,” he said. Other partners of the Basin GENESIS Hub include the California Institute of Technology, CSIRO Earth Science and Resource Engineering, Curtin University’s Petroleum Group, Geoscience Australia, NICTA and the University of Melbourne. Follow Byron Connolly on Twitter:@ByronConnolly Follow CIO Australia on Twitter and Like us on Facebook… Twitter: @CIO_Australia, Facebook: CIO Australia, or take part in the CIO conversation on LinkedIn: CIO Australia Related content opinion Website spoofing: risks, threats, and mitigation strategies for CIOs In this article, we take a look at how CIOs can tackle website spoofing attacks and the best ways to prevent them. By Yash Mehta Dec 01, 2023 5 mins CIO Cyberattacks Security brandpost Sponsored by Catchpoint Systems Inc. Gain full visibility across the Internet Stack with IPM (Internet Performance Monitoring) Today’s IT systems have more points of failure than ever before. Internet Performance Monitoring provides visibility over external networks and services to mitigate outages. By Neal Weinberg Dec 01, 2023 3 mins IT Operations brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers can save money during periods of economic uncertainty Now is the time to overcome the challenges of perimeter-based architectures and reduce costs with zero trust. By Zscaler Dec 01, 2023 4 mins Security feature LexisNexis rises to the generative AI challenge With generative AI, the legal information services giant faces its most formidable disruptor yet. That’s why CTO Jeff Reihl is embracing and enhancing the technology swiftly to keep in front of the competition. By Paula Rooney Dec 01, 2023 6 mins Generative AI Digital Transformation Cloud Computing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe