MrThomas Burns

1st year PhD student working with Dr Fred Richards in the Solid-Earth Fluid-Earth Interaction (SoEFEI) Group. We are integrating geochemistry and solid Earth geophysics to (i) make probabilistic maps of critical metals for the energy transition and (ii) better understand the thermo-mechanical properties of ancient cratonic lithosphere.

Our work aims to accelerate progress towards the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals, with a particular focus on Affordable and Cheap Energy (Goal 7). Check out this paper for a background into previous work in the group, and an introduction to the roles of metal in modern sustainable energy: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-020-0593-2. I am currently working on the first mini project of my PhD which focuses on creating thremo-chemical maps of the Australian lithosphere using stochastic numerical methods.

Supervision: Dr Fred Richards, Prof Saskia Goes, Dr Gareth Roberts, Dr Mark Hoggard (ANU) and Dr Karol Czarnota (Geoscience Australia)