Our Team
Within the Mawson Geo Centre you will find staff with expertise in mineral, energy and resources, and innovative, cross-disciplinary research within the areas of tectonics, petroleum and minerals geoscience, geophysics, metallogeny and structural geology.
Our team is drawn from the Department of Earth Sciences, the Australian School of Petroleum, and Adelaide Microscopy.
Professor Graham Heinson
Director, Mawson Geo Centre
Professor Heinson has been a finalist for the Eureka Prize and is an award-winning lecturer and researcher with more than twenty years of geophysical research experience in land and marine magnetotellurics. He has been Head of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Adelaide, a member of the National Committee for Earth Sciences, Australian Academy of Sciences and a member of a number of international working groups in geophysics.
A/Professor Simon Holford
Deputy Director, Mawson Geo Centre
A/Professor Holford’s research works to understand the mechanisms by which the interiors of continental lithospheric plates are uplifted and eroded – the process known as exhumation. Reconstructing the timing, distribution and underlying mechanisms of exhumation requires a multidisciplinary approach, and A/Professor Holford uses thermochronological (apatite fission-track and vitrinite reflectance data), sedimentary rock compaction (using sonic velocity and density logs to estimate subsurface rock porosities) and both 2D and 3D seismic reflection data to address this challenge.
Professor Alan Collins
Professor Collins has conducted research in many regions around the world, including Australia, Canada, India, Madagascar, Pakistan, Poland, Tanzania, Turkey, UK and Antarctica. His research links many of the geoscience sub-disciplines into a constrained model for the evolution of a region or the determination of a process. He is particularly interested in structural geology and geothermochronology.
Professor Nigel Cook
Professor Cook’s research primarily focuses on the geology and mineralogy of sulphide ore deposits. He analyses and interprets mineral assemblages, mineral chemistry and textural evidence to better understand the genetic history of mineral
Professor Martin Hand
Continental Evolution Research Group
Professor Hand is world leader in his field and is committed to fundamental and applied research in tectonics and geoenergy, using a broad-based approach that integrates petrological and isotopic tools with geophysics and structural mapping.
Dr Kathryn Amos
Leader, Reservoir Analogue Research Group
Dr Amos is a clastic sedimentologist with expertise in dryland continental and deep-sea sedimentology. Her research focuses on dryland river sedimentology, to better understanding the geomorphology and sedimentology of modern river systems and use these modern analogues to interpret ancient successions.