Dr Samuel Boone

• Biography/ Background

  Dr Samuel C Boone is a geoscience research fellow in tectonics and thermochronology. His work aims to better our understanding of Earth's dynamic evolution by constraining the thermal and tectonic history of the crust in relation to the growth and breakup of continents. To do this, he integrates field observations, low-temperature thermochronology, structural geology, geochronology, and geochemistry. 

  Dr Boone commenced his role at the University of Adelaide as a research fellow in 2022. In collaboration with Associate Professor Stijn Glorie, he aims to investigate the interplay between tectonics, climate and resources through a megacontinent-scale synthesis of the upper crustal thermal evolution of Gondwana in response to continental breakup over the last 200 million years. He is also a member of the Tectonics and Earth Systems Group (TES) in Adelaide, where he is working with Prof Alan Collins and Dr Morgan Blades to investigate the tectonics of the Neoproterozoic East African Orogen. 

  Sam spits his time between Adelaide and the University of Melbourne where he is a leader of the Melbourne Thermochronology Research Group, specialising in the development and application of fission track and (U-Th)/He analyses of the common accessory mineral apatite and other uranium-enriched minerals, including zircon, titanite and monazite. They conduct research across all aspects of the development of laboratory techniques, as well as their application to understanding the low-temperature history of continental crust in response to continental extension, sedimentary basin development, orogenesis and continental amalgamation, landscape evolution, and the long-term stability of cratons.

  Sam is also a leading member of the AuScope Geochemistry Network, an Australian consortium of Earth Science Institutes cooperating to develop national geochemistry infrastructure. Their flagship project is the development of AusGeochem, a FAIR data platform enabling researchers to solve geoscience challenges through geospatial interrogation of geochemistry Big Data on a global scale. 

  To find out more about what Sam does, check out...

  The Melbourne Thermochronology Research Group: https://www.melbournethermochronology.com/

  The AuScope Geochemistry Network: https://www.auscope.org.au/agn

  A preview of the AusGeochem data platform: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1uUSV2rShM&t=2s

  A recent virtual presentation Sam gave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJSxGukB9JQ&t=1s

  A study of his investigating the onset of the East African Rift System: https://doi.org/10.1130/G46468.1

  The Rocky Framework of the Rift, an introduction to his work on the Neoproterozoic East African Orogen: https://doi.org/10.1130/G46468.1

  And here is a recent article he wrote in Eos about the uncertain future of geoscience in Australia: https://eos.org/opinions/australias-unfolding-geoscience-malady

   

• Qualifications

  PhD in Geology at the University of Melbourne
  Thesis entitled "A low-temperature thermochronology investigation of the Turkana Depression: Implications for the development of the East African Rift System"
  Supervisors: Andrew Gleadow, Barry Kohn, Christian Seiler, Robyn Pickering

  MSc in Geology at the University of Melbourne
  Thesis entitled "Exploration of a fossil sub-basin geothermal energy system in the Archean-Proterozoic Gawler Craton"
  Supervisors: Andrew Gleadow, Barry Kohn, Christian Seiler

  BSc in Physics at the University of Massachusetts
  
  

  2014 Sir Keith Murdoch Fellow, American Australian Association

  2009 Inducted into the American National Honor Society of Classic Languages, Epsilon Omicron Chapter of Eta Sigma Phi

  2007 Inducted into the American National Physics Honor Society, Sigma Pi Sigma

• Teaching Interests

  Sam is a member of the Department of Earth Sciences and helps teach the Oman International Study Tour and the Arkaroola Field Trip. He also coordinates the Victorian Institute of Earth and Planetary Sciences (VIEPS) Geochronology and Thermochronology Honours and MSc subject at the University of Melbourne.

  In the past, Sam has also taught 1st, 2nd and 3rd-year subjects in Structural and Metamorphic Geology, Tectonics, and Geodynamics.

• Research Interests

  A selection of ongoing methodological development research:

  • Development of digital fission track thermochronology protocols
  • Constraining the thermal evolution of Earth's crust through AI: Fully automated fission track analysis for the Earth sciences through machine learning
  • AusGeochem: A global platform solution for Big Data in low-temperature thermochronology

  A selection of ongoing applied research areas:

  • Breaking Gondwana: Interplay between tectonics, climate and resources
    
  • Why do continents break apart? Integration of structural observations, thermochronology and numerical geodynamic modelling in East Africa
  • Passive margin evolution
  • Fingerprinting ancient bushfires through low-temperature thermochronology
  • The tectonics of the East African Orogen
  • Reassessing the thermochronology of the Grand Canyon

  Sam has conducted research in Australia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Malawi, Madagascar, Arabia, China, Turkey, New Zealand, the United States, and Svalbard. He welcomes enquiries from potential students and collaborators.

   

• Publications

  Please refer to Dr Samuel Boone's Research Profile: 

  https://researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/samuel.boone

Entry last updated: Thursday, 12 Jan 2023

To link to this page, please use the following URL:  https://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/samuel.boone