AGN Update — May 2021
AuScope Geochemistry Network (AGN) across Australia.
Since our last update members of the AuScope Geochemistry Network (AGN) have presented at a number of conferences, developed proposals for the expansion of the network and made great progress on the development of the AusGeochem platform and a new project, LabFinder.
Expanding the AGN
The AGN was set up in response to a national expression of need for better organisation and coordination of geochemistry laboratories and data. With this in mind, the Network aims to foster and coordinate an Australia-wide collaborative geochemistry infrastructure. Central to this aim is expanding the AGN beyond the founding node facilities at Curtin University, Macquarie University and The University of Melbourne.
LEARN MORE about the AGN and ways to contribute to its mission. Image: Dr Samuel Boone
Collaborative steps forward
In line with this, the AGN submitted a proposal titled AGN+ to the Australian Research Data Partnerships program, supported by ARDC to secure funding for expansion of the AGN. This initial bid was unfortunately unsuccessful however, the AGN has applied directly to AuScope to facilitate the on-boarding of up to 10 additional data-contributing partners. The AGN hopes to engage and collaborate with all geoscience institutions in Australia such that the network will truly represent the incredible diversity of geoscience research in the country. Preliminary conversations are underway with The University of Adelaide, where a vast global whole-rock major and trace element database has been curated. For more information on this database, please watch AGN Webinar 6 here, where Dr Matthew Gard, Dr Derrick Hasterok and Dr Jacqueline Halpin presented on the collection.
Recent conferences
Catch up on AGN news here.
In recent months a number of AGN members have presented, on behalf of the greater network, at both Australian and International (virtual) conferences. The AGN coordinator, Dr Alexander Prent, presented on the motivations behind, and initiation of the AGN at EGU, AGU, and the 16th Plenary Meeting of the Research Data Alliance. Further updates on the AGN and the development of AusGeochem were presented by AGN data scientists Dr Samuel Boone, and Hayden Dalton at eResearch Australasia and the Australian Earth Sciences Convention (AESC) respectively. Dr Boone also presented on the utility of the AusGeochem platform for thermochronology studies at both AESC and Thermo2020 while Prof. Brent McInnes, AGN director, delivered a keynote address at AESC on Thermochronology Frontiers.
These and future conference presentations (e.g., EGU 2021), along with the AGN monthly webinar series aim to facilitate engagement with both the Australian and International geoscience communities. All recordings are available on the AGN YouTube channel, here. Any questions or comments arising from these videos can be sent to auscopegeochemistry@gmail.com, feedback is welcome!
LabFinder
An important priority for the AGN is endorsing and promoting existing geochemical capabilities and supporting increased end user access to laboratory facilities across Australia. Importantly, the AGN wants to ensure both industry personnel and non-specialists also have the opportunity to benefit from advancements in geoanalytical techniques in the country. We propose to address this objective by building an Australian geoscience ‘LabFinder’. This service is based on the principles of an online service that Microscopy Australia provides to the research community via TechniqueFinder. The AGN has secured support from the CSIRO-AuScope Virtual Research Environment Team for the development of this searchable relational database where researchers can seek advice and assistance in regard to solving specific scientific questions from Australian geoscience facilities. This project is well underway and expected to be completed before the end of the year!
AusGeochem
The AGN project team, in collaboration with Lithodat, have made excellent progress on the development of AusGeochem. We are also excited to announce a collaboration with Mindat.org, one of the world’s leading authorities on mineral and lithological hierarchies. Implementing this hierarchy into AusGeochem ensures that the platform is up to date with developments in mineralogy and will allow users to quickly query mineral properties through direct links to Mindat. Alpha testing is nearing completion with a Beta release of the platform just around the corner! For a full update on our progress, check out our post on AusGeochem website here.
WRITTEN BY
Hayden Dalton and the AGN team