Sprigg Geobiology Centre

Exploring how interactions between the living and non-living world shape the planet.

The Sprigg Geobiology Centre (SGC) seeks to understand how the interactions between the living and non-living world have shaped the planet since the emergence of the first complex life.

We do this with a particular focus on understanding how the interaction between the biosphere and geosphere has left a legacy of both environments themselves and the fossil record used to comprehend that legacy.

SGC aims to document the rate and magnitude of climate and environmental change over a range of timescales. To achieve this, we:

Develop and apply a broad range of techniques to investigate the patterns and causes of past climate (including conventional and novel isotope approaches, micro and macrofossil analysis, organic and sediment geochemistry)
Refine the age of globally significant archaeological and palaeontological sites particularly using optically stimulated luminescence dating
Develop understanding of global climate regulation by quantifying greenhouse-gas fluxes and linking them to microbial and geochemical processes with an emphasis on extreme environments
Use physical climate models and proxy data to deepen understanding of climatic changes through time.

Explore our research

We undertake research at the interface of life and Earth to understand how geobiological systems can be best managed.

Engage with us

We partner with industry both locally and internationally.

Explore the Sprigg Geobiology Centre

Research capabilities Research capabilities
Research impact Research impact
Our people Our people
Our partners Our partners

SGC undertakes research at the interface of life and Earth, as well as developing the understanding of how geobiological systems sustain society and can be best managed.

Specialist facilities

Research facility

Mawson Analytical Spectrometry Services (MASS)

The MASS facility provides an ideal wealth of analytical experience with three primary streams:

Metal and radiometric isotopes (Thermal Ionisation Mass Spectrometry),
Stable Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (CHNOS)
Organic Molecular Analysis and Characterisation.

Research facility

Mawson Optical Dating and Archaeological Luminescence (MODAL) facility

The MODAL laboratory comprises luminescence dating sample preparation and instrumentation suites, offering expertise and capabilities in:

Preparation of luminescence dating samples for archaeological, palaeontological and geological studies
Field- and lab-based dosimetry analyses for quartz and feldspar luminescence dating applications
Luminescence dating measurements and characterisation of sedimentary materials.

Please see the below resources for further information on our research:

Some of the world's most outstanding fossil collections gathered from the Flinders Ranges and Kangaroo Island are being researched by SGC members and exhibited at the SA Museum.
Naracoorte's fossil caves
Soil erosion is filling vital inland waterholes
Microbial insights into flood pulses and aquatic greenhouse gases
New fossil fuel project approvals drive climate disasters
Climate models show the potential for multi-decade 'megadroughts’ in Australia
Past warm periods serve as analogues for our climate future
Tropical flooding of Australia’s inland desert, Kati-Thanda Lake Eyre

Australian Research Council Future Fellows

Martina Demuro: Shedding light on Neanderthal histories using luminescence chronologies

Jonathan Tyler: Past trends and future risk of climate extremes in southern Australia

Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow

Georgy Falster: Quantifying Australia's long-term risk of rainfall extremes

Ramsay Research Fellow

Tamara Fletcher: High latitude climate sensitivity inferred from the geologic past

EU Past2Future Consortium

Tamara Fletcher

Australian Research Council Discovery projects

2019 – 2024 East Australian climate extremes through the Holocene

2020 – 2023 East Asian Monsoon response to periods of abrupt global change

2025 – 2027 Climate, fire and Kangaroo Island: resolving the past to manage the future

2025 – 2027 Tracking 600,000 years of flooding and aridification in Australia’s deserts

Australian Research Council Linkage projects

2018 – 2024 Naracoorte caves: a critical window on faunal extinctions and past climates

Associate Professor John Tibby: Head of The Sprigg Geobiology Centre (interim)
Associate Professor Lee Arnold: Earth Sciences
Professor Justin Brookes: Biological Sciences
Professor David Chittleborough: Adjunct Professor
Dr John Conran: Senior Lecturer
Dr Martina Demuro: ARC Future Fellow
Associate Professor Juraj Farkas: Lecturer
Dr Georgy Falster: ARC DECRA Fellow
Dr Alexander Francke: Senior Lecturer
Dr Tamara Fletcher: Ramsay Research Fellow
Associate Professor Diego C Garcia-Bellido: Lecturer
Dr Tony Hall: Postdoctoral Fellow · Dr Michael Hatch: Research Associate
Professor Graham Heinson: Professor of Geophysics
Dr Christopher Keneally: Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr David McKirdy: Visiting Research Fellow
Dr Liz Reed: Research Fellow
Associate Professor Jonathan Tyler: ARC Future Fellow

Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation, Burnett Mary Regional Group, CSIRO

John Tibby is working with these organisations to implement a co-designed K’gari Water Resource Management Strategic Plan. Part of this plan involves producing new environmental change records from K’gari lake sediments.

Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC)

Lee Arnold is working with GlaWAC to investigate deep-time Aboriginal history of coastal and cave sites in Gunaikurnai Country.

Australian Nuclear Science Technology Organisation

Jonathan Tyler, John Tibby, Cameron Barr and Alexander Fancke are working with the Australian Nuclear Science Technology Organisation (ANSTO) in the geochemical characterisation and dating of lake sediments.

Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Western Australia (DBCA)

Sprigg Centre members are working with DBCA to infer the climate, environmental and human impact history of the last 2,000 years in south-west Western Australia.

Department of Environment and Water, South Australia

Sprigg Centre members are working together with DEW to examine environmental change associated with megafaunal extinction at Naracoorte Caves.

Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation, Queensland

Sprigg Centre members are working on a variety of projects with the Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation, Queensland. These include the nature and causes of natural climate variation in south-east Queensland and the impact of humans on ancient and modern wetlands.

Environment Protection Authority, South Australia

Sprigg Centre members are working with the Environment Protection Authority, South Australia, to refine water quality assessments of South Australian streams.

Santos

Juraj Farkas is working with Santos to apply new and traditional isotope proxies to better constrain the stratigraphy and paleo-depositional environment of the Mesoproterozoic McArthur Basin in the Northern Territory.

BHP

Tamara Fletcher works with BHP to access continental cores of Cenozoic sediments to reconstruct the climate and environmental evolution of Australia’s north-east.

ARC Centre of Excellence for the Weather of the 21st Century

Georgy Falster is an Associate Investigator with the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Weather of the 21st century.

Our international partners include:

British Geological Survey – use of stable isotope geochemistry to infer climate variability from lake sediments.
Canadian Museum of Nature – Tamara Fletcher works with palaeontologists and volunteers at CMN to characterise the climate and environment of Neogene sites of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
GNS and Cawthron Institute New Zealand – The Lakes 380 project: documenting the history of New Zealand’s lakes.

Contact us

Sprigg Geobiology Centre

Location
Sprigg Geobiology Centre
Adelaide University
G05 Benham Building, City Campus East, Adelaide SA 5000

Phone: +61 8 8313 0543

Email: environment@adelaide.edu.au