School of Earth and Environment
Further information
- Soil Health website
- Soil Science Journal Club
A blog for people interested in recent advances in soil science in all its guises.
Publications
Our research group pools resources and expertise to achieve high standards of cross-disciplinary research.
- Staff and students
- Recent group members
- Potential projects for prospective students
- Previous honours projects
- Previous postgraduate projects
- Selected recent publications
Staff and students
Dr Andrew Rate
Senior Lecturer / Soil Science Discipline Coordinator, Telephone: (+61 8) 6488 2500
Andrew studied chemistry at The University of Canterbury in New Zealand and graduated with a PhD in Soil Chemistry from Lincoln University, New Zealand. His research interests include the chemical processes occurring in soils and waters, particularly trace elements.
Ms Bree Morgan
PhD candidate, Telephone: (+61 8) 6488 7346
Bree has a first-class honours degree in Land and Water Management from UWA. Her PhD project is Monosulfidic Black Oozes (MBO) of the Lower Murray River and Associated River Delta, Western Australia.
Ms Xin "Lucy" Du
PhD candidate, Telephone: (+61 8) 6488 7346
Xin has a double bachelor degree in Environmental Engineering and Financial Accounting from the China University of Geosciences. She has recently started her PhD on rare-earth and trace element behaviour in intensely weathered soil profiles.
Craig Scanlan
PhD (current) Nutrient acquisition behaviour of roots of a dynamic plant in dynamic environment
Recent group members
- Dr Yamin Ma
PhD graduate
Yamin has a first-class honours degree in Chemistry from UWA. She has recently passed her PhD thesis 'Vegetation as a biotic driver for the formation of soil geochemical anomalies for mineral exploration of covered terrains'. - Professor Zhao Zhizhong
Visiting academic, Hainan Normal University, PRC, September 2006 - August 2007
Professor Zhao has been working on rare-earth elements in lateritic soils on Hainan Island, China, and in the south-west of Western Australia.
Potential projects for prospective students
- Behaviour of trace elements and rare earth elements in deeply weathered soil/regolith profiles
- Distribution of gold and trace elements in nodular calcretes by laser-ablation ICP-MS
- Significance of soil charcoal as a trace element sink
- Novel applications of diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT)
- Quantitative modelling of pedogenetic processes using geochemical / transport models
- Column studies of contaminant release and transport in soils
- Acid sulfate soils - contaminant dynamics and distribution
Previous honours projects
| Student | Degree | Year | Project title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Talitha Santini | BSc (Hons) | 2008 | In situ neutralisation of bauxite residue by cross-layer leaching |
| Michael Rowe | BSc (Env)(Hons) | 2006 | Nickel release from hyper-saline lake sediment: Lake Hope North, Western Australia |
| Kristy Ferguson | BSc (NRM) | 2006 | Catchment runoff and nitrification of sediments as potential sources of nitrate in a seasonal wetland on the Swan Coastal Plain |
| Andrew Moore | BSc (Agric) | 2005 | Evaluation of the agronomic effectiveness of Eraphos, a composted phosphate rock product for use in pastures |
| Bree Morgan | BSc (Env)(Hons) | 2005 | The corrosion of infrastructure by acid sulfate soils at Yundurup, Western Australia |
| Alicia Lim | BSc (Env)(Hons) | 2004 | An investigation into the nature & extent of arsenic contamination in a mine process water dam, Greenbushes, Western Australia |
| Shelly Stain | BE (Env)(Hons) | 2003 | Assessment of Wetland Treatment Performance |
| Yamin Ma | BSc (Env)(Hons) | 2003 | Assessment of different carbon sources and delivery techniques to promote an in situ reactive zone for bioprecipitation of metals in groundwater |
Previous postgraduate projects
| Researcher | Degree | Status | Project title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Yamin Ma | PhD | Completed 2008 | The role of the biological component in the biogeochemistry of trace elements in terrestrial Australian ecosystems and the formation of geochemical dispersion haloes in soils |
| Claire McMahon | MSc | Completed 2006 | Characteristics and sorption properties of charcoal in soil with a specific study of the charcoal in an arid region soil of Western Australia |
| Dr Edgardo Alarcon Leon | PhD | Completed 2005 | Pyrite weathering and lithium (Li+) transport under unsaturated flow conditions in model and mine-tailing systems |
| Dr Fadly Hairannoor Yusran | PhD | Completed 2005 | Soil organic matter decomposition : effects of organic matter addition on phosphorus dynamics in lateritic soils |
| Dr Mieke Quaghebeur | PhD | Completed 2003 | Arsenate and phosphate : exploration of their interactions in plants and soils |
| Soo Young Lee | MSc | Completed 2002 | Groundwater geochemistry and associated hardpans in Southwestern Australia |
| Dr Jian Li | PhD | Completed 2002 | Silver adsorption/desorption on soil constituents and fractionation of silver and other trace elements in soils |
| Dr Mark Giles Whitten | PhD | Completed 2002 | Amelioration and prevention of agriculturally generated subsurface acidity in sandy soils in Western Australia |
| Dr Gholamreza Valizadeh | PhD | Completed 2001 | Phosphorus fertilizer use and growth of wheat genotypes |
Selected recent publications
- Rate, A.W., Hamon, R.E., Bettenay, L.F. & Gilkes, R.J. 2009a. Adjustment of weak partial extraction data assuming metal ion adsorption - examples using bulk cyanide leach. Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis (accepted Dec 2008).
- Rate, A.W., Vidot, J.-M., Hamon, R.E., Gilkes, R.J., Bettenay, L.F., Radford, N.W. & Griffin, W.J. 2009b. Systematic evaluation of bulk cyanide leach (BCL) parameters affecting extractability of metals from soils. Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis (accepted Dec 2008).
- Ma, Y. & Rate, A.W. 2009. Formation of trace element biogeochemical anomalies in surface soils: the role of biota. Geochemistry - Exploration, Environment, Analysis (accepted Dec 2008).
- Zhao, Z.-Z., Rate, A.W., Tang, S.-X., Bi, H. 2007a. Characteristics of heavy metals distribution in agricultural soils of Hainan Island and its environment significances (in Chinese). Journal of Agro-Environment Science 27:182-187.
- Zhao, Z.-Z., Rate, A.W., Tang, S.-X., Bi, H. 2007b. REE geochemical characteristics of non-cultivated soils in the western areas of the Hainan Island (in Chinese). Earth and Environment 35:303-309.
- Ma, Y., Rate, A.W. 2007. Metals adsorbed to charcoal are not identifiable by sequential extraction. Environmental Chemistry 4:26-34.
- Quaghebeur, M., Rate, A.W., Rengel, Z. and Hinz, C. 2005. Desorption kinetics of arsenate from kaolinite as influenced by pH. Journal of Environmental Quality 34:479-486.
- Li, J., Rate, A.W., and Gilkes, R.J. 2004. Silver desorption kinetics from iron oxides and soil organic matter: effect of adsorption period. Australian Journal of Soil Research, 42:59-67.
- Hamon, R.E., McLaughlin, M.J., Gilkes, R.J., Rate, A.W., Zarcinas, B., Robertson, A.E., Cozens, G., Radford, N.W., Bettenay, L.F., 2004. Geochemical indices allow estimation of heavy metal background concentrations in soils. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 18, GB1014, doi:10.1029/2003GB002063.
- Rate, A.W., Lee, K.M., French, P.A. 2003. Application of biosolids in mineral sands mine rehabilitation: use of stockpiled topsoil decreases trace element uptake by plants. Bioresource Technology, 91:223-231.
- Li, J., Rate, A.W., & Gilkes, R.J. 2003. Fractionation of trace elements in non-agricultural Australian soils. Australian Journal of Soil Research, 41:1389-1402.
- Mann, S.S., Gilkes, R.J. and Rate, A.W. 2002. Cadmium accumulation in agricultural soils in Western Australia. Water, Air and Soil Pollution, 141:281-297.
