About Us

The Acid Sulfate Soils Centre focuses on pure and applied research and development related to acid sulfate soils in the fields of environmental science, acid drainage and water pollution, mineral exploration, soil and mine site remediation, and infrastructure damage (e.g. roads and optical fibre cable systems).

  • Aims
    • Maintain a program of high quality pure and applied research to strengthen the ASSC as a national and international resource for acid sulfate soil information, advanced research and training.
    • Establish and maintain close links to government organisations and industry to ensure that the research findings are applied (e.g. amelioration of acid sulfate soils for protection and health of terrestrial environments; discovery of new mineral deposits).
    • Train future scientists (postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers) in the area of acid sulfate soils.
    • Promote better understanding and management of acid sulfate soils to mitigate negative impacts on the environment by developing effective amelioration strategies.
    • Develop novel methods for characterising acid sulfate soils and their geochemical processes
    • Promote better understanding of the importance of acid sulfate soils and techniques for mineral exploration and mine site rehabilitation.

  • Acid sulfate soil research environments

    Four key acid sulfate environments where we undertake our research are:

    1. Coastal environments (coastal margins, oceans and estuaries).
    2. Inland environments (rivers, lakes, wetlands, irrigated areas and the arid zone) including impact of climate change
    3. Mineral exploration sites (indicators of the presence of concealed ore/mineral deposits).
    4. Industrial sites (acid mine drainage, mine site rehabilitation, salt field remediation, infrastructure assessment).

  • Application and translation of our research

    The ASSC has a very strong track record for applying and translating our research. The ASSC combines its scientific expertise and practical experience of assessing and managing acid sulfate soil issues with the additional expertise of scientists and managers at universities (e.g. UoA), government organisations (e.g. CSIRO), state (e.g. EPA) and federal organisations (e.g. MDBA) within Australia and overseas (e.g. USA, Finland, China, Vietnam, Brunei, Kuwait and Iraq). The ASSC continues to:

    • Provide and enhance in-depth understanding of properties and processes in inland and coastal ASS in natural and managed wetlands across a range of climatic conditions and scales:
      • landscapes (kilometres),
      • local (metres to kilometres),
      • micro (millimetres to micrometres)
    • Develop amelioration strategies that minimize the impact of acid sulfate soils and acid mine drainage in natural and managed environments.
    • Lead development of guidelines and policies relating to management of acid sulfate soils and their risks.
    • Develop and maintain databases, maps and reference collections on acid sulfate soils (e.g. continuing to lead the Atlas of Australian ASS project and sub-committee under the auspices of the National Committee for Acid Sulfate Soils).
    • Development of a guide to acid sulfate soil features for sampling in mineral exploration.