ARC Discovery Grant award

In November 2016, the Acid Sulfate Soils Centre was awarded a prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Grant (lead investigator Prof. Rob Fitzpatrick) for a project titled “Extreme soil acidification and metal release risks from increasing drought due to climate change”.

The project aims to study the effects of drought on pH and metal speciation in soils, and develop tools to assess current and future risks.

Social and economic well-being depends on good soil and water quality. Climate change makes droughts more frequent and severe, which could cause soil acidification (pH<4) and metal release in many regions.

The project will integrate experimental data on the effects of drought on soil geochemistry with hydro-geochemical models, and apply these to national-scale predictions.

The intended outcomes are improved management and preparedness for droughts and new research directions for geochemistry.