Dr Zheng-Xiang Li

Position: Principal Research Fellow

Tectonics Special Research Centre
School of Earth and Geographical Sciences (M004)
The University of Western Australia, Crawley WA 6009

Telephone:      +61- 8- 6488 2652
Fax:                +61- 8- 6488 1037
E-Mail:            zli@tsrc.uwa.edu.au

Research Affiliations

• Tectonics Special Research Centre

Research

• Evolution of supercontinents since the Proterozoic (Rodinia, Gondwanaland, Pangea);
• Roles of mantle plumes in supercontinent evolution;
• Palaeomagnetism and tectonics of Australia and East Asia;
• Application of magnetic fabric study to structural and tectonic analysis;
• Timing and genesis of iron-ore deposits in the Hamersley Basin, Pilbara, Western Australia; Magnetostratigraphy and applications to petroleum industry.

Prospective Ph.D. Projects
Student Sought

• Tectonic studies in South China: A wide range of projects are available through collaborations with Chinese scientists, jointly funded by Australian (ARC, TSRC, UWA) and Chinese (CAS, NSFC etc.) sources. These include timing and kinematics of the late-Precambrian Sibaoan orogenies; basement provinces and tectonic history of the Cathaysia Block (Zhejiang and Fujian Provinces, or the Hainan Island); provenance analysis of the pre-900 Ma basin deposits in central Yangtze Craton; palaeomagnetism of the late-Precambrian volcanic and clastic rocks; tectonic control of mineralisations etc.

• Tectonics history of the Sulu orogenic belt and adjacent regions: thin and thick-skinned thrusting, migmitisation, and gold mineralisation. This project will involve structural analysis, SHRIMP U-Pb zircon dating, Ar-Ar dating, and metamorphic petrology.

Click here for a list of publications.