The University of Western Australia

Asst/Prof Arianne Ford

Research Assistant Professor
School of Earth and Environment

Contact details

Address

School of Earth and Environment
The University of Western Australia (M006)
35 Stirling Highway
CRAWLEY WA 6009
Australia

Phone

6488 5805

Fax

6488 1178

Email

arianne.ford@uwa.edu.au

Personal homepage

http://www.segs.uwa.edu.au/ford_cv

Biography

Arianne Ford has been working as a Research Assistant Professor in the gold commodity group at the CET since January 2008. Before coming to UWA Arianne worked as a Research Assistant at James Cook University on a 3D numerical modeling project. Arianne completed her BSc (Hons) in Computer Science in 2003 before jumping ship and graduating with a PhD in Economic Geology in 2008, both from James Cook University. Her PhD focused on the application of fractal and multifractal techniques to exploration targeting for copper in the Mount Isa Inlier, NW Queensland.

Key research

Within the CET, Arianne is currently working on developing GIS-based mineral potential maps for gold mineralization. Projects have involved targeting generation for orogenic gold in Mongolia (in collaboration with Dr Craig Hart) and Brazil (in collaboration with Dr John Miller). Future developments will involve the generation of epithermal gold targets in Argentina. The main objective of this research direction is to integrate multiple geoscience datasets in order to improve the understanding of the mineral system and to generate targets at multiple scales for follow-up work by industry partners. Additionally, Arianne maintains an interest in quantitative resource assessment and researching and developing methods to overcome practical challenges faced in computer-based exploration targeting.

Publications

Blenkinsop, T.G., Huddlestone-Holmes, C.R., Foster, D.R.W., Edmiston, M.A., Lepong, P., Mark, G., Austin, J.R., Murphy, F.C., Ford, A., and Rubenach, M.J. 2008. The crustal scale architecture of the Eastern Succession, Mount Isa: the influence of inversion. Precambrian Research. 163, 31-49.

Ford, A. and Blenkinsop, T.G. 2008. Evaluating geological complexity and complexity gradients as controls on copper mineralisation, Mt Isa Inlier. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences. 55, 13-23.

Ford, A. and Blenkinsop, T.G. 2008. Combining fractal analysis of mineral deposit clustering with weights of evidence to evaluate patterns of mineralization: Application to copper deposits of the Mount Isa Inlier, NW Queensland, Australia. Ore Geology Reviews. 33, 435-450.

Funding received

2005 – 2007: James Cook University, School of Earth Sciences - PhD Scholarship

2005 – 2007: Predictive Mineral Discovery CRC - PhD top-up scholarship

2006: James Cook University Graduate Research School – Research grant for computing equipment

Research profile

Research profile and publications