Understanding the origins and diversification of life represents one of the most challenging scientific endeavours. In such efforts, constraining the limits of life on Earth is vital, as is an understanding of the ecology of those organisms that can survive and even thrive in environments characterised by extremes of temperature, salinity or pH. Of particular interest are geothermal systems, populated by diverse and deeply-branching thermophilic bacteria and Archaea. Recently we have demonstrated that microbial lipids are powerful tools in assessing and reconstructing the microbiology of terrestrial hot springs. In this proposal we focus on elucidating the carbon isotopic signatures of the lipids of geothermal organisms. The use of lipid biomarkers in combination with stable isotope analysis is crucial to understanding microbial ecology, providing a direct link between microbial identity and biochemical processes. Lipids are found in all living organisms, typically serving as energy sources and structural components of cell membranes. Often highly diagnostic, well-preserved in the geological record, and entrained with information on biological diversity, environmental conditions and post-depositional alteration history, these compounds are particularly attractive for early life and astrobiological investigations. Our past studies of biomarkers in geothermal deposits reveal a profound diversity of encapsulated lipids, which can be utilized to profile microbial community composition. However, a potential of microbialite-preserved lipids that was untapped by our previous work is their carbon isotopic composition; strong and highly unusual variations in lipid carbon isotope values were observed in a small subset of our data but lacked crucial contextual data (e.g. the carbon isotopic composition of dissolved inorganic carbon, DIC, in the pools). This remains an untapped source of information on thermophilic physiologies and ecology in the New Zealand Taupo Volcanic Zone and the silica deposits formed there. Such deposits are essential archives of past life and elucidating the controls on organic matter formation in such settings will allow a better interpretation of the OM assemblages preserved in them. We will map the range of carbon isotope values and evaluate their reproducibility in various geothermal sites with differing physicochemical conditions and in different biofacies. By embedding this data in the context of thermal spring DIC carbon isotope values and recent microbiological community profiling based on molecular (DNA and RNA) approaches, we will resolve the origin of the unusual carbon isotopic compositions. This will greatly expand on our capacity to interpret biomarker carbon isotope values preserved in ancient silica sinters, providing crucial information on sources of lipid biomarkers, metabolism and trophic structure. In this work, we will target a range of diagnostic compounds from well-characterized geothermal settings in the Taupo Volcanic Zone in New Zealand and explore the controls on the variation of carbon isotopic signatures, coupling our past biomarker-based interpretations to carbon isotopic analyses in order to achieve a better understanding of the biodiversity of geothermal environments and to unravel biogeochemical and ecological function. This work will advance our interpretation of biosignatures preserved in the rock record, providing insight into the evolution and ecology of the earliest life-forms on Earth and informing the search for life elsewhere in the Solar System.

Following heavy rainfall on the 4/1/14, a major debris flow at Slip Stream (44.59 S 168.34 E) introduced >10^6 m^3 of sediment to the Dart River valley floor in NZ Southern Alps (S. Cox, pers. comm). Runout over the existing fan dammed the Dart River causing a sudden drop in discharge downstream. This broad dam was breached quickly, however the loss of conveyance has since impounded a 4 x 1 km lake with depths that exceed 20 m. This event presents a rare and unprecedented opportunity to study the impacts of a discrete, high magnitude 'sediment pulse', remarkable in its capacity to dam a large river in flood (peak discharge during the event was recorded at ~790 m^3/s). Quantifying the impact of this disturbance on the form and stability of the receiving body, the Dart River, will advance our understanding of how such low frequency geophysical events shape the evolution of large alpine rivers and will create a vital baseline for future research that seeks to test theories of how such large bed wave propagates and disperse sediment downstream. The impact of this pulse also elevates the risks posed by natural hazards in the region. Enhanced sediment transport has the potential to raise riverbed levels, destabilise floodplain assets, reduce standards of flood protection, increase the risk of channel avulsion and impact on freshwater and riparian ecology with a legacy that long outlasts the initial disturbance. Locally, this event may result in rapid advance of the Dart-Rees delta into Lake Wakatipu threatening the lakeshore communities of Glenorchy and Kinloch. The assessment of how large fluvial sediment pulses migrate, disperse and condition such hazards will offer key insights that may be transferable to other dynamic alpine settings. However, in order to constrain this event effectively, an initial topographic and sedimentological survey must be undertaken urgently, in the immediate aftermath of the event, to enable robust quantification of the sediment pulse and the existing channel morphology. This research aims to advance this goal by seeking to: develop a unique baseline dataset that will be used to quantify the delivery and dispersal of sediment inputs from the Slip Stream landslide, from its source at Te Koroka to its sedimentary sink in Lake Wakatipu. Using a combination of aerial, terrestrial and bathymetric surveying, we will acquire two synoptic, system-wide snapshots of this highly charged sediment cascade that record the 3d morphology and sedimentology of the interlinked components of the sediment transfer system. Surveys will be undertaken in April 2014 and then one year later in March 2015, following the annual summer floods that dominate fluvial sediment transport in the region. The first survey will establish the initial state of the system and so create the opportunity to quantify the downstream pattern of sediment storage and transport through comparison with the second and any subsequent re-surveys direct differencing of Digital Elevation Models. The simultaneous bathymetric surveys of the upstream impounded lake and the delta morphology will provide constraints on sediment flux across the boundaries of the study area, enabling closure of the coarse sediment budget. The combined results of these two survey campaigns will create an unparalleled dataset to help frame and test hypotheses that seek to explain the dispersal of major sediment pulses within rivers.

In this renewal I will build on the progress made in the first phase of the fellowship to deliver the next generation of magma-filled fracture models, by building on my track record of developing novel methodologies and applying a multidisciplinary approach to instigate a step change in eruption forecasting and volcanic hazard assessment. The communication revolution requires rapid and reliable decision making in the lead up to and during volcanic crises, however existing models of magma sub-surface flow remain insufficient to allow this, as evidenced by recent eruptions in La Palma, New Zealand and currently in Iceland. We need to identify the conditions under which different magma flow regimes and host-rock deformation modes dominate, because these directly affect the eruption potential of underground magma. We need to recognise how magma ascent pathways and eruption potential are influenced by petrological characteristics, 3D geometry and heat transfer. We need to ground-truth our theoretical, physical and chemical understanding in exposed ancient volcanic plumbing systems. Finally, we need to synthesise insight from analogue, mathematical and field experiments and enable these combined models to be deployed to improve the accuracy and reliability of volcanic eruption forecasts. I will continue to use my multidisciplinary expertise in volcanic plumbing systems and work closely with my existing and new Project Partners from academia and government organisations to integrate analogue modelling, mathematical modelling, geophysical observations and geological analyses of volcanic systems to build the next generation of dyke and sill models. I will use the state-of-the-art Medusa Laboratory I have built in Part One of the fellowship to couple the dynamics of magma intrusion and host-rock deformation with the associated surface distortions by creating novel 3D imaging techniques combined with analogue modelling. I will further develop my cutting-edge mathematical models to explore the thermal, petrological and geometric behaviour of magma intrusions, considering magma flow dynamics and host-rock deformation, from propagation to solidification. I will use laboratory techniques on rock samples already collected in my field experiments to understand how the magma flow and host rock deformation occurred. I will compare field, analogue and mathematical model insights and collaborate with volcano observatories to test and develop them so they can be integrated into geohazard assessment systems. These models will form part of the international infrastructure of volcanic hazard assessment used to significantly minimise the human and economic cost of volcanic eruptions.

Although the largest earthquakes (e.g., 2004 Sumatra) occur where tectonic plates collide, large earthquakes (Mag. 7-8+) also occur on strike-slip faults where plates are moving horizontally past each other. Strike-slip faults such as the San Andreas or the North Anatolian Fault (Turkey) occur in highly populated areas where earthquakes can have devastating human consequences. Although faults are seismic monitored, our knowledge of why earthquakes occur remains poor. This is because we have no samples of rocks that ruptured during a modern earthquake because failure typically occurs deep in the crust (>5-10 km). Nor do we have in situ measurements of the thermal and fluids conditions that determine how materials respond to the relative motion of the plates. Ancient fault rocks do occur but these rocks are commonly altered and have unknown tectonic context. The Alpine Fault is major strike-slip fault, that runs along the western range front of the Southern Alps, New Zealand. The fault is the boundary between the Australian and Pacific plates with the Australian crust moving to the northeast at ~27 mm/year. Because plate motions are not parallel to the Alpine Fault, collision is occurring at an oblique angle. This has resulted in the recent (~5 million years) rapid (>6-8 mm/yr) uplift of the Pacific plate over the Australian plate forming the >3000 m-high Southern Alps. Rocks, that until a few million years ago where more than 25 km deep in the crust, now crop out at the surface along the fault. Importantly, rocks that as recently as a few 10s of thousands of years ago, were fracturing and deforming within the Alpine Fault zone itself, now occur at the surface. This well known tectonic geometry and one-sided uplift along a major strike-slip fault is unique, and provides an excellent natural laboratory to understand earthquake processes. It is surprising that there have been no large earthquakes on the Alpine Fault in European times. However, paleo-seismic evidence indicates a major earthquake in ~1717, and that large earthquakes occurr every 200-400 years. These quakes were very large with up to 8 m horizontal movement in each event. The Alpine Fault is late in its seismic cycle and overdue for a large, devastating earthquake. This has lead an international group of scientists to propose drilling a series of shallow and deep (~4 km) bore holes into the Alpine Fault Zone to sample the fault rocks in situ, and to install instruments (seismicity, strain, temperature, fluid pressure) to monitor a major fault during the final build up to a large earthquake. Data from the Alpine fault can be used to understand other fault zones. Before we can decide where to drill a deep hole, we need to know how hot it is at the target depth. Our proposed work will make estimates of the temperature of rocks at depth by investigating geothermal warm springs (up to 60 deg C) that occur along the Alpine Fault. These warm springs occur because rapid uplift has brought deep hot rocks near to the surface. Geologists commonly use fluids from geysers or seafloor black-smoker vents, as windows into conditions deep within the crust. The chemistry of fluids and gases emitted can tell us where the fluids come from and how they have reacted. Unfortunately, there is very little known about the Alpine Fault geothermal systems because many of the springs are in very remote locations, and the scientists didn't have access to modern techniques. From investigating fluid-rock exchange in other hydrothermal environments, we have developed new methods to understand reactions between fluids and minerals. We will match warm spring fluids to minerals that formed within the Alpine Fault zone, during different stages of the uplift of these rocks to the surface. When matches can be made, we will be know that the reactions and conditions producing modern fluids must be occurring within the Alpine Fault today.

The recent earthquake in Haiti highlights the tremendous suffering that earthquakes can inflict on some of the world's most vulnerable communities. While the role of earthquake engineering is of paramount importance in mitigating these effects, before we can improve our building standards it is absolutely crucial to gather first hand information on current building deficiencies. This research will fund UK based academics to participate in earthquake field investigations conducted by the Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Team (EEFIT). in addition to this it will also enhance the quality of the data collected and its accessability to other researchers bydeveloping standardised field data collection methods. The grant will lasts for five years and in this time we will conduct five field investigations. Each investigation will comprise of a team of approximately six to eight people, two of whom will be UK academics and up to two PhD students and four from industry. They will spend approximately 7 days in the field making observations and collecting data. On their return, this data will be analysed and the findings disseminated to researchers, professional engineers and the community at large. This funding will allow rapid deployment of field investigations and the possibility to carry out longitudinal studies to assess recovery from catastrophic events. The grant will also provide funding for meetings with International partner institutions that deploy earthquake field missions (namely EERI, and GNS) in order to agree and develop standardised field mission protocols and data collection forms and tools.