Professor Paul Dirks

DIRKS photo 2

Professor, Head of School

PhD (University of Melb), MSc (University of Utrecht)

Office:	DB34-214
Phone:	+61 (0)7 4781 5047
Fax:	+61 (0)7 4781 5581
Email:	paul.dirks@jcu.edu.au

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Brief Biography

Paul Dirks is a structural geologist with an interest in geodynamics and the tectonic history of cratonic terrains and adjacent mobile belts, including mineralization patterns and Neotectonics.

Paul holds an MSc in geology from the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands (1987) and a PhD in geology from the University of Melbourne (1990). Prior to his appointment at James Cook University in November 2009, Paul was professor and Head of School, of the School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. In this capacity he founded and acted as director of the AfricaArray Programme, an international, multidisciplinary research and training effort to investigate the structure and tectonics of the African plate, from the Earth’s surface to the core-mantle boundary. AfricaArray build and continues to manage a growing seismic network across Africa. By linking mantle structure to neotectonics of the African land surface, Paul has become involved in the discovery of spectacular new hominin fossil deposits in South Africa.

Before Wits University, Paul was a lecturer and then Associate Professor at the University of Zimbabwe, Harare, where he founded the Mineral Resources Centre to promote applied research in the earth sciences. Prior to this he held a variety of post-doctoral positions in Utrecht, Newcastle (Australia) and Chengdu (China). He has worked on research projects across the world including several years in Antarctica in association with the University of Melbourne.

Paul has been a director of the Institute of Human Evolution in South Africa. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of South Africa, and past Chairman of the Geological Society Zimbabwe. He is assistant editor of the South African Journal of Geology, and past editor of Gondwana Research.

In addition to his academic career, Paul has extensive experience as a consultant to the mining and minerals industry focussing on geological mapping, open pit stability and gold and base metal exploration.He is past director of SRK Zimbabwe, and has helped develop mineral data bases for exploration and target generation in Africa focussing on gold.

With a diverse interest in the geosciences, Paul has authored and co-authored over 70 peer reviewed papers, 58 professional reports and over 120 abstracts, CD’s, mineral data bases and excursion guides.

Research

Tectonics and structure of the African plate and underlying mantle
Tectonics of Archaean granite-greenstone terrains
Cave formation and distribution in relation to Hominin fossils in the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa.
Development of the Plio-Pleistocene landscape and its tectonic drivers and its relation to hominin evolution
Evolution and sediment fill of the Zambezi Rift system
Structural and tectonic controls on gold mineralisation as well as Ni-Cu mineralisation
Structural-metamorphic evolution of high-grade terrains

Selected Publications

Berger L R., de Ruiter D.J., Churchill S.E, Schmid P, Carlson K.J., Dirks, P H G M & Kibii J.M. (2010). Australopithecus sediba: a new species of Homo-like australopith from South Africa. Science 328:195. doi:10.1126/science.1184944

Dirks P H G M, Kibii J B, Kuhn B.F., Steininger C., Churchill S.E., Kramers J.D., Pickering R., Farber D.L., Mériaux A-S., King G.C.P., Berger L.R. (2010). Geological setting and age of Australopithecus sediba from southern Africa. Science Science 328:205. doi:10.1126/science.1184950

Kgaswane, Eldridge M., Andrew A. Nyblade, Jordi Julià, Paul H. G. M. Dirks, Raymond J. Durrheim , Michael E. Pasyanos2009. Shearwave velocity Structure of the lower crust in southern Africa: Evidence for compositional heterogeneity within Archaen and Proterozoic terrains. J. Geophysical Research, v. 114, B12304, doi:10.1029/2008JB006217.

Hansen S., Nyblade A., Julià J., Dirks P., Durrheim R., 2009. Upper-mantle low-Velocity Zone Structure beneath the Kaapvaal Craton from S-wave Receiver Functions. Geophysical Journal International 178, 1021-1027 doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04178.

Julià J., Nyblade A. A. , Durrheim R., Linzer L.M., Gök R., Dirks P.H.G.M. and Walter W. 2009. Source Mechanisms of Mine-Related Seismicity, Savuka Mine, South Africa. Bull. Seismological Soc. Am. 99, 2801-2814

Dirks P.H.G.M., Charlesworth, E.G., Munyai, M.R. 2009. Cratonic extension and Archaean gold mineralization in the Sheba-Fairview mine, Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa. South African J. Geol. 112, 291-316. Doi:10.2113/gssajg.112.3-4.291

Nyblade, A, Dirks, P.H.G.M., Durrheim, R., Webb, S., Jones, M., Cooper, G., Graham, G. 2008.AfricaArray: Developing a Geosciences workforce for Africa’s natural resources sector. The Leading Edge, p1358-1361.

Dirks PHGM, and Jelsma HA, 2006. The margin of an Archean craton: structural relationships between the Zimbabwe Craton and the Zambezi Orogenic Belt in northeastern Zimbabwe, In: Reimold, W.U. and Gibson, R.L..,Processes on the Early Earth. Geol Soc Am Spec Pap 405, p291-313.

Dirks, P.H.G.M., Mikhailov, A and Barber, B. 1999. The gold database of Zimbabwe (a comprehensive database of all recorded gold occurrences in Zimbabwe including major attributes) Kairezi Resources pvt. (Ltd.) Harare, Zimbabwe.