Finding majesty in the earth’s dynamics

In some circles, Mike Sandiford is known as the scientist who helped start Australia talking about geothermal energy; others know him better as the earthquake expert. Professor Sandiford is also one of the visionaries who united all the energy-related researchers at the University of Melbourne into the Melbourne Energy Institute; yet he sums himself up as the “accidental scientist”.

“I seem to change earth science disciplines every five years,” he says. 

“I started research in ancient Antarctic rocks that originated deep in the earth and now I work on shallower Asian landforms and earthquakes. The single connecting theme in my research is the energetics of our earth or, put simply, the energy involved in making earthquakes and mountains.

“Along the way I have also had to pick up a bit of economics, engineering and policy strategy to allow the science to inform public debate,” he says. 

Most of us would consider studying rock formations in the remote parts of Antarctica or the mountains of central Asia to be a dangerous thing, but Professor Sandiford’s working life is a wonderful series of contrasting perspectives and connecting ideas in geoscience and society.

“Before I joined the University in 2000, my research in South Australia spurred interest in the geothermal energy sector in Australia. While I ended up advocating for this alternative energy source, it’s not actually what I set out to investigate. I spent a lot of time mapping South Australia’s hot rock province to understand how it dictated the location of earthquakes in Australia, and how it was expressed at the geological evolution of the Australian continent. 

“But one should never ignore the science in societal terms. While geothermal energy potential has not yet been realised, we now know there is a vast resource in Australia.” 

When Voice caught up with Professor Sandiford he had just returned from India working with a team to review the Kedarnath landslide disaster of last year where thousands of people perished in a high Himalayan valley.

“We wanted to understand why it happened and what may be done about it to prevent this sort of catastrophe in the future. Science can contribute to helping people live more safely in these high-risk areas. For example, in earthquake areas while we can’t predict precisely when and where quakes occur, we do know they occur with certain frequencies in certain areas. We can mitigate the risk for people by having things like appropriate building standards.

 “Humans are on this planet for such a short period of time and we tend to view the earth as a static feature,” he says. “Our local mountain vistas may not change much on human timescales, but every now and again we become aware of our dynamic planet, by its earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides. There are two sides to this dynamic activity. It actually makes our planet habitable by replenishing our soils. But it also makes for devastating natural hazards. An appreciation of the earth’s majesty and dynamics is somewhat humbling, and building our understanding of the earth’s resources and hazards is vital for future generations.”

Professor Sandiford’s current passion and motivation is in working to involve Australian geoscientists with the problems and opportunities in Asia, especially in places like Timor, Bhutan and Myanmar. 

“Our team has made the first geological and natural hazard maps in Timor Leste since independence and these will be important as it rebuilds its infrastructure. My students work with local professionals and students exchanging not only science expertise, but also invaluable life experience. My ambition is to set up a Graduate School in Asian geoscience. But I have an additional agenda; I take our students into Asia to also learn about different cultures, the issues of working in Asia in developing countries. In doing so, my students learn so much about life, come back better professionals and better people – better citizens of the world.”

Professor Sandiford was made director of Melbourne Energy Institute in 2009 and has attracted $32 million dollars of funding for the University’s energy research programs. The focus of the Institute is to help Australia’s capacity for large-scale, low emission energy systems across the spectrum of science and technology, markets and policy.

www.energy.unimelb.edu.au