Researcher biography

Sue Golding is Professor at UQ's School of Earth's Sciences. Her research interests are in the fields of ore deposit geology and geochemistry, application of stable isotope geochemistry to minerals and energy exploration, coal bed methane, geosequestration, salt and water balances on mine sites, geomicrobiology.

She has been involved with resource exploration and stable isotope geochemistry research since 1977.  Prof Golding has combined field and laboratory studies to build an interdisciplinary research program with emphasis on hydrothermal systems and mineral and fossil fuel resources. This has involved the development of new techniques and methodologies for constraining thermal and fluid flow histories in sedimentary basins, which have provided significant insights into processes associated with evolving mineral and hydrocarbon systems.

An important new research direction in the last ten years is in the area of energy and environmental technologies for the coal bed methane and coal mining industries, which rely on the use of natural isotopic tracers to understand geochemical and hydrochemical processes. Golding is an international expert on coal bed methane and carbon sequestration in coal systems and a senior researcher with the CO2CRC since 2006. In addition Golding has a long standing interest in the early Earth carbon and sulfur cycles and is currently using multiple sulfur isotope records in ancient sedimentary rocks and hydrothermal systems to establish the origin of different sulfur metabolisms and their role in geochemical changes in the rock record through time.