Fariba Kohanpour
Fariba is a geologist with expertise in applying multi-scale interdisciplinary geological datasets to understand mineral systems components. During her PhD at The University of Western Australia (UWA), she applied a multi-disciplinary, multi-scale approach including geodynamic numerical modelling, geophysical interpretation, and geochronology/isotope analysis to understand gold and nickel mineral systems components in the Halls Creek Orogen and integrated all obtained knowledge and geological datasets in GIS-based prospectivity modelling to highlight the prospective zones. Following that, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at UWA where she was focused on geochronology/isotope studies to establish the provenance of the poorly-exposed Neoproterozoic Yeneena Basin in Paterson Orogen. Since 2022, she has been working as a Research Scientist, Mineral Systems Geologist at CSIRO, where she is applying different techniques to understand mineral systems footprints and prospectivity modelling.
Fariba Kohanpour1, Margaux Le Vaillant1, Ema Frery2
1: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Mineral Resources, 26 Dick Perry Avenue, Kensington, WA 6151, Australia
2: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Energy, 26 Dick Perry Avenue, Kensington, WA 6151, Australia
The purpose of this study is to identify the key processes involved in the formation and preservation of a hydrogen system using a mineral systems approach. This involves mapping the geological proxies of key parameters and integrating them using a GIS-based prospectivity modelling technique to identify regions with the highest hydrogen-resource potential. The work addresses the following questions: (1) What are the main geological processes or critical factors for natural hydrogen generation and endowment? and (2) Where are the prospective zones for natural hydrogen exploration?
To fulfil these objectives, a multi-stage approach was developed, leveraging advancements in geodynamics, geophysical and geological interpretation for mineral systems analysis and prospectivity modelling. Firstly, the project focused on a comprehensive literature review. We aimed to identify the critical elements of the natural hydrogen system, leading to the formation and preservation of hydrogen resources comparable to mineral systems components. The primary outcome of this stage was recognising the key parameters of a natural hydrogen system, including sources, generation kinetics, migration pathways, hydrogen reservoirs, and trap locations. We then mapped and integrated the geological proxies of the hydrogen system’s key parameters to create prospectivity models. This modelling requires input data from the first stage of the project, i.e., an understanding of the different components of natural hydrogen systems and their relative roles in the formation and preservation of hydrogen resources.
The modelling followed the following steps: (1) identification of mappable proxies for each key component of the hydrogen system(s), (2) creation of predictor maps based on the identified proxies, (3) classification and weighting of these maps along with a confidence factor, and (4) generation of prospectivity models (potential maps) by overlaying the weighted predictor maps. The results include a series of predictor maps for each component of the hydrogen system (i.e. source, pathway, reservoir, trap), which are combined to estimate hydrogen potential across Australia. This allows for the prioritization of critical elements and the application of different scenarios in natural hydrogen targeting.
CSIRO
Research Scientist, Mineral Systems Geologist