ProfessorPatrice Rey

Patrice has contributed innovative ideas on a large range of subjects including:
• The origin of plate tectonics on Earth (Rey et al., 2014 Nature),
• The rifting and separation of New Zealand and Australia (Rey and Mueller, 2010 Nature Geoscience)

• The formation of Archean gold deposits: Thébaud and Rey, 2013 Precambrian Research.
• The Flat Earth Hypothesis: Rey and Coltice 2008, Geology with a mention in Nature v. 454, August 2008.
• The Waterworld Hypothesis: Flament, Coltice and Rey, 2008 Earth Planetary Science Letters, with a mention in the NewScientist, v. 2689.

• Archean Dual-Mode Geodynamics: Rey, Coltice and Flament, 2024 Element v. 20.

Patrice has solved a 150 year old problem by proposing the first explanation for the formation of precious opal, Australia's national gemstone (Rey, 2013 Australian Journal of Earth Sciences). This paper became the most downloaded of the journal, and he was awarded the 2013 Geology Society of Australia A.B. Edwards Medal from its Economic Geology branch.

In 2014, he co-lead a group of geologists, geophysicists and computer scientists to build the Basin Genesis Hub, a research group focussing on the formation of sedimentary basins. It is funded by a $5.4m grant from the Australian Research Council under the Industrial Transformation Research Hub scheme, and Chevron, Oil Search and Statoil.

In 2014, he became Fellow of the Geological Society of America, an honour that is "...bestowed on the best of our profession in recognition of distinguished contributions to the geosciences".

On July 30^th 2020 at 21:50 Sydney time, NASA successfully launched a spacecraft carrying the rover Perseverance to Mars. Patrice smuggled a piece of Australian rock onboard the rover. This 3.5 Gyr old rock fragment is critical to the calibration of Perseverance's scientific instruments. 

Professor Rey's research aligns with the Faculty of Science Research Strengths - Understanding Our Planet, Critical Minerals and Materials, Climate and Environmental Change, Net Zero Technologies.