Rate My Professor Ria Mukherjee

Dr. Ria Mukherjee is a Lecturer in Earth Sciences in the School of Environmental and Rural Science at the University of New England. Prior to this appointment, she served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Geosciences at the University of the Witwatersrand from 2015 to 2017. She holds a PhD from Jadavpur University in India, in addition to bachelor's and master's degrees obtained from institutions in India. Mukherjee's research is focused on understanding the key magmatic processes linked to the formation of critical metals including chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), titanium-vanadium (Ti-V), and platinum-group elements (PGEs). Her work supports exploration efforts for these resources, aligning with the Australian Critical Minerals Strategy 2023-2030, and contributes to maintaining sustainable supply chains essential for green energy transitions, particularly in electric vehicle battery production. Employing strengths in field geology, petrology, and geochemistry, she uses these ores to fingerprint the chemical and geodynamic evolution of Earth.

Her research interests encompass the genesis of chromite, nickel-sulfides, platinum-group elements (PGEs), and magnetite ores through complex crust-mantle processes and fluid/rock interactions. Mukherjee studies Archean greenstone belts to unravel early Earth crust-building processes and tectonics, questioning the principle of uniformitarianism for the Archean eon (3.8-3.0 billion years ago). She is particularly interested in komatiites from these belts (3.5-2.8 Ga), valued for their nickel mineralization and as indicators of past high thermal conditions on Earth. Key publications include 'Petrogenesis of the Late Archean Pillow Basalts from the Chitradurga Greenstone Belt, Western Dharwar Craton (southern India)' (Journal of Earth System Sciences, 2022), 'Origin of sulfide-bearing late Archean komatiitic suite of rocks in the Shankaraghatta ultramafic-mafic belt, Western Dharwar Craton (India)' (Ore Geology Reviews, 2021), 'Platinum-bearing chromite layers are caused by pressure reduction during magma ascent' (Nature Communications, 2018), 'Geochemistry and mineralogy of Pd in the magnetitite layer within the upper gabbro of the Mesoarchean Nuasahi Massif (Orissa, India)' (Mineralium Deposita, 2018), and 'Petrogenesis of the chromite deposits in Archean greenstone belts' (book chapter, 2017).