Laura Morrissey

School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

My Research
Publications
Supervision
Contact

I am a geologist who applies principles of metamorphic petrology to understand a variety of larger questions relating to tectonics, high temperature processes and ore deposit genesis. Metamorphic petrology involves determining the pressures and temperatures that rocks experienced, based on their mineral assemblages and chemistry. Metamorphic rocks can be used to understand the processes that have shaped the Earth over billions of years.

My current research interests include:

Tectonics and continental reconstructions of Australia and Antarctica, including implications for the location of mineral deposits.
The generation of highly saline fluids and their role in ore deposit genesis
How critical elements are transported and concentrated during geological processes
Metamorphism and its role in driving long-term chemical and rheological changes to the crust

Journals

Year	Citation
2025	Yu, J., Hand, M., Payne, J. L., Morrissey, L. J., Simpson, A., Glorie, S., & Chen, Y. -J. (2025). Innovation in apatite Lu-Hf geochronology opens new opportunity for copper systems in southern Australia during the Nuna destruction. Mineralium Deposita, 60(5), 895-909. DOI Scopus1 WoS2
2025	March, S., Hand, M., Morrissey, L., & Kelsey, D. (2025). Thermal buffering-controlled temperature variation between Mg-Al-rich rocks and migmatites. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 3038-1-3038-14. DOI Scopus1 WoS1
2025	Brown, D. A., Hand, M., Morrissey, L. J., Payne, J. L., & McNeill, A. W. (2025). Warm continental subduction initiated by back-arc collapse: Evidence from remote south-west Tasmania. Geoscience Frontiers, 16(3), 102009. DOI
2025	Lister, G., Forster, M., Morrissey, L., Quentin de Gromard, R., & Kelsey, D. (2025). Simulation and modelling of an argon age spectrum from biotite in the Yilgarn Craton immediately adjacent to the Albany–Fraser Orogen, Western Australia. Journal of Structural Geology, 199, 105487. DOI
2025	Mulder, J., Halpin, J., Morrissey, L., Zoleikhaei, Y., Everard, J., Meffre, S., . . . Cawood, P. (2025). Zircon Inheritance Refines the Cambrian Orogenic Architecture of Southeast Australia. Tektonika, 3(2). DOI
2024	March, S., Hand, M., Morrissey, L., & Kelsey, D. (2024). The inhibited response of accessory minerals during high-temperature reworking. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 42(2), 257-289. DOI Scopus3 WoS3
2024	Yu, J., Morrissey, L. J., Hand, M., Payne, J. L., & Chen, Y. J. (2024). The Fe-Cu disconnect: unraveling a composite iron oxide copper-gold deposit in the Olympic Fe-Cu-Au province, Gawler Craton. Economic Geology, 119(1), 189-199. DOI Scopus2 WoS3
2024	Yu, J., Hand, M., Morrissey, L. J., & Payne, J. L. (2024). A buried gneiss dome in the northern Gawler Craton: The record of early Mesoproterozoic (ca. 1600–1560 Ma) extension in southern Proterozoic Australia. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 42(4), 497-527. DOI Scopus1 WoS2
2024	Brown, D. A., Morrissey, L. J., Hand, M., Mulder, J. A., Wade, B., & Barrote, V. (2024). The metamorphic footprint of western Laurentia preserved in subducted rocks from southern Australia. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 42(5), 729-765. DOI Scopus1 WoS2
2024	March, S., Hand, M., Morrissey, L., & Kelsey, D. (2024). Extension during the Liebig Orogeny: Revised tectonic setting of Paleoproterozoic central Australia. Gondwana Research, 134, 365-384. DOI Scopus4 WoS5
2023	De Vries Van Leeuwen, A. T., Raimondo, T., Morrissey, L. J., Hand, M., Hasterok, D., Clark, C., & Anczkiewicz, R. (2023). Radiogenic heat production drives Cambrian–Ordovician metamorphism of the Curnamona Province, south-Central Australia: Insights from petrochronology and thermal modelling. Lithos, 446-447, 107137-1-107137-18. DOI Scopus1 WoS1
2023	Bockmann, M. J., Payne, J. L., Hand, M., Morrissey, L. J., & Belperio, A. P. (2023). Linking the Gawler Craton and Mount Isa Province through hydrothermal systems in the Peake and Denison Domain, northeastern Gawler Craton. Geoscience Frontiers, 14(5), 101596-1-101596-18. DOI Scopus5 WoS5
2023	Morrissey, L. J., Payne, J. L., Hand, M., Clark, C., & Janicki, M. (2023). One billion years of tectonism at the Paleoproterozoic interface of North and South Australia. Precambrian Research, 393, 107077-1-107077-21. DOI Scopus5 WoS5
2023	Hamisi, J., Etschmann, B., Tomkins, A., Pitcairn, I., Pintér, Z., Wlodek, A., . . . Brugger, J. (2023). Complex sulfur speciation in scapolite – Implications for the role of scapolite as a redox and fluid chemistry buffer in crustal fluids. Gondwana Research, 121, 418-435. DOI Scopus9 WoS9
2022	Varga, J., Raimondo, T., Morrissey, L., Kelsey, D. E., & Hand, M. (2022). Pressure-temperature-time constraints on gneiss dome formation in an intracontinental orogen. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 40(3), 457-488. DOI Scopus9 WoS8
2022	Yu, J., Li, N., Zhang, B., Ulrich, T., Chen, X., Hand, M., . . . Chen, Y. J. (2022). Perspective of Permian porphyry Cu-Au mineralization in Chinese Western Tianshan: Constraints from sulfide Re-Os dating and trace element study of the Kuruer deposit, Xinjiang. Ore Geology Reviews, 142, 1-15. DOI Scopus9 WoS8
2022	Yu, J., Li, N., Qi, N., Xu, C., Huang, P. C., Hand, M., . . . Chen, Y. J. (2022). Geochemical, geochronological and isotopic studies of the Taishanmiao batholith and the Zhuyuangou Mo deposit it hosted, Qinling, China. Ore Geology Reviews, 142, 1-18. DOI Scopus4 WoS5
2022	Morrissey, L. J., Card, C. D., & Reid, A. J. (2022). Pressure-temperature-time constraints on metamorphism in the southeastern Taltson Domain, Saskatchewan, Canada. Precambrian Research, 373, 106643-1-106643-20. DOI Scopus3 WoS3
2022	Brown, D. A., Simpson, A., Hand, M., Morrissey, L. J., Gilbert, S., Tamblyn, R., & Glorie, S. (2022). Laser-ablation Lu-Hf dating reveals Laurentian garnet in subducted rocks from southern Australia. Geology, 50(7), 837-842. DOI Scopus21 WoS19
2022	Clark, A. D., Morrissey, L. J., Doublier, M. P., Kositcin, N., Schofield, A., & Skirrow, R. G. (2022). A newly recognised 1860–1840 Ma tectono-magmatic domain in the North Australia Craton: Insights from the Tennant Region, East Tennant area, and the Murphy Inlier. Precambrian Research, 375, 106652-1-106652-17. DOI Scopus6 WoS7
2022	Snape, J. F., Nemchin, A. A., Johnson, T., Luginbühl, S., Berndt, J., Klemme, S., . . . van Westrenen, W. (2022). Experimental constraints on the long-lived radiogenic isotope evolution of the Moon. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 326, 119-148. DOI Scopus9 WoS8
2022	De Vries Van Leeuwen, A. T., Morrissey, L. J., Raimondo, T., & Hand, M. (2022). Prolonged high thermal gradient metamorphism in the Curnamona Province, south-central Australia, during the latter stages of Nuna assembly. Precambrian Research, 378, 1-24. DOI Scopus5 WoS7
2022	Bockmann, M. J., Hand, M., Morrissey, L. J., Payne, J. L., Hasterok, D., Teale, G., & Conor, C. (2022). Punctuated Geochronology within a Sustained High-Temperature Thermal Regime in the Southeastern Gawler Craton. Lithos, 430-431, 1-18. DOI Scopus9 WoS10
2021	Johnson, T. E., Morrissey, L. J., Nemchin, A. A., Gardiner, N. J., & Snape, J. F. (2021). The phases of the Moon: Modelling crystallisation of the lunar magma ocean through equilibrium thermodynamics. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 556, 116721. DOI Scopus43 WoS43
2021	De Vries Van Leeuwen, A. T., Hand, M., Morrissey, L. J., & Raimondo, T. (2021). Th‐U powered metamorphism: thermal consequences of a chemical hotspot. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 39(5), 541-565. DOI Scopus11 WoS11
2021	Brown, D. A., Hand, M., & Morrissey, L. J. (2021). Zircon petrochronology and mineral equilibria of the eclogites from western Tasmania: Interrogating the early Palaeozoic East Gondwana subduction record. Gondwana Research, 93, 252-274. DOI Scopus6 WoS7
2021	Brown, D. A., Morrissey, L. J., Goodge, J. W., & Hand, M. (2021). Absence of evidence for Palaeoproterozoic eclogite-facies metamorphism in East Antarctica: no record of subduction orogenesis during Nuna development. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 6717-1-6717-11. DOI Scopus10 WoS9 Europe PMC1
2021	Payne, J. L., Morrissey, L. J., Tucker, N. M., Roche, L. K., Szpunar, M. A., & Neroni, R. (2021). Granites and gabbros at the dawn of a coherent Australian continent. Precambrian Research, 359, 106189. DOI Scopus18 WoS18
2020	Alessio, K. L., Hand, M., Hasterok, D., Morrissey, L. J., Kelsey, D. E., & Raimondo, T. (2020). Thermal modelling of very long-lived (>140 Myr) high thermal gradient metamorphism as a result of radiogenic heating in the Reynolds Range, central Australia. Lithos, 352-353, 105280-1-105280-14. DOI Scopus13 WoS12
2020	Brown, D. A., Hand, M., Morrissey, L. J., & Goodge, J. W. (2020). Cambrian eclogite-facies metamorphism in the central Transantarctic Mountains, East Antarctica: extending the record of early Palaeozoic high-pressure metamorphism along the eastern Gondwanan margin. Lithos, 366-367, 1-19. DOI Scopus14 WoS14
2020	Brown, D. A., Tamblyn, R., Hand, M., & Morrissey, L. J. (2020). Thermobarometric constraints on burial and exhumation of 2-billion-year-old eclogites and their metapelitic hosts. Precambrian Research, 347, 105833-1-105833-33. DOI Scopus11 WoS10
2020	Tamblyn, R., Hand, M., Morrissey, L., Zack, T., Phillips, G., & Och, D. (2020). Resubduction of lawsonite eclogite within a serpentinite-filled subduction channel. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 175(8), 1-22. DOI Scopus21 WoS18
2020	Tamblyn, R., Brown, D., Hand, M., Morrissey, L., Clark, C., & Anczkiewicz, R. (2020). The 2 Ga eclogites of Central Tanzania: directly linking age and metamorphism. Lithos, 380-381, 105890-1-105890-13. DOI Scopus15 WoS14
2020	Morrissey, L. J., & Tomkins, A. G. (2020). Evaporite-bearing orogenic belts produce ligand-rich and diverse metamorphic fluids. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 275, 163-187. DOI Scopus33 WoS30
2019	Mulder, J. A., Halpin, J. A., Daczko, N. R., Orth, K., Meffre, S., Thompson, J. M., & Morrissey, L. J. (2019). A Multiproxy provenance approach to uncovering the assembly of East Gondwana in Antarctica. Geology, 47(7), 645-649. DOI Scopus51 WoS47
2019	Prent, A. M., Beinlich, A., Morrissey, L. J., Raimondo, T., Clark, C., & Putnis, A. (2019). Monazite as a monitor for melt-rock interaction during cooling and exhumation. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 37(3), 415-438. DOI Scopus17 WoS15
2019	Tamblyn, R., Zack, T., Schmitt, A. K., Hand, M., Kelsey, D., Morrissey, L., . . . Savov, I. P. (2019). Blueschist from the Mariana forearc records long-lived residence of material in the subduction channel. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 519, 171-181. DOI Scopus45 WoS41
2019	De Vries Van Leeuwen, A. T., Morrissey, L. J., Kelsey, D. E., & Raimondo, T. (2019). Recognition of Pan-African-aged metamorphism in the Fisher Terrane, central Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica. Journal of the Geological Society, 176(4), 785-798. DOI Scopus14 WoS13
2019	Morrissey, L. J., Barovich, K. M., Hand, M., Howard, K. E., & Payne, J. L. (2019). Magmatism and metamorphism at ca. 1.45 Ga in the northern Gawler Craton: the Australian record of rifting within Nuna (Columbia). Geoscience Frontiers, 10(1), 175-194. DOI Scopus36 WoS37
2018	Williams, M., Kelsey, D., Hand, M., Raimondo, T., Morrissey, L., Tucker, N., & Dutch, R. (2018). Further evidence for two metamorphic events in the Mawson Continent. Antarctic Science, 30(1), 44-65. DOI Scopus8 WoS9
2018	Bhowany, K., Hand, M., Clark, C., Kelsey, D., Reddy, S., Pearce, M., . . . Morrissey, L. (2018). Phase equilibria modelling constraints on P-T conditions during fluid catalysed conversion of granulite to eclogite in the Bergen Arcs, Norway. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 36(3), 315-342. DOI Scopus43 WoS43
2018	Alessio, K., Hand, M., Kelsey, D., Williams, M., Morrissey, L., & Barovich, K. (2018). Conservation of deep crustal heat production. Geology, 46(4), 335-338. DOI Scopus40 WoS35
2018	Williams, M. A., Kelsey, D. E., Hand, M., Raimondo, T., Morrissey, L. J., Tucker, N. M., & Dutch, R. A. (2018). Erratum: Further evidence for two metamorphic events in the Mawson Continent (Antarctic Science (2017) 30 (44-65) DOI: 10.1017/S0954102017000451). Antarctic Science, 30(3), 149. DOI
2018	Tucker, N. M., Morrissey, L. J., Payne, J. L., & Szpunar, M. (2018). Genesis of the Archean–Paleoproterozoic Tabletop Domain, Rudall Province, and its endemic relationship to the West Australian Craton. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 65(6), 739-768. DOI Scopus13 WoS13
2018	He, X., Hand, M., Santosh, M., Kelsey, D., Morrissey, L., & Tsunogae, T. (2018). Long-lived metamorphic P–T–t evolution of the Highland Complex, Sri Lanka: Insights from mafic granulites. Precambrian Research, 316, 227-243. DOI Scopus32 WoS29
2017	Morrissey, L., Payne, J., Hand, M., Clark, C., Taylor, R., Kirkland, C., & Kylander-Clark, A. (2017). Linking the Windmill Islands, East Antarctica and the Albany-Fraser Orogen: insights from U–Pb zircon geochronology and Hf isotopes. Precambrian Research, 293, 131-149. DOI Scopus58 WoS55
2017	Alessio, K., Hand, M., Morrissey, L., Kelsey, D., & Payne, J. (2017). Melt reintegration modelling: Testing against a subsolidus reference assemblage. Geosciences, 7(3), 75-1-75-21. DOI Scopus11 WoS10
2017	Kelsey, D., Morrissey, L., Hand, M., Clark, C., Tamblyn, R., Gaehl, A., & Marshall, S. (2017). Significance of post-peak metamorphic reaction microstructures in the ultrahigh temperature Eastern Ghats Province, India. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 35(9), 1081-1109. DOI Scopus20 WoS20
2017	Morrissey, L., Hand, M., & Kelsey, D. (2017). A curious case of agreement between conventional thermobarometry and phase equilibria modelling in granulites: new constraints on P-T estimates in the Antarctica segment of the Musgrave-Albany-Fraser-Wilkes Orogen. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 35(9), 1023-1050. DOI Scopus24 WoS22
2016	Morrissey, L., Hand, M., Lane, K., Kelsey, D., & Dutch, R. (2016). Upgrading iron-ore deposits by melt loss during granulite facies metamorphism. Ore Geology Reviews, 74, 101-121. DOI Scopus21 WoS19
2016	Morrissey, L., Hand, M., Kelsey, D., & Wade, B. (2016). Cambrian high-temperature reworking of the Rayner-Eastern ghats terrane: constraints from the Northern Prince Charles Mountains region, East Antarctica. Journal of Petrology, 57(1), 53-91. DOI Scopus55 WoS47
2015	Morrissey, L., Hand, M., & Kelsey, D. (2015). Multi-stage metamorphism in the Rayner-Eastern Ghats Terrane: P-T-t constraints from the northern Prince Charles Mountains, east Antarctica. Precambrian Research, 267, 137-163. DOI Scopus70 WoS62
2015	Wong, B., Morrissey, L., Hand, M., Fields, C., & Kelsey, D. (2015). Grenvillian-aged reworking of late Paleoproterozoic crust of the southern North Australian Craton, central Australia: implications for the assembly of Mesoproterozoic Australia. Precambrian Research, 270, 100-123. DOI Scopus18 WoS18
2014	Morrissey, L., Hand, M., Raimondo, T., & Kelsey, D. (2014). Long-lived high-T, low-P granulite facies metamorphism in the Arunta Region, central Australia. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 32(1), 25-47. DOI Scopus63 WoS60
2013	Morrissey, L., Hand, M., Wade, B., & Szpunar, M. (2013). Early Mesoproterozoic metamorphism in the Barossa Complex, South Australia : links with the eastern margin of Proterozoic Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 60(8), 769-795. DOI Scopus23 WoS21
2011	Morrissey, L., Payne, J., Kelsey, D., & Hand, M. (2011). Grenvillian-aged reworking in the North Australian Craton, central Australia: Constraints from geochronology and modelled phase equilibria. Precambrian Research, 191(3-4), 141-165. DOI Scopus34 WoS33

Conference Papers

Year	Citation
2021	Brown, D., Simpson, A., Hand, M., Morrissey, L., Gilbert, S., Tamblyn, R., & Glorie, S. (2021). Mesoproterozoic high-grade metamorphism of Laurentian crust recorded in the subducted crustal rocks of western Tasmania: decoding an obscured polymetamorphic record using garnet laser ablation ICP–MS/MS Lu–Hf geochronology. In Goldschmidt Abstracts. online: Goldschmidt.
2019	Brown, D., Tamblyn, R., Hand, M., & Morrissey, L. (2019). Palaeoproterozoic eclogites: exhumation and burial convolution of P-t histories. In Abstracts of the 21st European Geosciences Union General Assembly, as published in Geophysical Research Abstracts Vol. 21. Vienna, Austria.
2017	Bockmann, K., Hand, M., Morrissey, L., Kelsey, D., Williams, M., Hatch, K., & Kemp, C. (2017). Th-U redistribution during fluid-absent partial melting of the crust. In S. Martens (Ed.), 19th EGU General Assembly, EGU2017, proceedings from the conference held 23-28 April, 2017 in Vienna, Austria., p.622 Vol. 19 (pp. 622). Vienna, Austria: Elsevier Procedia.

Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

Date	Role	Research Topic	Program	Degree Type	Student Load	Student Name
2021 - 2025	Co-Supervisor	An Exploration of the Metamorphic Responses of Crustal Rocks to Tectonic Reworking	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Miss Samantha Nicole March
2019 - 2024	Co-Supervisor	An exploration of the obscured metamorphic expression of subducted polytectonic rocks	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Mr Dillon Albert Brown
2018 - 2023	Co-Supervisor	The early Mesoproterozoic tectonic and thermal evolution of the eastern Gawler Craton: implications for mineral systems in eastern Proterozoic Australia	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Mr Mitchell Jae Bockmann
2018 - 2023	Co-Supervisor	The early Mesoproterozoic tectonic systems and IOCG mineralisation in the northern Gawler Craton	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Mr Jie Yu
2017 - 2021	Co-Supervisor	Subduction zone metamorphism: Timescales and emergence in the geological record	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Miss Renee Jade Tamblyn
2017 - 2019	Co-Supervisor	The Effects of High Temperature Metamorphic and Melting Processes on Granulite-Facies Rocks	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Mrs Kiara Louise Alessio

Email: laura.morrissey@adelaide.edu.au

Laura Morrissey

Journals

Conference Papers

Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

Connect With Me

External Profiles