Dr Alicia Caruso
Spectral Geologist, Geological Survey of South Australia
Bachelor of Science (Mineral Geoscience), Bachelor of Science (Honours, Environmental Biology), Doctor of Philosophy (Remote Sensing Geoscience)
November 2021
Alicia holding two Data Metallogenica plates containing impressive samples from the Cerro Verde ore field in Peru and the Burra mine in South Australia.
Dr Alicia Caruso is a Spectral Geologist at the Geological Survey of South Australia. She collects data on a fancy machine called a HyLogger. The Hylogger collects high resolution data about the minerals in rocks.
Alicia and her team mostly scan drill core - tubes of rock drilled out of the ground, collected from a drill rig. Each day she makes sure the machine is running smoothly (they can have grumpy machine days!), processes data the Survey has previously collected, and uploads completed data the Survey’s public data portal.
She also gets to deep dive into data the Survey has collected on mineral deposits. She aims to understand changes in particular minerals, which can tell us about how the deposit formed millions of years ago.
What are the best parts about your job?
What are the hardest parts?
The best part is that every day is different! There is almost always something to keep an eye on with our machine, specialist machines and software can be very fussy! The hardest thing is what I’m working on right now, going deeper into the data we collect and trying to provide meaningful interpretation of different minerals we see within ore deposits in South Australia.
Alicia collecting field spectral data for her PhD with an ASD Field Spectrometer in the Gawler Ranges, SA.
Why did you choose this career pathway?
I think I just kind of stumbled into this pathway? Spectral geology wasn’t taught at University and I came across it while doing research in my Honours year.
I was particularly interested in using Remote Sensing for geological applications–which became the basis for my PhD research.
The benefits are you get to work on really cool, high resolution data and make that publicly available.
The negatives are that there aren’t many people to ask for help when you need it! The spectral geology community is quite small and if they can’t answer your question you can end up a little stuck.
What are the major challenges in your field?
A major challenge is making sense of some of our data - we basically just interpret squiggly lines!
There are many factors that we need to consider when interpreting data, especially when it doesn’t appear as we expect. We end up asking a lot of questions about the material we’ve analysed and trying to understand what lead to this outcome, sometimes this can be pretty time consuming.
How did you get to your current role?
When I finished my undergraduate degree in geology, I thought I’d get a job in mining straightaway and work on mine sites (spoiler alert: I didn’t). So I found a topic I really enjoyed, developed a project idea and did a PhD. As I was finishing off my PhD, I came across a great Postdoctoral research role at the University of Newcastle using the skills I’d developed during my PhD, and providing an opportunity to expand my geological knowledge.
I really enjoyed doing research and learning the geology of another state, but when this role at the Geological Survey of SA came up, I would’ve been crazy not to jump at the opportunity to immerse myself in spectral geology
Some of the racks storing drill core from the South Australia Drill Core Reference Library where Alicia works. So many rocks!
What were your career worries and expectations when you were at uni?
I was expecting to become a mine geo after I finished University. I was excited at the prospect of being in a regional area or maybe even getting a FIFO job! But just as I finished my undergraduate degree, the mining industry took a steep dive and ended up in a bust for a few years. My backup career option was to become an accountant!
The industry has bounced back since, and it gave me an opportunity to find mining-adjacent job options that I could apply myself to - something I didn’t imagine while doing my degree.
I still worry about the cyclical nature of the industry, but my employment doesn’t rely on this entirely now, which is a bit of a relief.
What advice would you give to students in your study area trying to decide on a career path?
Find the topic or thing that gets you really excited about Earth Science, or another science, or something else totally different! You are allowed to change your mind after you start on a particular pathway - sometimes not everything works as you anticipated and that’s ok too. I made one decision at University and it changed my whole career trajectory for the better!