Rate My Professor Renjie Zhou

Renjie Zhou is Associate Professor in Geochronology and Tectonics in the School of the Environment, Faculty of Science, at the University of Queensland. He holds a Bachelor (Honours) of Engineering from Jilin University, a Masters (Research) of Earth Sciences from the University of Toronto, and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Toronto. As a geoscientist, Zhou's research advances the fundamentals of plate tectonics using integrated field, laboratory, and computational approaches to reveal the geologic history of modern and ancient plate boundaries. He focuses on reconstructing the evolution of plate-margin mountains and basins, which influence regional and global climate, biogeographic evolution, geologic hazards such as earthquakes, and the formation and distribution of natural resources including critical minerals. His fieldwork spans the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau, Central Andes, eastern Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Islands. Zhou leads the UQ Thermochronology Lab and is an advanced user of the UQ Radiogenic Isotope Facility (RIF), specializing in laser ablation ICP-MS techniques for geochronology and geochemistry.

Zhou serves as an Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellow (2024-2027), sponsored by the Queensland State Government in collaboration with critical minerals industry companies, applying geochronology and thermochronology to enhance geoscience knowledge for critical minerals exploration. His research has been funded by Australian Research Council Discovery Projects and the Geological Survey of Queensland. With over 150 publications since 2011, including 97 journal articles, key contributions include "Late Oligocene formation of the Qaidam Basin revealed by calcite U-Pb dating: Insights into the northward growth of Tibetan Plateau" (Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2025), "Oligocene-Miocene northward growth of the Tibetan Plateau: Insights from intermontane basins in the West Qinling Belt, NW China" (Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 2024), "Provenance reassessment of Eocene turbidites, New Caledonia: inferences for obduction models" (Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 2025), "Syn-tectonic deposits uncover uplift and expansion of the Qilian Shan along the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau since the Middle Miocene" (Tectonics, 2025), and "Recycling Subducted Organic Carbon as Diamonds: An Example From the New Caledonia Forearc Ophiolite" (Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 2025). These works significantly impact tectonics, basin analysis, resource geoscience, and understanding of Earth's dynamic plate interactions.