Scholarship Database

PhD Position in Quaternary Geology at the Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology in Stockholm University, Sweden 2011

Study Subject(s):Quaternary Geology
Course Level hD
Scholarship Provider: Stockholm University
Scholarship can be taken at: Sweden

Eligibility:
The candidate should either have obtained a MSc, or acquired a total of 240 higher education credits (of which at least 60 at advanced level), or acquired in some alternative fashion the equivalent knowledge in Earth Sciences or a related topic. Preference will be given to those with a background in Quaternary geology, ecology, limnology, chemistry, palaeo-climatology and diatom analysis. Experience with fieldwork, extensive laboratory (core sub-sampling and sample preparation) and microscope work (fossil analysis), multi-proxy analysis and team work are considered advantageous. Candidates should be self motivated, committed and enthusiastic about working in the laboratory and about conducting fieldwork in remote areas. The PhD dissertation will be written in English.

Scholarship Open for International Students: No

Scholarship Description: We seek to recruit a candidate for a PhD position in Quaternary Geology with emphasis on palaeo-environmental reconstruction. The PhD student to be appointed here will make a proxy-based climate reconstruction for the last interglacial period (Eemian or MIS 5e at around 120 kyr BP) by means of fossil and geobiochemical analyses on a for the North Atlantic region unique sediment sequence preserved at Sokli in northern Finland. The nine meters of Eemian lake sediments recently cored at Sokli allow for a reconstruction of climate at a decadal time-scale in a region where sediments pre-dating the Holocene have been very sparsely preserved. The project will focus on
1) the magnitude of warming at the peak of northern summer insolation at ~125 kyr,
2) the possible occurrence of short-term, major cooling events, and
3) the climate regime at the closing phase of the interglacial at ~115 kyr. The project involves fieldwork in northern Finland, extensive microscope work including the analysis of diatoms and a second biotic proxy (i.e. macrofossils or chironomids), an integration of biotic and abiotic proxy data, and publishing in scientific journals and a thesis. The candidate will conduct part of the fossil analyses abroad in close collaboration with specialists. The position is financed by a project with the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co (SKB) and will provide information for the safety assessment of deep-repositories of nuclear waste in Fennoscandia on glacial-interglacial time-scales.

How to Apply:By post

Scholarship Application Deadline: November 20, 2011

Further Scholarship Information and Application