Cryo: [CRYOLIST] Funded PhD opportunity in sea level change at Northumbria University, UK

Monday, June 27, 2016

[CRYOLIST] Funded PhD opportunity in sea level change at Northumbria University, UK

Dear all,

A funded PhD project is available in the Department of Geography at Northumbria University to start in October 2016. The studentship funding includes a three-year stipend and support for fieldwork and meetings. Funding is available to UK and international students. The deadline for applications is 22^nd July 2016.

Holocene sea-level change and palaeoseismicity in Chile

This project would be supervised by Dr Emma Hocking (Northumbria University), Dr Ed Garrett (Geological Survey of Belgium) and Dr Ben Brock (Northumbria University). We would encourage potential applicants to contact emma.hocking@northumbria.ac.uk to discuss the project prior to application.

This PhD seeks to understand both long-term and abrupt relative sea-level (RSL) change in Chile. There is a paucity of RSL data from Chile, and where data do exist there is a discrepancy between observations and models. Glacial isostatic adjustment models suggest RSL has been falling along the Pacific coast of South America since the mid-Holocene, but there are field observations to suggest sea-level rise over the last millennium. Further data are necessary to constrain these models and to try to better understand the drivers of Holocene RSL change, which include great earthquakes, ongoing tectonic deformation, isostatic response since the last glacial maximum, neoglacial forebulge migration and collapse, and global eustasy. We have identified sites for sea-level reconstruction that will potentially be able to provide some key constraints on models, on the timing and magnitude of the mid-Holocene highstand, as well as directing where evidence for historic great earthquakes may be preserved. The candidate may also choose to focus on the latter, reconstructing abrupt RSL changes caused by great earthquakes. Palaeoseismic research has advanced significantly in south-central Chile since the 2010 earthquake, but there are still relatively few quantitative reconstructions of deformation for historic earthquakes. Such records are essential for providing long-term perspectives on the recurrence, magnitude and variability of earthquakes. In southern Chile, records of earthquake occurrence are also discontinuous, which prevents determination of earthquake recurrence intervals. A site has been identified in southern Tierra del Fuego for developing a full earthquake chronology.

There is flexibility to develop these ideas, as well as to focus on either the sea-level or palaeoearthquake history. The project will involve fieldwork to Chile, sampling tidal marsh and bog sediments, and raised marine deposits. You will use a variety of field, microfossil (diatoms), laboratory, dating, and analytical techniques. Full training will be given.

Full details of the application procedure can be found on Northumbria University’s postgraduate student application page:

https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research-degrees/how-to-apply/

The full advert can be found at:

https://www.findaphd.com/search/ProjectDetails.aspx?PJID=72944

Kind regards

Emma

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Dr Emma Hocking (née Watcham)

Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, Faculty of Engineering and Environment

T: +44 (0)191 243 7838