[Aqualist] New PhD projects at RSES, ANU

[Michael Gagan]

Dear Colleagues,

We have two new PhD topics available in the Earth Environment area of the
Research School of Earth Sciences, ANU.  If you know of students who may be
interested in working with our team on corals and speleothems in Indonesia,
please have them contact Mike Gagan and Linda Ayliffe for detailed
descriptions of
the projects, and how to apply (see contact info. below).

The fieldwork and laboratory components of the projects will be fully
funded by RSES and the Australian Research Council.  The deadline for
Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) scholarship applications is 31 October
2006 (to start by 31 March 2007).

Brief descriptions of the projects follow.

Many thanks,

Mike Gagan

..................................

PROJECT 1:  THE INDIAN OCEAN DIPOLE, AUSTRALASIAN DROUGHT, AND THE
GREAT-EARTHQUAKE CYCLE: LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVES FOR IMPROVED PREDICTION

The Indian Ocean Dipole is now recognised as a climate system of
international importance because of its effect on rainfall in Indonesia,
Australia, Asia, and East Africa. Resolving the debate about how the Dipole
and ENSO climate systems interact, and how they respond to different
background climates, is essential for understanding the nature of drought
in southern Australasia.  Would you like to work with an international team
to build on advances made at RSES in the microanalysis of stable-isotopes
and trace elements in recently discovered corals from the Mentawai Islands,
Sumatra, in western Indonesia?  Corals from the Mentawai Islands are well
located to quantify the range of IOD variability during times when Earth's
climate was different from the present day.

You will also have the special opportunity to answer a pressing question in
the collective mind of Australasian society, how often do great-earthquakes
occur and where will one strike next?  The nature of great compound
earthquakes, such the Boxing Day 2004 / Easter Monday 2005 event in
Sumatra, is poorly understood, largely because the regularity of
catastrophic earthquakes in space and time remains unanswered.  This facet
of the project will develop geochemical tracers in corals to reconstruct
the recurrence intervals of great submarine earthquakes and tsunamis in
Australasia.

You will join an experienced international team from Australia (ANU, AIMS,
CSIRO), Indonesia (LIPI), and the USA (Caltech, U. Wisconsin) who have
complementary skills in geochemistry, geochronology, palaeoclimatology,
ocean-atmosphere dynamics, palaeoclimate modelling, and palaeoseismology.
The ideal candidate will enjoy fieldwork on the coral reefs of Indonesia
(mapping, surveying, coral drilling, water sampling) and the development /
application of innovative laboratory techniques.

Contact Dr Mike Gagan (Michael.Gagan at anu.edu.au) and Dr Linda Ayliffe
(Linda.Ayliffe at anu.edu.au) for further information.

..................................

PROJECT 2:  MONSOON EXTREMES, ENVIRONMENTAL SHIFTS, AND CATASTROPHIC
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS: QUANTIFYING IMPACTS ON THE EARLY HUMAN HISTORY OF
SOUTHERN AUSTRALASIA

The recent discovery of the dwarf hominin Homo floresiensis (the 'Hobbit')
on the island of Flores in southeastern Indonesia revealed the surprising
diversity of early humans in Australasia.  How they survived in apparent
isolation for tens of millennia, and the cause of their recent extinction,
are topics of great debate. The surprisingly recent extinction of the
Hobbit is particularly intriguing.  This project is designed to answer a
key question, could abrupt climate changes, unprecedented environmental
shifts, or catastrophic volcanic eruptions have played a role in human
dispersal, and extinction, in southern Australasia?

Recent advances in geochronology and the microanalysis of stable-isotope
ratios and elemental concentrations in carbonate cave formations
(speleothems) have opened a new era in tropical palaeoclimatology and
global change research.  Your PhD research will focus on the important task
of reconstructing the history of monsoon rainfall extremes, environmental
shifts, and catastrophic volcanic eruptions over the past 150,000 years
using speleothems from western Flores.  During a caving expedition to
Flores in August 2006, our team discovered material suitable for this
research near the Hobbit occupation site.  A major expedition is scheduled
for 2007 to collect speleothems from these, and neighbouring sites.

You will join an experienced international team from Australia (ANU, U.
Queensland, U. Newcastle), Indonesia (LIPI), and the USA (NASA Goddard
Institute for Space Studies) who have complementary skills in geochemistry,
geochronology, palaeoclimatology, palaeoclimate modelling, and speleology.
The ideal candidate will enjoy fieldwork in the karst limestone terranes of
western Flores (mapping, surveying, speleothem drilling / collecting, water
sampling) and the development / application of innovative laboratory
techniques.

Contact Dr Linda Ayliffe (Linda.Ayliffe at anu.edu.au) and Dr Mike Gagan
(Michael.Gagan at anu.edu.au) for further information.