[Aqualist] PhD scholarship (University of Wollongong)

[Barrows, Timothy]

>From Allan Chivas <toschi at uow.edu.au<mailto:toschi at uow.edu.au>>

PhD scholarship in palaeotemperatures from clumped-isotope geochemistry (University of Wollongong)

A fully funded PhD scholarship is offered to support the recently announced Australian Research Council Discovery Project on 'the application of clumped isotope thermometry to the terrestrial environment'.  This is a new technique applied to biogenic and inorganic carbonates to determine their temperatures of formation  (+/- 1.5 deg C) and O-18/O-16 ratios of water from which the carbonates precipitated, and thus palaeohydrological changes.  Fieldwork will be in New Zealand and Australia using palaeosols and lake sediments.  Co-investigators include, among others,  Dr Jonathan Tyler (University of Adelaide), A/Prof. Russell Drysdale (University of Melbourne) and Dr Peter Almond (Lincoln University, NZ).

Applicants from Australia and New Zealand are expected to have a BSc(Hons 1 or 2A) or MSc and a strong background in chemistry and palaeoenvironments.  A recent review of the methodology is Eiler, J.M. 2011. Paleoclimate reconstruction using carbonate clumped isotope thermometry.  Quaternary Science Reviews 30: 3575-3588.  The UoW laboratory is the only facility in Australasia currently performing such research.  The PhD scholarship includes tuition fees and a 3-year (extendable) stipend, currently A$25,392 (tax-free) per annum.

Further information is available from Prof. Allan R. Chivas (toschi at uow.edu.au<mailto:toschi at uow.edu.au>).  There is loose deadline for applications of late February 2014, at which time an appointment will be made.