[Aqualist] PhD opportunities in palaeoclimatology and geochemistry at the University of Adelaide

[Jonathan Tyler]

Dear All,

I'd like to flag up a number of PhD opportunities related to
palaeoclimatology, geochemistry and Quaternary science at the University of
Adelaide.

Applicants will be required to successfully apply for an Australian
Postgraduate Award (APA), for which the deadline is October 31st, 2014.

Depending on the project, postgraduates will be enrolled either in the
Department of Earth Sciences (currently School of Earth and Environmental
Sciences), or the Discipline of Geography, Environment and Population. All
projects fall under the wider umbrella of the Sprigg Geobiology Centre, and
there will be opportunities to engage with other research centres at the
university.

A number of specific projects are available, and these are listed below.
However if you have your own ideas, please feel free to get in touch.

Projects:

1) Using conventional and clumped isotope geochemistry from lake sediments
to unravel lateglacial temperature and hydrological change in southeastern
Australia. This project will be linked to the ARC Discovery Project "The
application of clumped isotope thermometry to the terrestrial environment",
in collaboration with Allan Chivas (Wollongong) and Russell Drysdale
(Melbourne). It will seek to apply a number of novel and established
techniques to reconstruct climate variability during the last 20,000 years.
Contact: Jonathan Tyler (jonathan.tyler at adelaide.edu.au).

2) Mollusc sclerochronology as a means of deciphering sub-annual
hydrological change in the Lower Murray. The geochemical analysis of annual
carbonate growth increments within modern and fossil molluscs is a rapidly
expanding field, offering potential to derive sub-annual palaeoclimate data
over thousands of years. This project will seek to validate and apply the
technique to wetlands in southeastern Australia, in collaboration with
Bronwyn Gillanders (Adelaide). Analytical costs are funded in part by a
Mark Mitchell Foundation grant. Contact: Jonathan Tyler (
jonathan.tyler at adelaide.edu.au).

3) Laminated lake sediments as an archive of high resolution climate
variability during the last 2000 years in Australia. Precisely dated,
highly resolved and quantitative hydrological records are critically scarce
in Australia. This project will seek to exploit a number of laminated lake
sediment records, applying micro-facies and geochemical tools, to obtain
palaeoclimate data at possibly annual resolution. Contact: Jonathan Tyler (
jonathan.tyler at adelaide.edu.au).

4) Isotope ratios of fossilized leaf waxes as a palaeoaridity index.
 Carbon and hydrogen isotope ratios of leaf wax lipids are related to the
plant's growth environment.  This project will use these relationships to
reconstruct aridity changes during the Cenozoic of Australia and New
Zealand.  Linked to ARC Future Fellowship "Palaeoclimate reconstructions
from the isotopic signatures of fossil leaf waxes". Contact: Francesca
McInerney (cesca.mcinerney at adelaide.edu.au).

5) Modern calibration of the isotope ratios of leaves as rain gauges. This
project will take a multi-isotope approach to leaves as recorders of
precipitation, employing carbon, hydrogen and oxygen of cellulose from
modern leaves.  The aim will be to develop a proxy relevant to Quaternary
palaeoclimate records of Australia.  Linked to ARC Future Fellowship
"Palaeoclimate reconstructions from the isotopic signatures of fossil leaf
waxes". Contact: Francesca McInerney (cesca.mcinerney at adelaide.edu.au).

6) Reconstructing Australian megafaunal extinction histories using
luminescence dating techniques. This project would aim to establish
temporal constraints on long-term megafaunal turnovers and
palaeoenvironmental change at Late, Middle and Early Pleistocene sites
across South Australia. The PhD student would be responsible for
undertaking detailed regional-scale chronological reconstructions, as well
as site-specific studies, and would be expected to pursue advancements in
luminescence dating methodological research. The study would by linked to
ARC Future Fellowship "Trying times: Millennial to million year
chronologies for improved reconstructions of Australian megafaunal
extinctions." Contact: Lee Arnold (lee.arnold at adelaide.edu.au)



7) High-resolution numerical chronologies of climate and environmental
change in southeast Queensland spanning the last glacial cycle. This
project would focus on single-grain OSL dating of lacustrine and coastal
sedimentary sequences from North Stradbroke Island. The project will form
part of a broader, multi-proxy study of the North Stradbroke Island lakes
records led by John Tibby. Contact: Lee Arnold (lee.arnold at adelaide.edu.au).

8) Environmental change in the sub-tropics through the last glacial cycle.
 During the last glacial cycle people inhabited the Australian continent,
the last of the megafauna became extinct and climate underwent large
fluctuations.  This project seeks to document environmental responses to
these changes via analysis of new >100,000 year long wetland sequences on
North Stradbroke Island.  Contact: John Tibby (john.tibby at adelaide.edu.au)

9) Biogenesis of soils. Recent biogeochemical studies in sand dunes of
south west Western Australia challenge the traditional paradigm that clay B
horizons, ferricretes and calcretes are formed principally by
physico-chemical weathering, illuviation and/or sedimentological processes.
This project seeks to test the biotic influence using techniques such as
stable isotope geochemistry, resistant mineral weathering, and TL dating.
Contact David Chittleborough (david.chittleborough at adelaide.edu.au)


10) Luminescence dating using zircons. The potential for luminescence from
zircon grains to provide a robust means of archaeological and geological
dating with unique advantages over other techniques is an intriguing
concept which has been recognised in the scientific literature for over 40
years, but without becoming a reality. The objective of this project is to
apply the novel “Photon-Counting Imaging System” (PCIS) to investigate the
potential for dating the time of deposition of a biologically-modified
sediment deposit from Lake Chillinup, WA, using luminescence from zircon
grains extracted from the sediment. Contact Nigel Spooner (
nigel.spooner at adelaide.edu.au) or David Chittleborough (
david.chittleborough at adelaide.edu.au).


best wishes

Jonathan


-- 
Dr. Jonathan J. Tyler
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Adelaide
South Australia 5001
Australia
+61 (08) 8313 2810