Project Aims 

Several abrupt and rapid climatic events characterised the Late Quaternary period with significant temperature shifts of 5–10 ºC, some of which occurred within decades, affecting the whole of the North Atlantic region. A key question that is essential to the understanding of the climate-forcing mechanisms is whether these events as well as the environmental response to them were synchronous within the continental, marine and polar realms. Tephrochronology is one of the few techniques that have the potential to address this question and in particular the tephra record within the Greenland ice-cores forms a central component of this work. Progress towards constructing a tephrochronology framework has already been accomplished by the Swansea group with several tephra layers (visible and cryptotephra horizons) detected in the Greenland records, some of which perform as tie-points to North Atlantic marine records. This work has, however, highlighted a significant methodological problem whereby some tephra layers identified in the ice-cores are not accompanied by a chemical signal in the ice. As the ice chemostratigraphy is used to pinpoint the position of volcanic layers, this raises a number of questions regarding the completeness of the tephrochronology framework constructed so far. In particular, a number of the key volcanic events (e.g. Laacher See Tephra, Borrobol Tephra and Campanian Ignimbrite) may have been missed.

A new approach is adopted for the NEEM ice-core whereby samples from the entire length of the core are collected specifically for tephra screening. The student will investigate the tephra record during key intervals of the last glacial period and Termination I to add to the current tephrochronology framework and pinpoint key tie-points for correlating the ice-cores to marine and terrestrial records. This work will be undertaken in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen and there may be an opportunity to participate in one of the NEEM field seasons. Geochemical characterisation of tephras will be undertaken by electron microprobe techniques (University of Edinburgh) and Laser Ablation ICP-MS (Aberystwyth University).

The successful candidate will:

• Possess (as a minimum) a BSc/BA (Hons) degree class 2(i) in Geography, Geology, Environmental Science, or related discipline;
• Join an internationally leading team in Environmental Change at the Department of Geography;
• Be based at the Swansea University and will be expected to visit and work at the University of Copenhagen, Aberystwyth University and the University of Edinburgh;
• Receive training in research design; laboratory and analytical techniques;
• Be encouraged to direct the research within the broad remit described above.

Funding

This project is eligible for competitive funding through NERC studentships awarded to the Department. Other funding opportunities are available and self-funded students are always welcome. Contact your potential supervisor for advice and details of how to apply. The closing date for applications to NERC studentships is 19 March 2010.

Further details about this opportunity are available from Dr Siwan Davies (siwan.davies@swan.ac.uk).

Applications may be made on-line at www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate