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PhD opportunities in 2010
The projects below are available, subject to funding, beginning next academic year (October 2010). However, we also encourage prospective students to contact us with their own potential research topics . For further details concerning individual research topics please contact the named supervisors below. Details of how to apply, financial support etc. are available from the Graduate School Office .
- Pleistocene history of the Birmingham district (P.L.Gibbard, S.Boreham).
- Middle Pleistocene glacial sedimentation in East Anglia (P.L.Gibbard, S.Boreham, P.Hughes, & J.Ehlers)
- Palaeoenvironmental history of glacial lakes in Greece. (Philip Gibbard, Philip Hughes (Manchester), Charles Turner)
- Quaternary development and palaeoenvironments of the Kalamas-Doliana Basin, Epirus, NW Greece. (P.L.Gibbard, C.Turner).
- The Upper Cretaceous Chalk of southern and eastern England: changes during Tertiary to modern history
(P.L. Gibbard, C.V. Jeans, R.N. Mortimore, J. Dixon, and D. Wray)
Professor Philip Gibbard (plg1@cam.ac.uk) and are supervisors, supported by advisors/second supervisors include Dr Chris Jeans, Dr Philip Hughes (Philip.Hughes@manchester.ac.uk), Dr Charles Turner and Dr Steve Boreham (sb139@cam.ac.uk) - as listed above.
The geological record is an invaluable depository of past responses of earth systems to global climatic change and can thus contribute towards improved predictions of future environmental conditions. The Quaternary record is of particular relevance because it provides sufficient resolution to monitor changes on various time-scales from glacial-interglacial cycles to extremely rapid climatic events. Against this background, work by the Quaternary Palaeoenvironments Group seeks to determine how Quaternary and Neogene climatic variability translates into events on land and in the marine environment, such as number and extent of glaciations, landscape and ocean dynamics, and response of terrestrial and marine ecosystems.
Current research in the group is focused on glacial, periglacial, interglacial and post-glacial stratigraphy, sedimentation, palaeoenvironment and structure in southern Britain, north-western and southern Europe and the southern North Sea, fluvial sedimentation and terrace formation, particularly the history of southern British and lowland NW European rivers; and also late Cenozoic palaeoceanography of the North Atlantic and contiguous seas. Currently the group is investigating the evolution of the Baltic Sea during the Last Interglacial as part of a large EC-funded project. Work in southern Europe includes the derivation of high-resolution records from thick sedimentary sequences spanning multiple climatic events, as well as glaciation in the mountains of northern Greece. A multi-proxy approach combining both floral and faunal fossil analyses together with sedimentary magnetic and geochemical evidence is used to elucidate past environmental history from a range of environments.
The group plays an active role in the Cambridge Quaternary institute (CQ) , a Cambridge research community numbering approximately 60 people. Its constituent research groups are based in the Departments of Earth Sciences, Archaeology and Zoology, as well as in Geography. Links also exist with the Departments of Physics, Chemistry, the Scott Polar Research Institute and the British Antarctic Survey. The CQ fosters collaborative work on different aspects of the Quaternary, shared use of equipment and facilities and organizes high-quality lecture and seminar series promoting interdisciplinary cross-fertilisation. This environment is unique in Britain, offering opportunities for research student training unequalled elsewhere, in terms of the range and quality of the expertise available.
Details of PhD opportunities in other related Physical Geography topics in the Department of Geography can be found on the Department Research opportunities webpage . The deadline for those seeking funding support through the Department is to be decided (19 March 2010).
Projects
1. Pleistocene history of the Birmingham district (P.L.Gibbard, S.Boreham, Philip Hughes).
Lowland southern Britain has experienced at least three, and potentially more, glacial episodes during the Middle and Late Pleistocene (Anglian, Wolstonian, and Devensian stages). However, recent re-evaluation of the record of glaciation and associated events in eastern England has thrown into question the timing and potential equivalents of the glacial sequence.
The West Midlands has been a key area for investigation of Quaternary sequences since the classic work of L.J.Wills (1937) and later F.W.Shotton (1953). These investigations demonstrated that the west Midlands conurbation is built on a complex sequence of Middle Pleistocene-age sediments. In particular, a suite of glacial sediments, that Shotton related to late Middle Pleistocene glaciation, are widespread in the region. He related these glacial sediments to the second glaciation episode (Wolstonian glaciation =Saalian, ?= Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6), intermediate in age between the Hoxnian (= Holsteinian,?=MIS 11) and Ipswichian (= Eemian,?=MIS 5e) interglacial Stages.
However, since these proposals there has been uncertainty about their relation to the East Anglian sequence, to the extent that in the 1980s it became increasingly thought that they should be referred to the older, Anglian Stage. Despite this conclusion, a younger Middle Pleistocene glacigenic sequence certainly occurs in the Midlands, Yorkshire and northern East Anglia. Because it seems to have been of similar extent to that in the subsequent Devensian (=Weichselian) Stage, this glacial episode is more poorly represented in the Pleistocene record. Despite decades of research, there remains the difficulty of establishing, beyond doubt, the relationship of the Anglian and Wolstonian glacial and associated sequences in the West Midlands.
In addition, the glacial sequence is intimately related to fluvial and fluvioglacial deposits of rivers associated with north-westward and southward-aligned drainage that has been related to the rivers Thames and Avon, and the postulated Bytham River.
The Birmingham district therefore occupies the critical position for the establishment of these glacial and fluvial sequences in the region. Not only is the city predominantly built on the Middle Pleistocene glacial sequence, but it also lies outside the Devensian glacial limit. Therefore pre-Devensian sediments are relatively undisturbed. Moreover, the Pleistocene sequence of the region includes several very important interglacial marker units at sites including Quinton, Nechells, Waverly Wood, Brandon etc.. The potential for contributing to the elucidation of the later Pleistocene history of the region is therefore substantial. In addition, the potential contribution to the debate on glaciation in lowland Britain is also considerable.
This project will exploit the considerable experience of the supervisors in urban geological investigations. In particular, the vast untapped resource of borehole information will be collated and assessed to determine the Pleistocene geological sequence across the district. This evidence will be supplemented by careful, systematic field investigation of field and construction sites as they become available, together with such quarry and natural exposures as are available in the area. The resulting database will be evaluated and supported by field sampling and laboratory analyses as appropriate to provide the basis of a new Pleistocene history of the district.
2. Middle Pleistocene glacial sedimentation in East Anglia. (P.L.Gibbard, S.Boreham, P.Hughes, & J.Ehlers)
The glaciation in the Anglian Stage was one of the most extensive of the Pleistocene. The Anglian glacial sediments are best preserved in Eastern England and the adjacent offshore region include extensive sequences of deposits and features formed during this event. On the basis of strong lithological and detailed stratigraphical relationships the Anglian is equated with the continental Elsterian Stage (=Marine Isotope Stage 12), which is known to have included the most extensive Pleistocene ice sheets in central eastern Europe. In lowland Britain evidence of glaciation is primarily based on lithology and stratigraphy, with glacial episodes being identified by till and glaciofluvial sediments and glacial limits being determined by the extent of these deposits.
In eastern East Anglia the Anglian glaciation is represented by two substantial formations of glaciogenic sediments, the North Sea Drift Formation of Scandinavian and North-Sea floor origin, and the Lowestoft Formation till (Ehlers & Gibbard 1991; Hopson & Bridge, 1987; Lewis 1999; Mitchell et al. 1973; Perrin et al. 1979; Pointon, 1978; Stuart & Lister 2000; West 1980) deposited by British ice, respectively. Intermediate between these two formations are the Corton Sands and associated Leet Hill gravels. There is general agreement that the Corton Sands and the Leet Hill Gravels were derived from the North Sea Drift Formation ice sheet and are therefore of the same age (Banham, 1971, Bridge & Hopson, 1988, Hamblin et al. 2000). Stratigraphically, therefore these two members are genetically related to the North Sea ice and therefore should properly be included in the North Sea Drift Formation.(e.g.. Lunkka, 1994; Lewis 1999)..
The deposition of the Corton Sands has been the subject of much investigation in recent years. Originally they were thought to represent interstadial conditions (cf. Mitchell et al., 1973), however, plant remains within the sands showed that they were of 'full-glacial' affinity. Following Banham (1971), Pointon (1978) and Bridge & Hopson (1985) refined the stratigraphy. Lithological studies and palaeocurrent analyses demonstrate that the sands were derived from the North Sea Drift ice lobe to the N and NW (Bridge& Hopson, 1985; Bridge, 1988 ;Lunkka (1994). The general concensus is that the sands were deposited by meltwater streams flowing in a W to E direction, broadly parallel to the present River Waveney, with an outlet close to Great Yarmouth. Here the streams probably entered a vast freshwater lake forming a delta complex in the southern North Sea basin (Gibbard, 1988, Gibbard et al. 2007; Gibbard 2007). Subsequent advance of the Lowestoft Till ice from the W overode the sequence, and also locally entered the lake.
Recent attempts to reinterpret the Corton Sands (e.g. by Lee et al. 2006) have yielded conflicting and questionable results that do not correspond with earlier conclusions (cf. Gibbard et al. 2007). These conflicting conclusions emphasise the need for a thorough investigation of the deposits' 3-dimensional sedimentology and stratigraphical relationships across the region.
This project will focus on establishing both the glacial events and their implications for sedimentation of the Corton Sands and Leet Hill members. Through this the palaeogeographical and palaeoenvironmental evolution of the region and more particularly, the relationship of the glacier and its meltwater to the North Sea basin lake will be determined. This is a thoroughly field-based project and will require the student to investigate all available exposures of glacial sediments in eastern Suffolk and Norfolk in order to develop a generalised sedimentary/geomorphological sequence for the region. The student will also draw together the borehole archives from the British Geological Survey and related bodies to produce a comprehensive sequence. These approaches will be supported by relative and absolute dating (OSL), if and as appropriate (funding for the dating will be sought separately).
3. Palaeoenvironmental history of glacial lakes in Greece. Philip Gibbard (Cambridge), Philip Hughes (Manchester), Charles Turner (Cambridge)
The mountains of Greece were glaciated on several occasions during the Middle and Late Pleistocene (Hughes et al. 2006). Since many of these mountain areas are formed in limestones, there are few glacial lakes. However, some glaciated mountains are formed in impermeable ophiolite rocks, which frequently contain numerous glacial lakes. The oldest glacial deposits in the Pindus Mountains formed during the Middle Pleistocene, and Late Pleistocene glaciation was restricted to the highest cirques. This project will examine lake sedimentary sequences from glacial deposits of unknown age, at various stratigraphical positions in the northern Pindus Mountains. At present, glacial deposits in ophiolite massifs are merely correlated with glacial units in limestone areas, which are dated using uranium-series techniques. In addition to constraining the age of associated glacial deposits, this project will provide detailed palaeoenvironmental reconstructions for the period since glaciation. Recent work has shown that the glaciated ophiolite massifs of the northern Pindus Mountains were exploited by Middle Palaeolithic hunters (Efstratiou et al. 2006). Palaeoenvironmental reconstructions from lake sites present during the last cold stage will contribute important new data toward understand the nature of environments at a time of early human occupation in this area.
The aims of the project are to a) reconstruct the palaeoenvironmental history of these glacial lakes since formation, using pollen analysis and a range of sedimentological techniques; b) determine the age of the onset of deposition in these glacial lakes using geochronological, palaeomagnetic and incremental techniques, and; c) relate the sedimentary successions in these glacial lakes with wider-scale environmental change.
4. Quaternary development and palaeoenvironments of the Kalamas-Doliana Basin, Epirus, NW Greece. (Philip Gibbard, Charles Turner)
North-western Greece, between the Mediterranean Sea and the high Pindus Mountains, is characterised by a complex series of tectonically controlled basins, separated by small north-south trending mountain ranges. The best known of these basins is that centred around Ioannina and containing Lake Pamvotis, where deep boreholes have provided long Quaternary pollen sequences.
The Kalamas-Doliana basin, to the west of the Ioannina Basin, also contained an extensive lake lasting at least into Middle Pleistocene times until tectonic lowering of the Soulianou Gap allowed the River Kalamas to drain the basin, where it is still excavating a deep gorge through ancient lacustrine sediments. The basin yields many open exposures of Pleistocene lacustrine sediments, particularly calcareous marls, some already known to contain fossil pollen, as well as freshwater molluscan assemblages, ostracods and occasional vertebrate fossils. These present very good opportunities for stratigraphical and palaeoenvironmental interpretation.
The project will require both rigorous fieldwork in rough but beautiful countryside and patient work in the laboratory applying and exploiting a variety of analytical techniques.
5. The Upper Cretaceous Chalk of southern and eastern England: changes during Tertiary to modern history
(P.L. Gibbard, C.V. Jeans, R.N. Mortimore, J. Dixon, and D. Wray)
The White Chalk is the dominant rock type of southern and eastern England as well as the Paris Basin. Human society is becoming increasingly dependent on the Chalk; not only is it the main source of water for huge concentrations of humans in this area, it is also important as the last host rock through which travel, drainage and other services are developed. Cuttings or sub-surface tunnels often cause major engineering problems because of difficulties in predicting the properties of Chalk. In the last twenty years considerable efforts by academic geologists and the British Geological Survey have resulted in the remapping the Chalk into more realistic and engineering-friendly units. These provide a better but still far from perfect prediction of its properties. There are still many features developed during the Chalk's post depositional history that are not understood and therefore cannot be predicted, thus causing major problems to society. The aim of this project is to investigate these features in order to define them geologically and deduce the underlying processes, be they related to varying depth of burial, changing stress fields, freezing and thawing, heat-flow fluctuations, pore water chemistry or changing water tables.
The project will involve considerable fieldwork in England associated with very careful observations. It will concentrate on the deposition of secondary calcium carbonate (mainly calcite) and will involve laboratory methods (petrography, stable isotopes, trace elements) for its characterisation. Relative and absolute methods of dating will be used.
Transferable skills are likely to include:
(a) Assessment of soils, sediments and aquifers for engineering projects
(b) Familiarity with modern methods of laboratory investigation of soils and sediments
(c) Planning, co-ordination and interpretation of joint field- and laboratory-based investigations