Palaeowildfire responses and feedbacks to shifts in the global carbon cycle

Applications are invited for a joint College funded PhD position (that is not in competition with other NERC projects at the university) to be held with the Earth System Science Group at the University of Exeter and will work as part of the wildFIRE Lab team https://sites.google.com/site/palaeofirelab/home across two colleges, the College of Life and Environmental Sciences (CLES) and the College of Engineering, Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CEMPS), to commence in September 2017 or as soon as possible thereafter. For eligible students the studentship will cover UK/EU tuition fees plus an annual tax-free stipend of at least £14,439 for 3.5 years.

Project Description:

The successful applicant will be part of a NERC and International Continental Drilling Programme funded large-scale, multi-facetted, international programme of research into the functioning of the Mesozoic Earth system. This time is at a key juncture in Earth history when the planet was subject to large-magnitude forcing from internal and external processes (i.e. tectonic, magmatic, and orbital). The student will have a unique opportunity to be part of a large scientific team (a science party of >40 researchers) that will be undertaking a continental drilling programme to extract an intact ~2km core that provides a unique insight into the Early Jurassic (201–174 Myr ago) Earth System.

The Early Jurassic was a pivotal time in the evolution of the modern Earth and includes multiple swings from so-called ‘cold mode’ to ‘warm mode’ conditions on timescales of 1 to 10 Myr as well as orbitally paced (shorter timescale) variations, the latter of which has been little considered in regards to quantitative influences on biogeochemical cycles. Wildfire activity is known to respond to shifts in climate and variations in the oxygen content of the atmosphere and is considered to provide a critical feedback into regulating the abundance of this life giving gas. As such fire likely plays a significant role in Earth’s biogeochemical cycles influencing the burial of carbon and the re-distribution of nutrients from the land to the ocean. To date fire has been considered on long to medium term timescales but has received relatively little study over shorter timescale Earth system perturbations, such as orbitally driven environmental shifts. The student will explore the palaeofire history across a range of orbital timescales by comparing the response of fire to carbon cycle perturbations at high resolution across long term through to shorter time scale Milankovitch cycles. The aim being to disentangle climate driven responses from oxygen forced responses on palaeo fire activity. The unique ability to consider shifts in palaeofire activity through a single well astronomically tuned core, will allow the data generated to advance knowledge of Earth system dynamics for the Early Jurassic, and deliver a process-based understanding relevant to other intervals, including the long-term future response of the modern Earth to anthropogenic CO2 input.

Unique Training Opportunities and Transferable Skills

This project represents an exceptional opportunity to be part of a drilling team and scientific party of >40 researchers, that has established industrial contacts. The student will be required to visit the British Geological Survey (BGS) to work on existing core material of the same time period, therefore providing experience in accessing core repositories and skills in core storage, sampling and analysis. The student may have opportunity to spend time overseeing drilling operations and assist with data entry associated with the core at the drilling site. Depending on the student’s interest and the timeline of the project, there may also be an opportunity to be part of the team that describes the newly extracted core once it arrives at the BGS. All of the above well align the student for an industry (e.g. oil and gas) or academic career in the future. The project also plans to have educational impact via providing teaching materials to key stage 2-3 (UK system) students and will develop numerous public engagement programmes including, working with museums, delivering public lectures and of course a website. The student therefore has options to engage in development of teaching materials and contribute to public engagement, widening their transferable skill set should they desire.