Dr J MacDonald
No more applications being accepted
Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
Co-supervisors: Kathryn Goodenough (British Geological Survey); Adrian Boyce (SUERC); Keith Bateman (British Geological Survey); Sam Broom-Fendley (Camborne School of Mines)
The rare earth elements (REE) are critical metals, and have a wide range of uses, notably in renewable energy and electric vehicle technologies. They are currently only mined in a few locations, with the most important mines being in China, particularly the Bayan Obo mine. As a result, security of supply is an important consideration for other countries including the UK. Many REE ore minerals are found in carbonatites, or associated late-stage hydrothermal rocks, but the genesis of mineralisation and particularly the thermal evolution of the REE deposits are not generally well known. Understanding the thermal history of REE deposits is therefore vital in characterising them for exploitation.
The main goal of this project is to determine the thermal history of carbonatite-associated REE deposits by applying the recently-developed carbonate clumped isotope palaeothermometer to the mineral strontianite (SrCO3), which is commonly texturally associated with REE ores.
The clumped isotopes method has great potential as a proxy for reconstructing past temperatures in a range of geological settings. This method is based on the temperature dependence of bonds between heavy carbon (13C) and oxygen (18O) isotopes in the carbonate mineral lattice. It has successfully been used as a temperature proxy in palaeoclimate studies using the common carbonate mineral calcite but is also attracting increasing interest as a method for determining temperatures of geological processes in the subsurface. As a carbonate mineral, strontianite is suitable for clumped isotope analysis but the technique has yet to be applied to this mineral.
This project offers an exciting opportunity for a student to apply the technique to a new mineral and for the first time in REE ore deposit settings.
A strong 2:1 (or ideally 1st class) BSc (Hons) or MSci in a geoscience-related subject is required and an MSc in a relevant discipline is desirable. The successful candidate should have an interest in applying analytical chemistry methods to solve resource-related geological problems, and an aptitude for lab work.
Funding Notes
Funding is available to cover home tuition fees, as well as paying a stipend at the RCUK rate (estimated £14,553 for Session 2017-18).
Applicants need to meet NERC’s eligibility criteria to be considered, and these are detailed in the current RCUK studentship T&Cs: http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/funding/grantstcs/
IAPETUS is only able to consider applications from Home/EU candidates. International candidates are not eligible to be considered and where an candidate from another EU country has not been resident in the UK for 3 years or more prior to the commencement of their studies with IAPETUS, they will only be eligible for a fees-only studentship.