Postdoctoral Position: The interplay between Global Climate, Monsoons dynamics and the India-Asia collision

The Institute of Earth and Environmental sciences offers to join an interdisciplinary and international group of PhDs, postdocs and researchers focusing their expertise on solving one of the most fascinating question of Earth Sciences today: the interplay between global climate evolution, monsoonal dynamics and the India-Asia collision during the still enigmatic Paleogene greenhouse to icehouse transition.

This project is in the framework of the European Research Council (ERC) project MAGIC: “Monsoons in Asia caused Greenhouse to Icehouse Change?”

The primary goal will be to collect and identify fossil pollen assemblages from exceptional well-dated sedimentary archives from Central Asia and the Tibetan Plateau. The samples that you will work with are expected to contain a Laurasian flora ranging from humid to arid assemblages. Central to your research will be to record mountain uplift, sea retreat, aridification and monsoonal intensification as well as major global climate events such as the Eocene-Oligocene Transition (EOT) or the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM).

The palynologic database produced will be used to reconstruct of past environments and geographies to ultimately calibrate geochemical, biomarker and sedimentologic proxies, to establish paleobiogeographies as well as constrain climate and vegetation models in collaboration with other scientists involved in the project.

Employment could start on October 1, 2016.

The position is for 40 hours of work per week (100 %). The salary is determined by the collective bargaining agreement for public employees in Germany (TV-L 13; Ost). This is a temporary position limited to a term of 24 months in accordance with Section 2 Para 1 of the Academic Fixed-Term Contract Law (WissZeitVG).

Desired skills and experience

PhD degree in Earth and/or Environmental Sciences or associated fields
Independent research experience after their PhD
Expertise in paleo-palynology (or be willing to extend on basic knowledge)
Additional expertise in climate and vegetation proxies and modeling will be appreciated

Applicants should send their application materials, including CV, interest letter and email address of 2 referees by 19.07.2016 at the latest, either by mail to Universitaet_Potsd-id5xzp5-873291@jobs.researchgate.net ) with the subject line,

“Postdoctoral Position: The interplay between Global Climate, Monsoons dynamics and the India-Asia collision“

More information can be found here:

http://potsdam-earthscience.de