One or two funded PhD studentships are available on: PLIO-PLEISTOCENE DINOFLAGELLATE CYSTS AND PALEOCEANOGRAPHY OF THE
NORTHERN AND WESTERN PACIFIC in the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Canada
Application deadline: JANUARY 16, 2017.
DESCRIPTION OF PHD PROJECTS:
The northern Pacific appears to have supplied moisture to North America
2.74 million years ago, causing the growth of major ice sheets and
transforming our planet into an “icehouse” world just prior to the
start of the Quaternary. Several interlinked projects are available
utilizing deep-sea cores along a transect from the Bering Sea to the
South China Sea. These projects aim to elucidate the Pacific Ocean’s
role in, and response to, climate evolution during the
Neogene-Quaternary transition. Research specifically addresses ice sheet
expansion 2.7-2.5 Ma, and examines changes in the associated surface
currents of the northern and western Pacific. It also explores
teleconnections between high northern-latitude ice sheets and the East
Asian winter monsoon system, as reflected in sediments of the marginal
Sea of Japan and South China Sea. The research primarily uses
dinoflagellate cysts but integrated where possible with foraminiferal
geochemistry and alkenone paleothermometry.
The research program is under the supervision of Prof. Martin J. Head,
and some projects are in collaboration with Dr Stijn De Schepper (Uni
Research, Bergen, Norway), and Dr Jeroen Groeneveld (University of
Bremen, Germany). The studentships are scheduled to begin SEPTEMBER,
2017.
HOW TO APPLY:
The on-line application for admission is at:
http://www.es.utoronto.ca/programs/graduate/how-to-apply/
Note that the completed online application and ALL supporting documents
(transcripts, letters of recommendation, results of language proficiency
tests, etc.) must be received by the deadline of JANUARY 16, 2017.
Do check the on-line application for admission NOW to determine how much
time is needed to assemble all the necessary documentation, and arrange
NOW if necessary for a LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY TEST. Please contact Prof.
Martin J. Head (mjhead@brocku.ca) for details of the projects available,
and Scott Moore (grad@es.utoronto.ca) for any questions regarding the
application procedure.
