There is a PhD position available in our group, starting May 2027. For details, please see below, or get in touch!
The microstructure of rocks that form our planet's lithosphere controls its yield strength during plastic deformation, influencing large-scale geodynamic processes, such as the uplift of mountain belts and the geometry of subduction zones. The microstructure of rocks has also been related to the propagation of seismic signals, as well as to the convection regimes of terrestrial planets. While nucleation, crystal growth, and chemical diffusion are known to control the development of the microstructures in geological materials, a quantitative understanding of these processes and their specific impacts on microstructure development, and hence, the ability to predict their geodynamic implications, is still missing.
This PhD research will integrate field, laboratory, and theoretical studies to examine some of the fundamental processes and controls on microstructure development in natural metamorphic systems, including the energies of crystalline interfaces and the diffusivities of chemical components in the intergranular medium contained in the interfacial microstructure. Questions to be addressed by this research include the dependence of chemical transport through the intergranular medium on the temperatures and pressures that exist in the lithosphere, the rates at which they change during tectonic processes, as well as the chemical and mineralogical makeup of the petrological systems.
A first sample suite is present for this research. Additional field work by the PhD student on contact metamorphic metabasites from the Loon Bay batholith in northeast Newfoundland (Canada), metapelites in the vicinity of Devonian plutons of the Meguma terrane in Nova Scotia (Canada), and calc-silicates from the Oslo rift (Norway) is needed to complete the sample suite. Laboratory and theoretical studies will include CT scanning and 3D reconstruction, sample preparation and sectioning, electron microprobe and LA-ICP-MS mapping and analyses, as well as phase equilibrium, diffusion, and metamorphic crystallization modelling.
The anticipated start date is May 2027, followed by a first field campaign during summer 2027. This PhD research is fully funded for five years, including salary for research and teaching assistantships. Women, members of visible and ethnic minorities, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, members of LGBTQ2+ communities or others who identify with socially and/or economically marginalized groups are specifically encouraged to apply.