Job Summary
Physical modelling of submarine channel-levee development
Prof. Bill McCaffrey, Dr Gareth Keevil, Dr. Alan Burns
School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds
School of Process, Environmental and Materials Engineering, University of Leeds
Fully-funded 3.5 year PhD studentship for UK or EU candidate whose background is in Geology/Earth Sciences with minimum BSc 2.1 or equivalent. The award will pay all tuition fees and a tax-free stipend at the UK Research Council rate (currently £13,590).
Submarine fan systems are significant morphological features on continental margins. Aggradational leveed channels comprise a significant morphological element of many fans, with the fan surface being built up in sequence by a series of such channels as they switch course via a process of avulsion. Individual single thread channels commonly develop a characteristic longitudinal profile in which the channel axis gradient decreases progressively basinward, with an associated reduction in the height of the confining levees. The project will look in sequence at 3 linked areas:
1) the processes of self organization that lead to characteristic channel-levee profiles;
2) the conditions necessary for avulsion (and in particular the relative importance of allo- vs. autocyclic forcing), and
3) an analysis of how the avulsion processes contributes to the characteristic forms of submarine fans.
This project would pursue a linked theoretical and physical modelling approach to include:
The SEFDL is one of the leading environmental fluid dynamics laboratories in Europe, and is amongst the best equipped laboratories of its type globally. Our aim is to undertake ground-breaking research across a wide range of problems within Environmental Fluid Dynamics, and to support researchers from across the University of Leeds, the United Kingdom, and internationally.
Research Environment
The student be a member of the industry-funded Turbidites Research Group (TRG) JIP project. He or she would thus be integrated into a dynamic and active research group, with ongoing research into deep marine clastics via field studies, physical and numerical modelling and seismic studies.
For information about how to apply, visit: http://www.see.leeds.ac.uk/admissions-and-study/research-degrees/essi/2013/mccaffreykeevilburns/
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