Projects for students

Biodiversity – the diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems – is declining faster now than at any other time in human history, and this decline is happening in tandem with climate change. As part of a large research project at GEUS, this MSc project will focus on unraveling marine biodiversity off Northwest Greenland in relation to ocean conditions. The project will consist of analyzing environmental DNA (eDNA) from water samples and marine sediments. The ideal student will have a background within the Natural Sciences and a keen interest in working in an interdisciplinary research environment. Some laboratory experience is desirable but not obligatory.

This project will look at improving the imaging of seismic reflection data collected as part of the PORO-CLIM project in 2021.

The data relate to understanding the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum in response to sill intrusions as well as providing information on the paleooceanographic conditions that developed during the Cenozoic.

Arctic sea ice is declining rapidly due to climate change. It is one of the most sensitive components of the climate system and also a unique ecosystem. To better predict future changes in Arctic sea ice, we need reliable time series that capture how sea ice responded to climate variability in the past.

This project will apply a novel proxy approach based on sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) to trace Arctic sea ice changes back in time. The ideal student will have a background within the Natural Sciences and a keen interest in working in an interdisciplinary research environment. Some laboratory experience is desirable but not obligatory.

The marine realm of southern Iceland is the ideal location to study how changes in the wider North Atlantic oceanic circulation propagated and impacted local regimes (both oceanic and ecosystems) over time. The Holocene is a particularly dynamic period, with many abrupt climate shifts that, with high enough temporal resolution, should or can be captured in marine sediments.

This BSc/MSc project will use a new (unstudied) marine sediment core from the Iceland Basin to attempt to capture these changes. The project will use the fossil foraminifera record to reconstruct physiochemical changes in the water column, as well as biogeochemical methods to establish how/if primary production was impacted by changes in e.g., ocean temperature and salinity.

There are several episodes of explosive volcanism in the mid- to late-Holocene in Iceland, so there is also the possibility to look into tephra (volcanic ash) layers as both stratigraphic markers and as potential drivers in changing primary production regimes. Prior laboratory and microscopy skills are not required but the project will be hands on with laboratory and microscopy work.