We always have topics available for BSc and MSc thesis projects and internships. Contact Christof or Henrieka for the latest updates, but here is a list of some current topics. Click to expand and get a short description.
Supervisors: Christof Pearce, Timothy Lane, Henrieka Detlef
External collaborator: Department of Environmental Science, AU (Roskilde)
Project description:
In the 1950s and 60s, extensive mining took place at Mesters Vig in East Greenland. After the lead-zinc deposit was exhausted, the mining activities stopped, but the pollution of the surrounding areas is still clearly detectable today. Tailings from the mining activities were washed down the Tunnelelv stream into Kong Oskar Fjord for years without any real regulations in place. In recent decades, extensive environmental monitoring has been done on land and along the coastline, but no marine record exists documenting the pollution.
In this MSc research project, you will conduct analyses on a series of marine sediment cores from Kong Oskar Fjord to detect potential contaminants buried in recent sediments, both from sites close by and distal to the pollution source. The work will include creating a detailed chronology, measurements of physical properties, and geochemical analyses, and comparing the results with historical documentation of mining activities in the area.
More reading: https://eng.geus.dk/media/13330/go05.pdf
Keywords: Greenland, Arctic, Marine sediments, GIS, Contaminants, Geochemistry
Supervisors: Christof Pearce, Mads Lykke Dømgaard
Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are sudden releases of stored meltwater from ice-marginal lakes that can have severe downstream impacts. These lakes typically accumulate runoff over years to decades (∼1–40 years) until a water-level threshold is reached, triggering rapid drainage (through subglacial or englacial pathways) lasting a few hours to days. These events deliver large, short-lived pulses of freshwater to fjords and can also mobilize and transport substantial sediment loads.
In this MSc research project, you will combine analyses of remote sensing data with measurements on marine sediment cores samples to reconstruct the GLOF history at the Narsap Sermia glacier in West Greenland.
Keywords: Remote sensing, Greenland, Arctic, Marine sediments, Geohazards, GIS
Supervisors: Christof Pearce, Katrine Juul Andresen
External collaborator (optional): GEUS
Project description:
During the Holocene, following the postglacial sea level rise, submarine landslides have been responsible for several tsunamis in the northeastern North Atlantic Ocean. The largest and best-studied is the Storegga slide dated to about 8000 years ago, but the more recent Garth Tsunami (ca. 5500 yrs ago) also left a clear impact on Neolithic settlements in the area. Geological evidence for the event is so far limited to the Shetland Islands, and southwestern Norway, but preliminary analyses of newly retrieved sediment cores from the Danish North Sea indicate a coarse sedimentary unit of a matching age.
In this MSc research project, you will combine analyses of marine sediment cores (chronology, physical properties) with interpretation of geophysical survey data to investigate certain deposits and their potential link to paleo-tsunamis.
Keywords: Geohazards, GIS, North Sea, Seismic survey interpretation, Marine sediments
Sea ice is an important component of the Earth’s climate system, and it also supports entire Arctic ecosystems from tiny little algae to large marine mammals. In recent years, we have observed a dramatic retreat of sea ice associated with ongoing global warming but observations are limited to the last few decades. By analyzing marine sediment samples, we can extend the sea ice history back thousands of years and investigate interactions between the ocean, the atmosphere, and the cryosphere on long time scales.
Lab methods: Organic geochemistry (biomarkers), or microfossils.
Recent sediments spanning the last hundred years are extremely valuable as they have captured the effects of global warming, biodiversity loss, and pollution of the natural environment. Because of low sediment accumulation rates, however, and disruptions to the global radiocarbon signal, these recent sedimentary layers are often very difficult to date. To provide good chronological, in this project, we will study anthropogenic signals in the sediments as age markers. Products from fossils fuel combustion, or changes in stable isotopes can detected in sedimentary archives from both close to home in Aarhus Bay, or from remote areas in Greenland or Svalbard.
Lab methods: Sediment analyses, slide preparation, microscopy, image analyses
At the bottom of sea, benthic invertebrates live on and inside marine sediments. As they mix up sediments and thereby influence the burial of carbon and recycling of nutrients, they leave behind traces of burrows and other structures. With modern CT scanning techniques, we can visualize these structures as small density changes, and by training AI segmentation models, they can be quickly classified and parameterized. In this project you will combine image processing and AI models to answer research questions in paleoclimatology. We have various cores and datasets available, both from Danish waters and from the Arctic.
Lab methods: CT scanning, image segmentation using machine learning, sediment description
Members of the Paleoceanography and Paleoclimate Research Group teach in the following courses at the department, at BSc and MSC level:
