15 PhD Positions, SALTGIANT Cross-disciplinary Network, Europe (2018)

SALTGIANT is a rare cross-disciplinary network of natural and social scientists dedicated to understanding the formation of the Mediterranean Salt Giant, one of the largest salt deposits on Earth, and its implications for sub-seafloor microbial life, risk assessment in the oil industry, geo-economics of the Mediterranean region and the history of oceanography. SALTGIANT brings together 24 academic organizations (13 beneficiaries, 11 partners), 6 private sector Oil&Gas companies, 2 mining sector companies, 1 biotechnology company, 1 geopolitics think tank, 1 museum and 1 specialist in transferable skills training from 11 countries to stimulate interdisciplinary and intersectorial knowledge exchange between geologists, geophysicists, geochemists, microbiologist, geographers and historians in a network with PhD students at its core. SALTGIANT combines (i) geological and geochemical field work, (ii) laboratory measurements and experiments, (iii) numerical modelling at a wide range of spatial and temporal scales and (iv) empirical social sciences data collection and analysis, guaranteeing exposure of the research fellows to state-of-the-art scientific knowledge and hands-on practical training in a field rich in applications of both intellectual and societal relevance.

Fellow: ESR1

Duration: 36 months
Host institution: University of Salamanca, Salamanca (Spain)
Title: Late Miocene-Early Pliocene offshore onshore sedimentary records in the vicinity of Gibraltar
Primary supervisor(s): Francisco Javier Sierro
Secondment Institutions: Petroleum Oil & Gas España S.A
Objectives: To understand the evolution of the Strait of Gibraltar during the formation of the Mediterranean Salt Giant
Keywords: Field geology, stratigraphy, paleoceanography
For further information: Contact primary supervisor: sierro@usal.es

Fellow: ESR2

Duration: 36 months
Host institution: Consejo Superior de Investigationes Scientificas, Barcelona (Spain)
Title: Marginal vertical motions (Western Mediterranean and Levant basins)
Primary supervisor(s): Daniel Garcia-Castellanos & I. Jimenez-Munt
Secondment Institutions: Università di Pavia & Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (ENI)
Objectives: To understand the vertical motions of the Mediterranean margins due to the extreme redistribution of isostatic load during the formation of the Mediterranean Salt Giant
Keywords: Isostasy, seismic data, backstripping, well logs
For further information: Contact primary supervisor: d.g.c@csic.es

Fellow: ESR3

Duration: 36 months
Host institution: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Montpellier (France)
Title: Balearic Basin Architecture
Primary supervisor(s): Johanna Lofi & Philippe Pézard
Secondment Institutions: Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofsica Sperimentale (OGS), Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Toulouse (France) & Geplan Consulting
Objectives: To understand the geologic evolution of the Balearic promontory (Western Mediterranean) since the formation of the Mediterranean Salt Giant
Keywords: Field geology, tectonics, seismic data, well logs
For further information: Contact primary supervisor: johanna.lofi@gm.univ-montp2.f

Fellow: ESR4

Duration: 36 months
Host institution: University of Palermo, Palermo (Italy)
Title: Sicilian Basin Architecture
Primary supervisor(s): Antonio Caruso
Secondment Institutions: Società Italiana Sali Alcalini SpA (ITALKALI) & Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Objectives: To gain new insight into the outcropping and subsurface stratigraphic relationships between the evaporite series and the pre-Messinian sediments
Keywords: Field geology, salt mines, seismic profiles, stratigraphy
For further information: Contact primary supervisor: antonio.caruso@unipa.it

Fellow: ESR5

Duration: 36 months
Host institution: Utrecht University, Utrecht (The Netherlands)
Title: Lago Mare Revisited
Primary supervisor(s): Wout Krijgsman
Secondment Institutions: University of Salamanca & Bristol University
Objectives: To revisit the enigmatic Lago Mare interval and study the key sections on-land and in the deep sea (DSDP cores) on an E-W transect across the Mediterranean with a multi-disciplinary approach.
Keywords: Field geology, biostratigraphy, cyclostratigraphy, Sr-isotopes
For further information: Contact primary supervisor: W.Krijgsman@uu.nl

Fellow: ESR6

Duration: 36 months
Host institution: Institut de physique du globe de Paris, Paris (France)
Title: Hydrology of Mediterranean Marginal basins during the formation of the Mediterranean Salt Giant
Primary supervisor(s): Giovanni Aloisi
Secondment Institutions: University of Palermo, KNAUF Gips KG & Utrecht University
Objectives: To reconstruct the hydrology of selected marginal basins of the Mediterranean Sea during the formation of the Mediterranean Salt Giant using stable isotope tracers and numerical modelling.
Keywords: Isotope geochemistry, field work, laboratory isotope measurements, modelling
For further information: Contact primary supervisor: aloisi@ipgp.fr

Fellow: ESR7

Duration: 36 months
Host institution: Utrecht University, Utrecht (The Netherlands)
Title: Modelling the (bio-)geochemical evolution and circulation of Messinian brine
Primary supervisor(s): Paul Meijer
Secondment Institutions: Institut de physique du globe de Paris (IPGP) & Geological Survey of Israel (GSI)
Objectives: To investigate the evolution of brine hydrology and biogeochemistry in the Mediterranean basin during the formation of the Mediterranean Salt Giant via numerical modelling.
Keywords: Brine hydrology and physics, biogeochemistry, numerical modeling
For further information: Contact primary supervisor: p.meijer@uu.nl

Fellow: ESR8

Duration: 36 months
Host institution: Hamburg University, Hamburg (Germany)
Title: The microbial sulphur-cycle in Messinian evaporites
Primary supervisor(s): Jörn Peckmann
Secondment Institutions: Università di Torino & KNAUF Gips KG
Objectives: To understand the development of a deep microbial biosphere in the Mediterranean Salt Giant.
Keywords: Biogeochemical S cycle, geomicrobiology, organic geochemistry
For further information: Contact primary supervisor: joern.peckmann@uni-hamburg.de

Fellow: ESR9

Duration: 36 months
Host institution: University of Essex, Colchester (United Kingdom)
Title: Long-term survival of microbes in halite brine inclusions
Primary supervisor(s): Terry McGenity
Secondment Institutions: MATIS, German Aerospace Center (DRL) & Institut de physique du globe de Paris (IPGP)
Objectives: To understand the survival of halophilic microbial communities inside the brine inclusions of halite, providing a model system for investigating the conditions that could have preserved traces of life in evaporites both on Earth (e.g. Messinian halite) and Mars.
Keywords: Deep biosphere, halite, microbial cultures, life on Mars
For further information: Contact primary supervisor: tjmcgen@essex.ac.uk

Fellow: ESR10

Duration: 36 months
Host institution: Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), Trieste (Italy)
Title: Mediterranean Salt Structures
Primary supervisor(s): Angelo Camerlenghi
Secondment Institutions: National Oceanography Centre (NOC), Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (ENI) & Institut de physique du globe de Paris (IPGP)
Objectives: To identify and classify salt structures in different geological environments of the Mediterranean basin making use of the available offshore multi-channel seismic reflection data including regional vintage public data, academic data, and industry data
Keywords: Salt tectonics, seismic data, fluid overpressure
For further information: Contact primary supervisor: acamerlenghi@inogs.it

Fellow: ESR11

Duration: 36 months
Host institution: Geological Survey of Israel (GSI), Jerusalem (Israel)
Title: Salt Tectonics in the Levantine Basin
Primary supervisor(s): Zohar Gvirtzman
Secondment Institutions: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, DELEK Drilling & Ratio Oil Exploration
Objectives: To understand tectonic deformation in a young salt giant
Keywords: Salt tectonics, seismic data, well logs, numerical modelling
For further information: Contact primary supervisor: zohar@gsi.gov.i

Fellow: ESR12

Duration: 36 months
Host institution: National Oceanography Centre (NOC), Southampton (United Kingdom)
Title: Overpressure development in rapidly deposited salt basins. Application to the Salt Giant in the Mediterranean Basin
Primary supervisor(s): Hector Marin-Moreno
Secondment Institutions: Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), Centre for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM) & Volcanic Basin Petroleum Research (VBPR)
Objectives: To quantify the amount and distribution of excess pore pressure below and within the Salt Giant in the Mediterranean basin; to evaluate the likely important role this plays on the evolution of the basin.
Keywords: Fluid overpressure, salt petrophysics, numerical modeling
For further information: Contact primary supervisor: hector.marin.moreno@noc.ac.u

Fellow: ESR13

Duration: 36 months
Host institution: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Lille (France)
Title: Analogue modelling of combined crustal and Messinian salt deformation in Mediterranean.
Primary supervisor(s): Virginie Gaullier & Bruno Vendeville
Secondment Institutions: Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Centre for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM) & Volcanic Basin Petroleum Research (VBPR)
Objectives: To use an analogue modelling approach combined with an analysis of natural Mediterranean examples to gain insight into the deformation styles of the Mediterranean Salt Giant.
Keywords: Basin-scale salt tectonics, analog modeling
For further information: Contact primary supervisor: virginie.gaullier@univ-lille1.fr

Fellow: ESR14

Duration: 36 months
Host institution: Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, Paris (France)
Title: Eastern Mediterranean oil and gas discoveries and regional geopolitics and economic development issues
Primary supervisor(s): Eric Verdeil
Secondment Institutions: Centre d’Etudes et de Documentation Economiques et Juridiques (CEDEJ), University of Durham & Institut de Prospective Economique du Monde Méditerranéen (IPEMED)
Objectives: To examine the impact of recent discoveries of natural gas under the Mediterranean Salt Giant on the geopolitics and the economic development of the whole region
Keywords: Geo-economics, geo-politics, hydrocarbon discoveries, Middle East
For further information: Contact primary supervisor: eric.verdeil@sciencespo.fr

Fellow: ESR15

Duration: 36 months
Host institution: Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris (France)
Title: Salt, Vessels and Maps: the Discovery of the Mediterranean Salt Giant
Supervisors: David Aubin & Nestor Herran
Secondment Institutions: Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) & Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
Objectives: To explore the history of the discovery of the Mediterranean Salt Giant by framing it in a long-term perspective about salt research.
Keywords: History of Oceanography, Deep Sea Drilling Project, Cold War
For further information: Contact primary supervisor: nestor.herran@upmc.fr

Further details:
15 PhD Positions, SALTGIANT Cross-disciplinary Network, Europe (2018)