MSc by Research in Earth Sciences

This MSc programme offers the opportunity to do one year of research in Earth Sciences across all sub-disciplines including geology, palaeontology, geophysics, structural geology, environmental geoscience and applied geosciences. The programme is flexible to suit applicants aspirations, background and experience. The department houses an impressive range of facilities and services and is involved with a number of collaborative centres of research excellence that can be used to help support innovative and exciting research.

Applications are welcome at any time - there is no specific deadline.
We offer MSc by research projects across a range of sub-programmes.
The list of project in Earth Sciences is below

• Lifecycles of volatile landscapes: islands in the Brahmaputra River
  (Mark Allen, Chris Saville & Ken McCaffrey)
• What difference does climate make to structure and landscapes in active mountain belts?
  (Mark Allen, Chris Saville)
• Reconstructing last interglacial climate using a speleothem from northern Scotland
  (Prof. James Baldini, Prof. Colin Macpherson, Dr Olga Kwiecien (Northumbria University), Dr Sebastian Breitenbach (Northumbria University), Miranda Prendergast-Miller (Northumbria University), Gideon Henderson (Oxford University), Beth Fox (University of Huddersfield), Thorsten Hoffmann (JGU Mainz), Tim Lawson (Grampian Speleological Group))
• Reconstructing atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) strength using a high-resolution stalagmite 18o record from leamington cave
  (Prof. James Baldini, Prof. Colin Macpherson)
• Reconstructing monthly rainfall and temperature using stalagmites combined with a matlab-based statistical model
  (Prof. James Baldini, Prof. Colin Macpherson)
• Characterisation of a widespread Plinian pumice fall deposit, Tenerife, Canary Islands
  (Rich Brown & Madeleine Humphreys)
• Assessing historical trends in habitat use and feeding ecology of the bottlenose dolphin, tursiops trucatus
  (Darren Gröcke, Richard Sabin (The Natural History Museum), Rob Deaville (Zoological Society of London)
• Tracing sulphur-driven organic carbon degradation in a UK river catchment
  (Catherine Hirst, Fred Worrall & Darren Groecke)
• Near surface fissure fills and fluid flow associated with emplacement of the Cenozoic Cleveland mega-dyke, N Yorkshire.
  (Bob Holdsworth, Rich Brown)
• Testing diachronous deformation models from syn-tectonic mineralization in ancient accretionary prisms.
  (Bob Holdsworth, Catriona Menzies, Nick Roberts)
• Searching for ultra low velocity zones on the core-mantle boundary beneath the Aleutian subduction Zone
  (Dr Jenny Jenkins, Dr. Andrew Valentine)
• Seismic imaging of changing fault zone properties on the North Anatolian Fault near Istanbul
  (Dr. Jenny Jenkins, Dr. Patricia Martinez-Garzon, Dr. Marco Bohnoff)
• Preservation of Permian fishes from the Marl Slate of County Durham.
  (Stuart Jones, Martin Smith, David Harper)
• Microplastic distribution in Holocene sediments of the Alnmouth estuary, Northumberland.
  (Stuart Jones, Julia Knapp)
• The stratigraphy of an estuary: detailed sedimentological appraisal of the Alnmouth estuary, Northumberland
  (Stuart Jones, Matthieu Cartigny)
• The effect of forest cutting on water and nutrient availability.
  (Julia Knapp, Fred Worrall)
• Distribution of Pacific Ocean island volcanism.
  (Colin Macpherson, Ken McCaffrey)
• Volcano distribution in northern and central American arcs.
  (Colin Macpherson, Ken McCaffrey)
• The impact of volcanic eruptions on the ocean
  (Lauren Marshall)
• Reactivation and mineralisation associated with the Lake District Boundary Fault
  (Profs Ken McCaffrey, David Selby, Bob Holdsworth)

• Earthquake Detection and Forecasting with Machine Learning
  (Stefan Nielsen)

• Geophysical imaging of archaeological sites and deposit modelling
  (Stefan Nielsen)

• Preceding earthquake rupture. Where to expect it and how large is it?
  (Stefan Nielsen)

• Prof Christine Peirce - contact directly for projects on marine geophysical topics, including a student's own suggestion
• Temporal and Structural constraints of Magmatism and hosted Mo mineralization
  (Profs David Selby, Ken Mccaffrey, Bob Holdsworth and Cyril Chelle-Michou (ETH))
• Assessing the pre-Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 osmium isotope seawater composition of the western Tethys
  (Profs David Selby and Silke Voigt (Institute of Geosciences))
• Late Cenozoic Climate change on the Greenland Ice Sheet: Implications to future climate change
  (Profs David Selby and Jerry Lloyd (Geography) and Dr Paul Knutz (GEUS))
• Do clades exhibit an early burst of disparity?
  (Martin Smith & Russell Garwood)
• The dynamics of granite-greenstone belts
  (Jeroen van Hunen, Ken McCaffrey & Armelle Kloppenburg)
• After the sheep have gone – a future for the uplands without sheep.
  (Fred Worrall, Julia Knapp)

• Cold humid Islands: peatlands as tools for cooling the climate
  (Fred Worrall & Julia Knapp)

• How can peatlands exist when they don’t have enough electrons?
  (Fred Worrall & Catherine Hirst)
  
  
  

Entry: via application form here and following successful interview. For subject specific enquiries please contact the project supervisor, and for general postgraduate enquiries contact: earthsci.pgadmissons@durham.ac.uk.

Duration: 12 months [or 24 months part-time].

Entry requirements: 2.1 Bachelor's degree or above (or equivalent) in a relevant subject.

Assessment: research dissertation.