Genre: Information/Explanation

This research project is one of a number of projects at this institution. It is in competition for funding with one or more of these projects. Usually the project which receives the best applicant will be awarded the funding. The funding is only available to UK citizens or those who have been resident in the UK for a period of 3 years or more. Some projects, which are funded by charities or by the universities themselves may have more stringent restrictions. The Black Sea, Caspian Sea and Aral Sea are the remnants of a much larger marine seaway, Paratethys, which stretched from Germany to China at the beginning of the Oligocene. Over the next 30 million years, Paratethys progressively shrank as a result of a combination of basin infill, glacio-eustatic sea-level lowering and tectonic uplift. Its increasingly epicontinental character generated a high amplitude record of environmental change including periods of anoxia, hypersalinity, fresh water conditions and desiccation events. This project will focus on the early period of Paratethyan history, when gateway restriction led to deposition of organic-rich calcareous and diatomaceous hydrocarbon-producing black shales, known as the Maikop Series. The aim of this project is to understand the controls on Paratethyan-wide anoxic conditions through detailed sedimentology and multi-proxy isotope (e.g. Sr, Nd) and organic geochemistry. This will include quantifying the bulk hydrocarbon yield and distribution of the source rock interval. The successful student will work collaboratively with colleagues in Utrecht University engaged on producing a chronological framework for key sites in Austria, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan, making E-W correlation across Paratethys possible for the first time. This PhD will involve extensive geological fieldwork in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The successful student will receive specific training in sedimentology and geochemistry and will be part of a larger research collaboration involving Bristol, CASP and Utrecht whose research focus is the evolution of epicontinental seas such as Paratethys and the Mediterranean. The project is designed to give the student opportunities to gain industrially relevant experience through working in CASP for around one month per year. Successful completion of this PhD will enable the candidate to pursue a career in either academia or industry. The School of Geographical Sciences, Bristol is an RAE 6* Department with a formal Graduate School and excellent facilities for doctoral research. CASP is a charitable research organisation affiliated to the University of Cambridge that undertakes regional field studies sponsored by the hydrocarbon industry.