AG-351 (Masters) AG-851 (PhD) 10 ECTS

Dates: April 15th- Week 22 (ca. 2 June) 2024

Application deadline: 15th October 2023.

For more information, please visit the UNIS website.

Course requirements

Enrollment in a relevant PhD programme. General background in structural geology, sedimentology, volcanology, geodynamics or geophysics. Previous geological field experience is advantageous.

Academic content

This course addresses the diverse geological history of the Arctic region, including both onshore and offshore regions from Paleozoic to recent times. It will focus on the interplay of plate tectonics and volcanism (including, arc, rifting and plume-related) and explore some of the outstanding region-by-region case studies/questions within the Arctic research community. Based in the gateway to the Arctic, Svalbard, the course will be complemented by field excursions examining the well exposed outcrops and specifically the igneous rocks emplaced over large parts of the Svalbard archipelago.

Learning outcomes

The course will present the circum-Arctic region in a 4D perspective: the present-day structure of this region from surface to deep mantle and how it evolved since the Paleozoic. Students will get an overview of the large-scale kinematics and geodynamics of the region in space and time. They will learn how to combine onshore and offshore data to uncover the present-day tectonic structure of the region and use it, together with other knowledge, for plate tectonic reconstructions. The students will learn about causes and manifestation of volcanism in the circum-Arctic region. The course includes field trips to observe present day preservation of past Arctic magmatism.