Title of PhD: The dynamics of a “Snowball Earth” glaciation through the magnetic and microstructural analysis of diamictites (NERC tied Studentship - tied to GAINS grant)
Supervisors: Dr Carl Stevenson, Professor Ian Fairchild, Professor Mike Hambrey (Aberystwyth University), Professor Doug Benn (The University Centre in Svalbard)
Edward is undertaking doctoral research at the University of Birmingham and UNIS as part of the GAINS (Glacial Activity in Neoproterozoic Svalbard) project. For his Phd, he is using a combination of traditional and new techniques, in particular AMS (Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptility), to examine a “Snowball Earth” glaciation in Svalbard, where it is suggested that ice spread to low latitudes in arguably one of the most extreme events in the earth’s history. As part of the project, the AMS and structural techniques are also being applied to other areas of glacial geology, such as investigating the processes involved in the formation and subsequent deformation of glacigenic sediments and constraining deformation within the basal ice of surging glaciers.