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It is almost universally accepted that the oxygenation of the previously anaerobic Earth was driven by the oxygenic photosynthesis of cyanobacteria. But there are inconsistencies of hundreds of millions of years in the various lines of evidence for the timing of the oxygenation process. We aim to resolve these inconsistencies by focusing on the record preserved in the Fortescue Group of West Australia, a remarkably well-preserved set of rocks reliably dated as lying in the disputed time range of the rise to prominence of cyanobacteria. As part of a team of 5 internationally well-respected scientists (Malcolm Walter, Brett Neiland, Simon George, Roger Summons and Bill Schopf) and other PhD students, your PhD project will apply new and innovative organic geochemical techniques to the study of the Fortescue Group to critically assess the evidence for the presence of cyanobacteria at 2.7-2.8 Ga. A suite of Fortescue Group rocks, mainly from cores, will be analysed using solvent extraction, fluid inclusion geochemistry and novel pyrolysis methods so as to provide a dataset of molecular geochemical parameters related to the Precambrian organic matter, and especially to the question of presence/absence of cyanobacteria. All techniques used will concentrate on the key issue of proving syngeneity of detected biomarkers.
You will undertake remote area fieldwork in NW Australia (Pilbara) in order to obtain outcrop material to supplement core material. Macquarie University in Sydney has a new and well-equipped organic geochemistry laboratory. In addition, some analyses will also be carried out at other labs in Australia (e.g. CSIRO) and in the USA (e.g. MIT). You will gain experience in several organic geochemical techniques, especially in those pertaining to the exciting, topical and controversial techniques for obtaining biomarker evidence from Archaean rocks.

2. Ecological risks from oil products used in Antarctica: characterising hydrocarbon behaviour and assessing toxicity on sensitive early life stages of Antarctic marine invertebrates
A project for PhD research in organic geochemistry is available in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. The overall aim of this project is to assess the ecological risks to marine biota of hydrocarbon contaminants associated with the use of fuels in Antarctic waters. The candidate will investigate the behaviour of the chemical components of fuels commonly used in Antarctic station and shipping operations in seawater at low temperatures, and examine the influence of physical and chemical properties unique to the Antarctic environment on the bioavailability and potential toxicity of fuels and fuel components. The project involves collaboration with Southern Cross University (bioassay techniques; risk assessment modelling) and the Australian Antarctic Division, who have funded all the operating and travel requirements of the project.
The successful applicant will utilise the newly installed organic geochemical infrastructure available at Macquarie University, and will receive comprehensive training in sample separation and analysis of fuel samples by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. The research might involve a field season in Antarctica to test the ecotoxicological response of spilled fuels.

3. Biomarkers in Oligocene-Holocene sediments from the Canterbury Basin, New Zealand: A chemical approach to sequence stratigraphy, and elucidation of biogeochemical pathways
A project for PhD research in organic geochemistry is available in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. One aim of this project is to establish a temporal record of organic contributions from terrestrial and marine sources to be established in sediments from the last 28 million years in the Canterbury Basin, New Zealand. Biomarkers and other hydrocarbons extracted from the sediments will provide information on source inputs, depositional environment and thermal history of the sediments. This chemical expression of sequence stratigraphy will be related to variations in eustatic sea level and sediment supply from the Southern Alps. The second aim of this project is to search for biomarkers for sulphate reduction, anaerobic oxidation of methane and other microbial processes, especially in the top 200m Pleistocene and Holocene sequences. Techniques used will include solvent extraction, column chromatography, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and isotope ratio mass spectrometry, and will build on a comprehensive geochemical dataset on gases, interstitial waters and sediments obtained during drilling on the Joides Resolution. 
Samples for the project were obtained during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 317 (http://iodp.tamu.edu/scienceops/expeditions/canterbury_basin.html) and are already in A/Professor Simon George’s geochemistry lab at Macquarie University.
The successful applicant will utilise the newly installed organic geochemical infrastructure available at Macquarie University, and will receive comprehensive training in sample separation and analysis of sediment samples by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry.

Regards and greetings to all,

Simon

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A/Prof Simon George, PhD
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences,
Macquarie University,
Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia

Phone: + 61 (0)2 9850 4424
Mobile: + 61 (0)418 428 217
Fax: + 61 (0)2 9850 6904

Location office: Building E7A Rm 519
Location lab: Building E7B Rm 340/344
Lab phones: + 61 (0)2 9850 8273/8274

Email: [log in to unmask]
Home page:  http://www.eps.mq.edu.au/staff/SimonGeorge/SimonGeorge.htm

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