Field of Study – Geology (N 005)

 Vegetation is a key reservoir of biological diversity on our planet; one of its major ecological, social and economic services. Unfortunately, in the context of the current global crisis it is suffering from both climatic factors and anthropogenic pressure. Anticipating and modelling vegetation response to future challenges needs information on past reactions to similar forcing. Reliable reconstructions of the postglacial vegetation dynamics are crucial improving our understanding of the past ecosystem dynamics giving an opportunity for future scenarios testing.

This project aims to achieve new understanding of the spatiotemporal dynamics of the tree species in the south-eastern margin of the Scandinavian Glaciation throughout the Lateglacial and Holocene combining palaeoecological and genetic approach. To address described challenge, we suggest the high-resolution multi-proxy palaeoecological and palaeo-genomics (molecular) investigations of plant macro remains, including identification of genetic lineages, of the common tree taxa (Pinus, Picea, Betula and etc.). With these data we will assess new information concerning, refugial areas and respective migration routes of the particular taxa, re-colonisation pattern of the deglaciated territories and subsequent formation of the vegetation cover, including identification of the genetic lineages, in the transitional palaeoenvironmental (glacial-subglacial), climatic (oceanic-continental) and floristic (boreo-nemoral) zone, close to the limits of the species natural distribution range. Although numerous plant species have been investigated with regard to their postglacial history incorporation of palaeoecological data and that describing the genetic variations of the particular taxa in the geological past is limited in the Eastern Baltic so far.

Analysis of the obtained data, including the application of the statistical approach, will provide more comprehensive insights into the palaeovegetation behaviour and that is especially important analysing situation in context of both internal and external drivers as well as making future forecast.

The Zhytomyr region of Ukraine has been severely affected by the military conflict. In order to overcome its consequences and ensure sustainable development in line with environmental standards, it is necessary to accurately record, study and assess the extent of the ecological catastrophe, and to develop a system of indicators describing these phenomena. Explosions, fires and accidents of various magnitudes, including incidents at oil storage facilities, have occurred in the study area. The damage caused leads to risks such as erosion, soil contamination, and disruption of geo- and bio-ecosystems.

Contaminants accumulate in the soil and are subsequently released into other environments. The mobility of pollutants in the environment depends on the physicochemical properties of the soil, including its granulometric and mineralogical composition, humus content, cation exchange capacity, pH level, etc. The prediction of contaminant migration can be facilitated by the identification of landscape and geochemical barriers. Planning for the restoration of the geo-environment should take into account the level of pollution, the extent of damage, and the landscape and geochemical conditions that influence the transport of pollutants.

The study will analyse satellite imagery to identify war-damaged areas and assess the extent of damage. Soil samples will be taken in the affected areas to determine concentrations of heavy metals such as mercury, lead, iron, zinc, cadmium, aluminium and copper. These metals are the most frequent sources of contamination to soil from explosive devices. In addition, the presence of sulphur and nitrogen compounds from petroleum products will be assessed. The adsorptive, structural and textural properties of soils and their role in contaminant transport will be investigated, as well as the influence of geochemical barriers on contaminant retention.

The results will be used to develop recommendations to address soil contamination and erosion, as well as to propose monitoring protocols and strategies for the protection of damaged areas.

Rare metal granites (RMG) are chemically distinct type rocks, characterized by their enrichment in volatiles and fluxing elements (e.g., F, Li, and/or P, B), as well as disseminated mineralization of Li, Sn, Nb and Ta. Often RMGs are highly fractionated, scattered throughout large areas as pegmatitic and aplitic veins. The distribution of mineralization is strongly controlled by fractional crystallization, changes in physicochemical conditions, tectonic setting of emplacement and late-stage alterations.

Such granites of peraluminous affinity are found in the southern part of Lithuania, where they are temporally and spatially associated with the Mesoproterozoic AMCG complex. According to Linnen and Cuney (2005), these granites can be classified as peraluminous low phosphorus (PLP) granites. However, scarce research on these rocks has been performed thus far and their economic potential remains unknown.

This proposal aims to develop a comprehensive model for this granitic body emplacement and to ascertain its economic potential. The main task of this research is to assess the petrological and geochemical character of the granitic rocks and determine their distribution and physical conditions of emplacement (T, P, f_O2 and fluid composition in terms of F/OH, Cl/OH ratios). For this, various igneous thermobarometers will be applied (Ti in zircon, Bt, Hbl, Ilm-Mag thermobarometers etc.) together with detailed chemical mineral analysis and whole rocks composition, employed as petrological indicators and mineralization proxies.

The candidates for this position should possess a good understanding of igneous petrology and mineral chemistry. Good English skills are mandatory.

Managing nature during times of rapid environmental dynamics as well as modelling of the future reaction, knowledge of ecosystem response to climatic changes throughout the geological past analysed on diachronic (time) and geographic (space) perspective is required. Alongside with this, knowledge of the interaction of ecosystem components on the various time scales is of vital importance, as these are unlikely to be linear. All together that provide more comprehensive insights into the environmental behaviour and is especially important analysing situation in the transitional environmental (glaciated-subglacial), climatic (oceanic-continental) and floristic (boreo-nemoral) zones, where most pronounced fluctuations might have occurred.

Being the crucial component of the ecosystem, vegetation is a key reservoir of biological diversity on our planet; one of its major ecological, social and economic services. Therefore, anticipating and modelling vegetation response to future challenges information on past reactions to external forcing is highly required. Interglacials, pronounced warm climatic events, that often lasted for thousands of years, could shed important light on the vegetation history and future trends subsequently. Hereby, intercorrelation of vegetation trends and subsequent complex analysis of the information, representing different interglacials, may enhance our knowledge about the spatiotemporal dynamics of the vegetation along the long-lasted time axis.

During the last decades palaeoebotanical disciplines have collected relevant, site-specific pollen and plant macro data representing two warm geological intervals, interglacials, named Holocene (present) and Eemian (previous) Interglacial of the Upper Pleistocene in the eastern Baltic. Analysis of the obtained data, including the application of the statistical approach, will provide more comprehensive insights into the palaeovegetation behaviour and that is especially important analysing situation in context of both internal and external drivers as well as making future forecast.

This PhD study project aims at the spatiotemporal reconstruction of the long-lasted vegetation dynamics throughout the warm intervals of the Upper Pleistocene (Eemian-Holocene) in the Eastern Baltic applying integrated statistical approach and providing remarkable input into the global knowledge of forest dynamics and potential future changes.

Realizing the objectives of the PhD studies, alongside with the involvement of rich palaeobotanical data set, classical statistical methods and programs (Statistica, PAST and etc.) together with the modern ones, i.e. R programmes and multivariate analysis (PCA, DCA, tb-PCA and etc.), including various modelling techniques (GLM, GLMM, GAM ir kt.), will be applied.

Alongside with this development of a new research agenda is going to be realised.