PhD Studentship: Formation and Rifting of Axial Volcanoes South of Iceland

The Mid Atlantic Ridge to the south of Iceland – called the Reykjanes Ridge – has an unusually high concentration of volcanoes compared to other slow spreading mid-ocean ridges, owing to unusually high magma production in the vicinity of the Icelandic hotspot. Yet in common with other slow spreading ridges, almost all of these volcanic features are extinct, or at least dormant. Only three active magma chambers have been discovered along the entire Mid Atlantic Ridge, and two of them occur along the Reykjanes Ridge. One was discovered in the early 1990s. The other was discovered in summer 2024 by the IMPULSE expedition, a Birmingham-led project that has collected a huge new geophysical imaging dataset along the entire length of the Reykjanes Ridge and its flanks. Several potential new hydrothermal fields were also discovered.    

Whilst the discovery of a new magma chamber and potential hydrothermal fields was a headline success of this summer's data acquisition expedition, the IMPULSE project did not actually set out to search for these features. Its primary aim is to produce seismic images of the entire oceanic crust in order test the thermal plume pulsing hypothesis for the Icelandic Mantle Plume. This leaves a window of opportunity for a PhD project to work up the new dataset with a focus on surface volcanic features, related hydrothermal activity, and their relationship to the underlying magmatic plumbing system beneath the mid-ocean ridge, working closely alongside and augmenting the whole-crustal imaging work being done by the core IMPULSE research team.  

For further information on this project and details of how to apply to it please click on the above 'Apply' button

Further information on how to apply for a CENTA studentship can be found on the CENTA website: https://centa.ac.uk/

This project is offered through the CENTA3 DTP, with funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Funding covers an annual stipend, tuition fees (at home-fee level) and Research Training Support Grant.

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