In connection to the third bridge over “Limfjorden” a massive mapping using gradient magnetometer (tMAG) is carried out. In this project you will work with advanced processing of the data to produce better maps to outline archeological artifacts and make interpretations of these.

IP effects in TEM data are a big problem especially in permafrost regions and regolithic environments in the sub-tropics. This project will focus on getting better models out of the tTEM data collected in these regions. Fairly programming heavy. 

Key words: Water, geophysics, Arctics, Africa

Pre-requisite: Basic Hydrogeophysics

Freshwater lenses sitting on a saltwater plume is a common hydrological setting in coastal-near regions. Here, we will install and run a permanent TEM system and work with the data to produce time-lapse series of the saltwater-freshwater dynamics. 

Key words: Water, geophysics, modelling

Mapping of groundwater resources in dry regions in Africa (likely Ethiopia) with geophysical methods. In dry regions groundwater is an essential resource both to locate and to manage. In many cases geophysical data is the main source of information which adds extra demands to the field work, processing and inversion. Often the geophysical data also support artificial infiltration (Managed Aquifer Recharge)

Pre-requisite: Basic Hydrogeophysics

Key words: Water, geophysics, geological modelling

Mapping water table variations with Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) sounding. Quite a bit of data collection combined with office-work processing and inverting the data.  

Key words: Water, geophysics

Collect and process NMR logging data and test a Bayesian framework for inversion of NMR logging data.  

Key words: Water, geophysics, modelling

Sea ice is an important component of the Earth’s climate system, and it also supports entire Arctic ecosystems from tiny little algae to large marine mammals. In recent years, we have observed a dramatic retreat of sea ice associated with ongoing global warming but observations are limited to the last few decades. By analyzing marine sediment samples, we can extend the sea ice history back thousands of years and investigate interactions between the ocean, the atmosphere, and the cryosphere on long time scales.  

Lab methods: Organic geochemistry (biomarkers), or microfossils. 

Sediments make up the largest carbon reservoir on our planet and they play an important role for the sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere on long time scales. So-called “blue carbon”, i.e. carbon stored in the oceans and underlying sediments has become an increasingly popular research subject in recent years, especially in the rapidly changing Arctic environment. In this project we will examine the source and concentration of carbon in marine sediments and associate this with different environmental and climate boundary conditions.  

Lab methods: Organic carbon analyses, stable isotopes, pyrolysis, microfossils. 

Rising temperatures and retreating sea ice and glaciers impact the surface water conditions and thereby all life at the base on the marine food web. Small algae and other microorganisms respond to changes in their environment by shifts in species communities, but also by changing their size. With advanced automated microscopy techniques, and AI-aided image analyses we will document changes in the sizes of phytoplankton through time and associate this with changes in the environment.  

Lab methods: Automated microscopy, image recognition, AI morphometric analyses.  

Recent sediments spanning the last hundred years are extremely valuable as they have captured the effects of global warming, biodiversity loss, and pollution of the natural environment. Because of low sediment accumulation rates, however, and disruptions to the global radiocarbon signal, these recent sedimentary layers are often very difficult to date. To provide good chronological, in this project, we will study anthropogenic signals in the sediments as age markers. Products from fossils fuel combustion, or changes in stable isotopes can detected in sedimentary archives from both close to home in Aarhus Bay, or from remote areas in Greenland or Svalbard.  

Lab methods: Sediment analyses, slide preparation, microscopy, image analyses  

At the bottom of sea, benthic invertebrates live on and inside marine sediments. As they mix up sediments and thereby influence the burial of carbon and recycling of nutrients, they leave behind traces of burrows and other structures. With modern CT scanning techniques, we can visualize these structures as small density changes, and by training AI segmentation models, they can be quickly classified and parameterized. In this project you will combine image processing and AI models to answer research questions in paleoclimatology. We have various cores and datasets available, both from Danish waters and from the Arctic.  

Lab methods: CT scanning, image segmentation using machine learning, sediment description 

Together with a number of public and private partner, I am doing a number of projects on greenhouse gas emissions. These projects include developing a infrared hyperspectral imager, analysing satellite observations from Copernicus satellites and running atmospheric circulations models.

Prerequisites: Programming

Keywords: Greenhouse gas, Atmosphere, Remote Sensing, Machine Learning

We have a number of projects related to the Danish led Máni mission to the Moon. There project can both be scientific related to using the observations to decipher the history of the Moon or more technical to preparing the design, integration and operation of the satellite. 

Prerequisites: none

Keywords: Moon, Satellite, Machine Learning

The DISCO-2 satellite is plan for launch in February 2026 and there are a list of possible geoscientific projects to do with it. One of them focusing on using photogrammetry to measure melting rates of glacier

Prerequisites: Programming

Keywords: DISCO, Greenland, Remote Sensing, Machine Learning

Biochar is gaining attention as a stable carbon sink and a viable material for carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Its thermal evolution during pyrolysis plays a critical role in determining its physicochemical properties, which in turn influence its applications in various industries, including metallurgy. Phytoliths, silica-rich structures naturally occurring in plants, persist in biochar after pyrolysis and may contribute to its structural and functional properties. This study explores the thermal transformation of phytoliths in biochar and assesses their potential role in metallurgical applications, particularly as a partial substitute for coke in the steel industry.

Key words: biochar, Phytoliths, Pyrolysis, Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)

This MSc project aims to investigate the relationship between various proxies for carbon stability in biochar. Specifically, this study will focus on biochar samples previously subjected to Hydrous Pyrolysis (HyPy) across a wide range of pyrolysis temperatures. Background: The preliminary HyPy analysis conducted on 44 biochar samples revealed the fraction of biochar containing fused aromatic rings with more than six rings. These fused aromatic rings are known for their structural strength and are perceived as having long-term permanence and stability in natural environments, making them a significant proxy for biochar carbon stability. Additionally, random reflectance and hydrogen index are also regarded as reliable indicators of carbon stability. Methodology: This project will perform random reflectance and thermochemical analysis on the 44 biochar samples and compare these results with the existing HyPy data. The primary aim is to investigate the relationships between these different carbon stability proxies and derive regression relationships that could allow one proxy to be predicted from another. Supervision and Collaboration: The project is supervised by Professor Hamed Sanei and co[1]supervised by Dr. Arka Rudra. It is a collaborative effort between the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) and the Itekata Institute.

Key words: Biochar, HyPy, CDR

Examination of metamorphic processes in granulite or eclogite facies rocks principioally in mountain-building environments or subduction zones

Examination of petrology and chemistry of mantle peridotites

Petrological and geochemical examination of the Solar System

Analysis of active-ice landforms related to fast ice flow in Denmark using high-resolution LiDAR imagery. Focus on mega-scale glacial lineations (MSGLs), drumlins and flutes in the context of ice streaming.

Key words: Ice streams, subglacial landforms, LiDAR, glaciation, Quaternary

Geological and sedimentological study of Weichselian glacial deposits at selected coastal sections around the Kalø Vig and Ebeltoft Vig north-east of Aarhus. Focus on the properties, origin and age of tills and meltwater deposits.

Key words: Glacial deposits, till, outwash sediments, subglacial processes, Quaternary

Reconstruction of groundwater flow dynamics in selected area(s) along the southern fringe of the Pleistocene ice sheet using finite-difference numerical codes. Focus on water flow pattern, fluxes, volumes, and the significance for ice sheet stability.

Key words: Subglacial groundwater, numerical modelling, Scandinavian Ice Sheet, glacier stability, Quaternary

In this project, you use results from a high-resolution tTEM survey to explore the signature of glaciations on the near-surface in Denmark.  You compare resistivity from sampled sediments to the tTEM results, construct a detailed geological model for the distribution of deposits, and interpret past glacial sedimentary environments and deformational processes in the area.

Pre-requisite: Basic Hydrogeophysics and Electric and Electromagnetic Methods

The project involves building and installing a small electric resistivity monitoring system using an open source and open hardware system called OhmPi.
The project requires coding to the Raspberry Pi platform (no experience needed), testing the instrument in the field, data processing, and inversion.

Pre-requisite: Basic Hydrogeophysics

Key words: Water, geophysics

In this project, you will work with the geological interpretation of geophysical data in Geoscene3D and use the geological model to construct at basic hydrological model of the project area.

Pre-requisite: Basic Hydrogeophysics and Electric and Electromagnetic Methods

This study focuses on producing a chronology for key glacial landforms in eastern Siberia, a vast region known as the “Cold Pole” of the Northern Hemisphere, where the ice-cover history is virtually unknown. More specifically, this study involves dating of large terminal moraines located at the western rangefront of the Verkhoyansk Maountains with cosmogenic ¹⁰Be profile dating. This will improve work in the laboratory and exposure dating with ¹⁰Be profiling. The overarching aim is to improve our understanding of the ice-cover history of eastern Siberia.

This study will analyse and compare the dominant climate patterns recorded in marine sediments, in polar ice cores, and in terrestrial climate archives to improve our understanding of leads and lags in the system. It will also examine the role that changing CO₂ concentrations played for the transition between glacial and interglacial periods during the Quaternary period. The project will mainly focus on analyses and modelling of existing time-series data.

This study will apply cosmogenic ¹⁰Be to constrain landscape evolution in the Antiatlas Mountains in Morocco. The project will involve lab work and modelling of eroson rates based on measured ¹⁰Be concentrations.

Recent publications have raised questions about the position of the Main Stationary Line (Hovedopholdslinien) in Denmark. This project will attempt to determine the position of this line by constraining the timing of ice retreat across Denmark using ¹⁰Be profiling. The project will involve work in the laboratory and inverse modelling of ¹⁰Be profile concentrations. 

Based on seismic sections is the objective of the project to map the seismic signature of various Permian lithologies (Rotligendes clastics, Zechstein evaporites) in the Danish area.

During the Permian does the Ringkøbing Fyn High separate the North German Basin from the Norwegian Danish Basin. Therefore are there a varriety of different sediments deposited. The sediments have different seismic characteristics. These characteristics have to be defined, and identified in the eastern North Sea and Onshore Denmark. This will enable a better understanding of the structures related to the distribution of non mobile and mobile evaporites.If possible will neural network analysis be implemented.

Data: 2-D and 3-D seismic surveys, well data, pårevious interpretations.

Keywords: Facies distribution, Permian, Seismic analysis

Above and next to saltstructures are a number of faults formed. Understanding the fault evolution is important since they define the reservoir properties with respect to CCS.

The faults reflect the salt movements in time and space and the project focuses on a  mapping of  faults using various interpretation softwares and their automatic fault mapping.  The different automatic methods must be compared and evaluated. 

Data: 3-D commercial seismic data from the North Sea

Keywords: 3-D seismics, North Sea, Salt, Fault mapping

The projects includes a mapping of the amount of extension in the post Zechstein sediments across and along the northern margin of the Ringkøbing-Fyn High with special emphasis on the effect of the change in strike of the Ringkøbing-Fyn High. The analysis will be based on 2-D seismic sections and the structural reconstruction software "MOVE". The results may solve a long discussed probelm of the orientation of cover sediment faults in the eastern Norwegian Danish Basin.

Data: 2-D seismic data and avaliable well information

Keywords: Regional Seismic mapping, Norwegian-Danish Basin, thinskinned extension

Doggerland, the land that once connected Britain and Central Europe, was the home to hunter-gatherers thousands of years ago. Through studies of seismics and organic biomarkers from sediment underneath the North Sea, we will uncover the mysterious history of these Mesolithic people. Prerequisites include either lab work or experience with seismic data.

Keywords: archaeology, biomarkers, seismics, paleoclimate

As part of the BRAINSTORM project, we aim to characterize the environments of our early hominin ancestors in eastern Africa. By applying biomarker tools, we will reconstruct past rainfall, vegetation, and fire to identify key transitions and relationships in our evolutionary past. The student will be expected to perform organic chemistry lab work and analyze chromatography, and potentially even isotope, data with the aid of a supportive research group. Prerequisites include any laboratory work and course work in paleoclimatology.

Keywords: hominin evolution, biomarkers, paleoclimate, paleoenvironment

As part of the WARMEST and TOTO projects, we aim to understand terrestrial climate and environmental responses of the Western Sahel to changes in global temperatures and CO2. This region is highly vulnerable to future global warming, so by reconstructing past rainfall, vegetation, and fire during periods of elevated temperatures and CO2 throughout the Cenozoic, we can constrain how the area may look like in the future. The student will be expected to perform organic chemistry lab work and analyze chromatography, and potentially even isotope, data with the aid of a supportive research group. Prerequisites include any laboratory work and course work in paleoclimatology.

Keywords: biomarkers, paleoclimate, paleoenvironment, Cenozoic

This project if part of the C-ASH initiative aiming at using the Eocene ash in the danish underground for carbon mineralisation. The goal of the project is to investigate natural carbonate mineralisation in magic and ultramafic rocks and understand their petrology and geochemistry in relationship with their host-rock, as an analogue for carbon mineralisation in the Fur Formation. Petrographic investigation will be performed using optical microscopy, Cathodo-luminescence, and scanning electron microscopy. Geochemical investigations will be undertaken by micro-XRF and laser ablation analyses. 

This project is part of a DFF funded project that aims to understand the repercussions of rapid and long-term climatic perturbations on continental weathering and their effect on sediment and nutrient supply on both terrestrial and marine environments. To achieve this goal, the student will describe sedimentary sections and collect samples during a 2–3 weeks fieldwork session in the Central High Atlas Basin of Morocco. Back in the lab, chemostratigraphic dating of the surveyed section will be undertaken using OM carbon isotope measurement,  and weathering patterns will be deduced from geochemical proxies acquired by handheld XRF measurements.

This project will explore the full potential of using ancient coal seams as modern ice cores, which may ultimately lead to the discovery of novel global climate archives of dust aerosols, temperature, rainfall, wildfires, plant and atmospheric carbon cycling. This project aims to answer the following fundamental research question: To which extent do coal seams inform about sub-millennial climate changes in the Paleocene? The student will work towards reconstructing rates of atmospheric mineral dust deposition by analyzing concentrations of inorganic elements with handheld XRF and Micro-XRF on several different fully sampled coal seams, supplemented by inferences of atmospheric carbon cycling from centimeter-scale organic stable carbon isotope measurements.

Varme kan ekstraheres fra undergrunden ved at cikulere vand i et dybt borehul. Med udgangspunkt i et eksisterende Matlab program til modellering af cirkulationen ønskes en undersøgelse af hvordan mængden og den tidslige udvikling af den ekstraherede varme afhænger af undergrundens termiske parametre. Programmering i Matlab.

Ekstraktion af varme fra undergrunden afhænger bl.a. af undergrundens termiske parametre. Materiale fra den dybe undergrund forefindes ofte som cuttings. Der ønskes en undersøgelse af metoder til bestemmelse af varmeledningsevnen på cuttings fra borehuller. Måleudstyr og prøvemateriale haves. Termistorer skal kalibreres.

Programmering i Matlab.

I det baltiske skjold er der målt fissionsspor i apatit på mange prøver fra overfladen og fra borehuller. Fissionsspor indeholder information om undergrundens temperaturhistorie tilbage i tiden. Projektet anvender data fra det dybe borehule Gravberg-1 med henblik på at estimere lokalitetens erosionshistorie siden Karbon-Perm.

Programmering i Matlab.

Flere mulige projekter om udfordringerne med overholdelse af kravværdier af fx arsen, mangan, jern, pesticider, m.fl.

Kan være felt- og laboratoriebaseret.

Keywords: drikkevand, grundvand, forurening, nitrat, pesticider,

Focus på enkelte stoffer eller lokaliteter som forurenger jord eller grundvand.

Key words: vandforurening, hydrogeokemi

Undersøgelser af paleo-landskaber relateret til forståelsen af de landskaber og kyster som mennesker har levet i. Lokaliteter kan fx være i Danmark eller i udlandet.

Key words: arkæologi, geomorfologi, jordbund,

Her er fokus på hvordan naturligt forekommende stoffer i drikkevandet påvirker folkesundheden i det livslangs perspektiv.

Key words: vandforurening, hydrogeokemi, databaser

This master's thesis project aims to implement and test a novel method for deconvolution of reflection seismic data using non-Gaussian assumptions. Most existing deconvolution methods rely on Gaussian assumptions through least squares methods, which can limit their effectiveness in complex geological settings. In this thesis, we will explore sampling-based approaches and non-Gaussian prior models to improve the quality of seismic deconvolution. The project will involve developing algorithms that overcome the limitations of conventional techniques, implementing them in a computational framework, and rigorously testing their performance using both synthetic and real seismic datasets. The results will be evaluated based on resolution improvement, noise suppression, and overall interpretability of the processed seismic data. 

This master's thesis project aims to develop and implement a novel probabilistic approach for inverting reflection seismic data directly for reservoir properties. Traditional seismic inversion typically follows a two-step process: first inverting for elastic properties, which are then converted to reservoir parameters such as porosity in a subsequent step. This project seeks to streamline this workflow by developing a probabilistic model that represents the relationship between seismic data and reservoir parameters. The student will develop a probabilistic inversion algorithm that allows for estimating reservoir parameters directly from seismic data.This research has the potential to improve reservoir characterization by reducing error propagation and providing more reliable uncertainty estimates. 

Description: Sigguup Nunaa (Svartenhuk), West Greenland, is a large peninsula close to the current Greenland Ice Sheet. Previous work has debated if it was covered by the Greenland Ice Sheet at the Last Glacial Maximum, or if it remained ice free. This project will use geomorphological mapping to develop a new model for glaciation of this region.

Key words: Greenland, geomorphological mapping, remote sensing, quaternary

Reconstruction of paleoenvironmental and/or catchment conditions through the Late-Holocene in Iceland, using analysis of high-resolution ITRAX XRF from lacustrine records.

Key words: lacustrine, XRF, Iceland

Using remotely sensed data (satellite imagery, digital elevation models/LiDAR imagery to map landforms and reconstruct ice sheet retreat patterns in high-resolution. Can be focused on central Norway, Iceland, or Greenland.

Key words: ice sheet, remote sensing, quaternary, subglacial landform

The project will involve GIS, coring data, and output from global sea level models.

Keywords: Eemian, sea level, GIS, cores, scientific computing

A numerical study examining passive margin landscapes in Scandinavia in comparison with similar landscapes either in Greenland or in Namibia. You will be using digital elevation models and existing numerical toolboxes to examine the geomorphology of passive margins – to infer the origin of the landscapes.

Keywords: passive margins, topography, geomorphology, scientific computing

A numerical study examining ice volumes in Siberia during the last glacial cycle, constrained by already dated moraines, with implications for global sea level. You will be using output from a global climate model to set up a mass balance model for mountainous regions in Siberia and subsequently run an ice sheet model to explore ice sheet extent and ice volume for the region. Some existing modeling tools will be used, but some model development/scientific computing is anticipated.

Keywords: Siberia, ice-sheet modeling, sea level, scientific computing

The project takes a numerical modeling approach to explore the Greenland ice sheet during past and/or future climate forcing, with the option to include glacial erosion models and/or combine with global sea level models. Existing modeling tools will be used, but some model development/scientific computing is anticipated.

The M.Sc. project will be associated with the EiS project (PI VK Pedersen) that investigates the interaction between the Greenland ice sheet, the landscape under the ice, and the resulting sea level over thousands of years.

Keywords: Greenland ice sheet, sea level, scientific computing, glacial isostatic rebound.