We are seeking an enthusiastic and highly motivated student to undertake a fully-funded PhD project reconstructing the Holocene palaeoenvironment of Port Phillip Bay and investigating human-environmental interactions. The project builds on existing data, with new cores taken by our Industry Partners LXRP. A combination of pollen and charcoal analyses, and geochronological approaches will be used to investigate palaeoecological and sea level changes in the bay; these will be related to archaeological evidence in the region to build a better understanding of human-environment interactions. There is scope to tailor elements of the project to the skills and interests of the candidate.
Port Phillip Bay, on which Melbourne is situated, has a complex history, with evidence for a late Holocene drying event within the last 2,800-1,000BP years, corroborated by local Aboriginal oral traditions. The cores recovered by LXRP on the eastern flank of the bay extend back to 14,000 BP, and offer the opportunity to better resolve our understanding of both sea level fluctuations and palaeoecological change within the bay. There is scope to retrieve further cores with justification.
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