Postdoctoral position (f_m_x) “Landscapes as Carbon Sponges”

We seek a highly motivated postdoctoral scholar to contribute to the development of a new landscape-scale concept for future land use or management that takes into account their carbon storage potential with the aim of achieving “net-zero landscapes”.

Landscapes store carbon, fixed through photosynthesis by plants, in soils and sediments. This stable carbon can become a long-term sink for atmospheric carbon when it is transferred by rivers into geological basins (such as deep ocean sediment). Since several thousands of years, humans have been engineering fluvial landscapes to make them more efficient for agriculture and transport, altering those biogeochemical fluxes, while their effect on the carbon cycle is unquantified.

In a joint project funded by the Helmholtz Research Field “Earth and Environment” you will work within a team of partners at the GFZ as well as the Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine research (AWI) and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) to understand and quantify mechanisms of carbon fixation, stabilization, transformation and mobilization in fluvial systems.

This project will focus on river systems in Northeastern Germany using sedimentary archives of the recent geological past and a diverse set of tools, from sedimentology, geomorphology, paleoclimatology, organic and inorganic geochemistry on fluvial sediments and marine archives during periods of natural climate variability and major human disruptions.

Your responsibilities:

• Perform sedimentological, geomorphological, organic and inorganic geochemical analyses on fluvial and potentially marine sediment archives.
• Extract, purify and analyse terrestrial biomarkers and their radiogenic and stable carbon and hydrogen isotope ratios to trace carbon through the landscape.
• Obtain a detailed understanding of the natural processes and human perturbations that alter the carbon budget of a fluvial landscape.
• Publish key results in international journals and present them at scientific meetings.

Your qualifications:

• PhD degree (or equivalent) in the (bio)geosciences (geology, physical geography, environmental sciences, geoecology or related fields), with evidence of excellence in guided research.
• A capacity for quickly grasping scientific concepts and placing detailed information and observations in a wider context.
• An ability to independently develop the project in the framework of the PI group.
• A talent for combining techniques and insights from different disciplines, and a keen interest in carbon cycling.
• Experience in sediment coring, sampling and (organic) geochemical analysis is an advantage.
• Very good English skills, both written and spoken.
• High motivation and creativity as well as a result-oriented, structured and independent working attitude.
• Willingness and ability to work in a diverse, interdisciplinary and international team.

What we offer:

• Ambitious and varied tasks in a dynamic and international research environment.
• Public service benefits.
• Extensive training opportunities.
• Professional career advice offered by our in-house Career-Centre.
• Flexible working hours and conditions.
• Support with finding a good work-life balance offered by benefit@work.
• Working on the Telegrafenberg in Potsdam.
• Work place within walking distance of Potsdam main train station, or just a short ride on the shuttle bus.

Start date: 1st January 2025

Fixed-term: 3 years

Salary: The position is classed as salary group 13 according to “TVöD Bund (Tarifgebiet Ost)”. The salary group is determined on the basis of the Collective Wage Agreement and the respective personal qualifications.

Working hours: Full-time (currently 39 h / week); The position is generally suitable for part-time work.

Place of work: Potsdam

If so, we look forward to receiving your application by 3rd September 2024. Please use our online application form only.