The Earth Ecosystem Dynamics Group (Geological Institute, Department of Earth Sciences) at ETH Zurich is looking for a highly motivated post-doctoral researcher with interest in soil carbon, organic geochemistry and past environmental changes to work on developing the subsurface (mineral soil profiles) as geological archives for lipid biomarkers and soil organic matter composition. Your research will be part of the funded SNSF starting grant research project ROOTS (PI: Dr. Cindy De Jonge): "Reconstructing soil fertility across Time and Space".
Project backgroundCurrently, soils store a large fraction of the CO2 emitted into the atmosphere. However, whether they will continue to do so in the future is unclear, as soil fertility potentially limits the amount of primary production (carbon fixation) and belowground carbon storage. A historical perspective, i.e. looking at past changes in soil fertility and carbon storage, can elucidate these processes on timescales that exceed experimental approaches (decades to millennia). In this project, you will test whether mineral soil columns can be used as geological archives. Specifically, we need to determine whether biomarker profiles that reflect past fertility changes can be compared with bulk organic matter parameters that reflect organic matter source and conservation.
Job description - Integrate in the Earth and Ecosystem Dynamics group, where 2 PhD students work on developing lipid biomarkers for soil fertility.
- Propose your own research approaches to answer previously outlined research questions. Methods used in the group encompass a breadth of organic geochemical approaches (GC-FID, GC-MS, HPLC-APCI-MS, HPLC-ESI-Orbitrap). In collaboration with the group of Sebastian Doetterl (https://soilres.ethz.ch/), additional soil parameters can be measured.
- Take over minor responsibilities for equipment in the organic geochemistry laboratory (manual and automated extraction, GC-FID, GC-MS, HPLC-APCI-MS), ensuring that high-quality laboratory work and measurements can be performed.
- Generate datasets, draft manuscripts and finalize manuscripts for peer-reviewed publication in collaboration with the project PI (C. De Jonge).
Profile - PhD in organic geochemistry or soil science, preference for experience with soil cores and/or soil organic matter description and quantification.
- Interest in developing mineral soil columns as geological profiles.
- Ability to work in an international group where diversity and well-being is valued.
- Availability for up to 24 months between 03.2026 and 08.2028.
We offer - A two year contract that allows to contribute to an exciting new avenue in organic geochemistry.
- Financial support to conduct fieldwork and visit selected conferences.
- Possibility to gain experience with teaching.
- Incorporation in a small team with a dedicated PI. In this team we value diversity and use flexible working hours, a possibility for part-time work, and home office to facilitate a work-life balance.
- Inclusion in the world-class department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at ETH Zurich.
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