The Department of Earth Sciences conducts teaching and research across the full range of the solid and environmental Earth Sciences, with activities in almost all areas of biogeology, geochemistry, geology, geophysics and hydrogeology. Research is integrated into two major programmes, addressing the structure and dynamics of the planetary interior, the evolution of the lithosphere, the properties of Earth materials, as well as actuo- and paleo-environments and climates.

The reactive transport modelling group within the Department of Earth Sciences-Geochemistry is a forward-thinking, active research group at the forefront of scientific exploration. Current research underway tackles globally important issues by furthering the understanding of the behaviour of biogeochemically sensitive elements in the natural environment. These concerns are addressed by mechanistic and quantitative modelling of coupled transport and biological-geochemical processes.

Tasks

Utrecht University is responsible for the development of a reactive transport model (RTM) with full GIS functionality to simulate the transformations and fluxes of methane in sediments of the Baltic Sea, and their response to water column eutrophication and climate change.

The proposed work will build on recent and ongoing sediment modelling studies dealing with bioenergetic and kinetic constraints on methane production and consumption, the coupling of the benthic methane cycle to those of sulfur and iron, gas bubble formation and transport, the integration of reactive transport modelling with data from sediment cores and seismic surveys, and time-dependent methane fluxes