L’Université de Pau et des Pays de L’Adour (http://www.univ-pau.fr/), in collaboration with Ifremer (www.ifremer.fr) and Total (www.total.com), invite applications for a fully funded PhD scholarship. The proposed research will focus on the interaction between gas compressibility and exsolution and the mechanical behavior of host sediment in geological conditions.

The PhD will examine the role of free gas (methane) in subsurface remobilization of fine-grained sediments, with a special focus on mud volcanism and the formation of evacuation craters / collapse features. The PhD student will investigate first the geological interpretations of the features of interest (mud volcanoes and crater of the South Caspian Basin), and will then test the current interpretation/hypotheses related to the interaction between free gas and sediment behavior through numerical modeling, supported as needed by geotechnical laboratory experiments.

The PhD will be co-directed by N. Sultan in IFREMER and JP Callot in UPPA (Pau), and co-supervised by P. Imbert in TOTAL. The PhD student is expected to share his/her time equally between Ifremer and Total/UPPA in Pau during the 3-year PhD program. The successful candidate is expected to start their studentship in October 2016.

The PhD candidate will require to have a Master degree in geoscience with good background in geology, numerical modeling and/or geotechnics. The candidate has a strong motivation (i) to work on integrated datasets including seismic profiles and well data, (ii) to carry out laboratory geotechnical testing and (iii) to integrate test results and subsurface observations into a comprehensive analytical or numerical model.

Please contact jean-paul.callot@univ-pau.fr, nabil.sultan@ifremer.fr and patrice.imbert@total.com for details.

More information and application at http://ed-sea.univ-pau.fr/live/digitalAssets/152/152286_1-OffreAllocationdeTheseAffichageJP_CALLOT2.pdf