The billion years old rocks of Finland reveal insights into the world of fascinating geological processes. These include changes caused by the melting of rock, transformation of rock, and the interaction between rock and water.
Professor Christoph Beier, director of the FluxBEATS doctoral training network that started in November 2024, sees the intriguing connection between the Finnish bedrock and the volcanic rocks in the current sea floor.
“By studying and understanding how Finnish rocks formed 2 billion years ago, we can understand more what is currently happening on the sea floor, and that can help us understand how fluxes of different elements affect for example the formation of different mineral deposits on the sea floor both in the past and during the present day,” Beier says.
He stresses that the purpose of the doctoral training network is not to promote submarine mining or study its effects, but to study basic geological processes on the seafloor.
Geologically, it was a shock to arrive in Finland, where the bedrock is so old, says German-born Christoph Beier. In Germany, the bedrock is much younger compared to Finland.
He notes that it is worth to leave your comfort zone in science. Studying rocks from different time periods offers new viewpoints, and fertile soil for new ideas and realisations.
The network, funded by the MSCA EU, also wants to promote mobility between the different institutions.
The doctoral network will hire doctoral researchers in seven institutes in five different countries. The network organizes joint summer schools and other training for all researchers, which creates a wide set of science and training networks.
“The goal is to educate geologists with knowledge of modern methods of analysis, who will learn to take samples both on land and at sea. The students will experience what it is like to work on board an ocean-going research craft, as one of the summer schools will be partially spent on one,” says Beier.
Having travelled with the German Research Vessel Sonne a couple of times, Beier knows that to work at sea for several months, you need to be resilient and get along with people with different customs regarding working, eating and sleeping.
Why come to Helsinki?
The oldest rocks in European Union is one big geological highlight of Finland, but so are the various analytical instruments of the University of Helsinki, which will be complemented with the metal-free clean lab TIMS (FINTIMS) that will open this year. Besides the University of Helsinki, the Geological Survey of Finland is another participant of the doctoral network from Finland.
Elina Lehtonen, research coordinator of the FluxBEATS network, says the application time is now and the goal is to have selected the researchers and have them working in early May.
The doctoral network in geology, FluxBEATS, has 10 three-year vacancies for doctoral researchers at the University of Helsinki and at 6 other research organisations in Europe. Applications are open until the end of January 2025. The network is funded by the The funding comes from the EU network Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions. Apply now.