PhD Position on Soil Biogeochemical Dynamics of Alpine Catchments

We seek a PhD student to study the effects of soil redistribution on biogeochemical fluxes as well as carbon and nutrient storage in Swiss alpine catchments with contrasting geological background. This position is integral to an interdisciplinary research team, which includes 3 PhD students across groups at ETH Zurich and EPF Lausanne. 

Mountain regions are hotspots of contemporary environmental change where the interactions between climate, parent material, topography, and biota create key ecosystem services related to the cycling and storage of carbon in soil. Yet, our ability to quantify and predict soil carbon stocks and lateral fluxes across such highly heterogeneous landscapes is still limited. By integrating field monitoring, soil biogeochemical analysis, and numerical modeling of coupled ecohydrological and geomorphological processes, we will evaluate the dynamics of lateral soil carbon redistribution across environmentally complex and geochemically distinct landscapes.

The advertised position is part of a multidisciplinary SNSF-funded project that is motivated by the urgent need for a better understanding of biogeochemical fluxes in alpine catchments where eco-hydrological conditions are changing rapidly due to climate change. The project is a joint collaboration between EPFL (Sara Bonnetti), ETH Zürich (ETHZ, Sebastian Doetterl), University of Lausanne (UNIL, Stuart Lane, Nadav Peleg), and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL, Katrin Meusburger), with a team encompassing (eco)hydrologists, soil scientists, and geomorphologists.

The PhD student will be responsible for the soil physical and biogeochemical characterization of soils at the catchment scale and assess erosional soil fluxes using radionuclide assessment approaches, with the specific duties:

• Participate in the setup and maintenance of field soil and plant sampling
• Assess soil fluxes
• Analyze soil organic matter sources, quality and stabilization
• Determine shifts in soil nutrient cycling between soils
• Elucidate the role of secondary minerals in regulating soil organic carbon content
• Communicate scientific findings, and write peer-reviewed scientific papers

Must haves:

• MSc degree in Soil Science, Environmental science or related field
• Experience with soil sampling and physicochemical laboratory analyses
• Willingness to travel to and conduct field work in remote alpine catchments 
• Fluent proficiency in English (Toefl C1 or higher)
• Excellent teamwork and communication for an interdisciplinary and intercultural work environment 
• Ability to work independently and critical thinking 

Assets:

• Background in soil biogeochemistry or soil genesis 
• Experience with soil flux measurements using radionuclides
• Knowledge of German or French is an asset. 

• A full-time 4-year PhD position at ETH
• A friendly, supportive, and interdisciplinary research environment spread across the ETH Earth and Planetary Science and Environmental Systems Science departments
• An impactful research topic in a rapidly developing field
• Top of the line laboratory setup
• Freedom to co-design and develop research ideas beyond the original project setup

Placement of position within the ETH domain 

The position is placed within the ETH Zurich Soil Resources group (Prof. Sebastian Doetterl), in close collaboration with Dr. Katrin Meusburger from WSL who work on the effects of soil degradation and soil development on plant-soil-atmosphere C dynamics. Our laboratories and offices are located in downtown Zurich with greenhouse facilities available also at ETH’s agricultural research station at Eschikon, ZH).