Geological and glacial processes along the inner Mid-North Norwegian continental shelf
This Master's project will be available from the intake of Autumn 2023 (August). Contact the listed supervisors for more information.
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Project description
Offshore wind is set to become a major growth industry in Norway. As the world economy is decarbonizing, the demand for renewable green energy is very high and the NW European coast has excellent wind resources. Major parts of the NW European coast was recently glaciated, and glacial erosion and deposition has resulted in highly heterogeneous seabed soil conditions here. The NW European seas are therefore very challenging places to place anchors and foundations for offshore wind turbines. Improved geological and geotechnical understanding of these soil conditions can help bring costs down for future offshore wind.
This master project will use existing TOPAS sediment penetrating echosounder data along with sediment cores sampled from the shallow sediments on the continental shelf along the Mid- and Northern Norwegian coast. The aim is to describe and interpret the geology and geological processes affecting the surface sediments, e.g. the impact of ice sheet dynamics on geological and geotechnical properties. This area might be proposed for future offshore wind energy development
It will be possible to participate on marine geological cruises in 2023. This master project is part of the 4SWIND project funded by the Research Council of Norway, Equinor and Geoprovider. The MSc will work in this project and be exposed to industry sponsors and stakeholders through various project meetings and conferences.
Proposed course plan during the master's degree (60 ECTS):
SDG207/10; GEOV228/10; GEOV364/5; GEOV300/5
GEOV231/10; GEOV261/10; GEOV360/10; BYG115/10 (HVL)
Felt- lab- og analysearbeid
- Texture and structure analysis of quantitative and qualitative of sediment CT images.
- Analysis of grain size distribution using Mastersizer 3000
- Analysis of physical properties by Geotek Multi Sensor Core Logging: P-wave velocity, gamma density, magnetic susceptibility.
- Interpretation of the sedimentary architecture using existing TOPAS sediment penetrating echosounder data in Petrel
- Geotechnical testing on selected samples at the NTNU geotechnical laboratory.
