Palaeoclimate record from the Palaeogene Svea coal seam, Svalbard

The project will focus on collecting high resolution palaeoclimate proxy data from a 5 m long “core” through the Svea coal seam (Palaeogene Firkanten Fm, Svalbard). The core is a section of the mine wall in the former Svea Nord mine, retrieved shortly before the mine was closed in 2019. The material is stored in Longyearbyen and owned by UNIS.  

The Svea seam is the earliest and thickest coal seam in the Firkanten Fm basin with a distribution in the southern part of the basin. Other high resolution palaeoclimate studies from coal seams in the Firkanten Fm are currently in progress with the same research group from the Longyear seam, a younger coal seam with the depocenter shifted to the north.  

The main methodology in the MSc project will be visual description, high resolution XRF data from the coal core and possibly some coal petrography. It is particularly interesting to identify inertinite horizons, as there are possibilities for further studies of e.g. forest fire temperatures. Selected horizons should also be samples for C-isotopes. Description, XRF scanning and sampling for coal petrography and isotopes will be done at UNIS. Laboratory facilities in Bergen (or alternatively with project partners at e.g. University of Aarhus) may be options for further laboratory work. Funding for sampling and analysis currently comes from internal UNIS funding and synergies with partners collaborating with the research group. XRF, some coal petrography and select isotope samples can be done within UNIS funding.   

Previous studies have been carried out on similar vertical mine sections from the Longyear seam (Firkanten Fm) from Mine 7 and Lunckefjellet mine, where XRF scanning has been used successfully to establish a record of lithofile elements as a proxy for dust distribution, C-isotopes and coal petrography has been used to study regional carbon signatures and identifying forest fires. The research group is currently working on data from the Lunckefjellet mine and the MSc project will be part of the ongoing research and tied to the network of people with a broad variety of skills withing sedimentology and geochemistry. No work has been done on the Svea coal seam core previously, allowing the student to develop his own independent project, but securing relevant comparisons of data to the Longyear seam data sets.