PhD position (3 years) in Fluid Rock interactions, Rock physics and rock mechanics

Carbonate rocks are of high interest regarding sustainable energies (geothermal, water resources) and climate change mitigation (greenhouse gas sequestration, waste storage). The project will develop an acute understanding of early diagenesis and its precursor role on aquifer creation and preservation in carbonate rocks. The project will provide a thorough understanding on the crucial and deterministic factors conditioning the creation of well-developed porous and permeable units in carbonate rocks by answering two central questions: (Objective 1) what are the roles of the initial sediment mineralogy and fluid chemistry on early diagenetic transformations? And (Objective 2) what are the areas in current carbonate environments that are prone to become potential aquifers? This project is founded on (i) a new apparatus designed to simulate fluid-rock interactions in the laboratory under temperature and stressfield in oedometric conditions while measuring sediment properties evolution (deformation, permeability, ultrasonic velocities), and (ii) on a meticulous field characterization of a modern-day carbonate environment to understand the spatial partitioning of early diagenetic processes. The two objectives of the project are highly complementary, as it is essential to integrate analog experiments within a constrained geological framework for experimental parameters dependency, validation and upscaling significance of laboratory observations.

The profile of the candidate sought is that of a rock physicist and/or rock mechanic, with knowledge of sedimentary geology or hydrogeology. It is essential that the candidate feels comfortable with experimental and analytical work, which will be an important part of the thesis work. Finally, it is desirable that the candidate has an affinity with certain theoretical concepts (effective media theory, geomechanical models...).