Earth Sciences at the University of Fribourg

Bern-Fribourg Master in Earth Sciences

Master Specialty in Earth Materials (EM)

Master Speciality in Earth Materials (EM)

Career Perspectives
Scope
Aim
Core courses
Master thesis project
Laboratory facilities
Instructors
Further information

Career Perspectives:

Main aspect of the Specialty Earth Materials within the master curriculum of Earth Sciences is multidisciplinarity between geology and material sciences. In the past, graduates specialized in this field accepted positions in industry and research institutes dealing with refractories, glass, cement, gem stones, or other crystalline solids of technological importance for multiple applications. In addition to this specialization master students are also encouraged developing fundamentals for general geological tasks.

Scope

All fields of profession cited above cover the research areas of general and applied mineralogy and petrology. The spectrum summarized in Earth Materials spans from structure and properties of minerals to genesis of magmatic and metamorphic rocks. Multidisciplinarity within the domains geology-physics-chemistry provides students with skills to deal with technological applications of minerals and rocks.

Aim

The intention of this specialty aims to provide skills for investigating and characterizing minerals, rocks, and other crystalline solids, with special emphasis on their properties. This also includes developing models on formation and stability of rocks and minerals, synthesis of corresponding materials under laboratory conditions, and testing possible applications in technology and ecology.

Core courses for the Specialty in Earth Materials (30 ECTS in Module B)

Course title (26 courses):	ECTS:
Applied Isotope Geochemistry - stable & radiogenic	3
Cathodoluminescence Microscopy CL: Practical course (prer)	0.5
Cements and Silicate ceramics	2.5
Contaminated Sites	2
Electron Beam Microanalytics: Theory - EMPA, SEM, TEM CL. Mandatory for practical courses in: EMPA, SEM, TEM, CL	2
Electron Microbeam Techniques, Laboratory (prer)	1
Electron Microprobe Analysis - EMPA: Practical course. Theory course Electron Beam Microanalytics required. (prer)	1
Environmental Mineralogy	2.5
Geochemical Analysis of Rocks. Four-day block course	2
Geological Disposal and Remediation of Non-Radioactive Waste	1.5
Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste	2.5
High Specific Surface Minerals. Lecture and Practical. (prer)	2.25
Internship in industry	5
Mineral Resources. Lecture and Practical	2.25
Petrology and Geochemistry in Global Dynamics part I (prer)	2
Petrology and Geochemistry in Global Dynamics part II	2
Quantitative Methods and Models in Petrology (I).	2.25
Quantitative Methods and Models in Petrology (II).	1.5
Reflected-Light Microscopy	1.5
Rock Deformation: Brittle regime (prer)	2.5
Rock Deformation: Ductile regime	4
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM): Practical course. (Bern) on request (prer)	1
Technical Mineralogy	3
TEM and Spectroscopic Methods	2.5
X-Ray Powder Diffraction. Three-day short course.	1.5
X-ray Single Crystals. Short course. Upon request.	1.5

Masters Thesis Project (60 ECTS in Module D)

Each student writes a guided research thesis on a topic of ongoing investigation at the University of Bern or at partner institutions (university, government, industry). This project may involve any combination of field, laboratory and/or computational work. The thesis work is conducted over the entire 20-month period of the MSc curriculum, parallel to coursework, thereby allowing time for in-depth understanding of the research problem and methods. One or more supervisors are drawn from the team of lecturers or from partner institutions. During the first semester the student studies the literature and presents an oral and written research proposal. The remaining three semesters and one intervening summer period (free of coursework) are devoted to fieldwork or industry internship, collecting and analysing data and to writing up the results. The thesis work terminates with oral and written presentations at the end of the fourth semester. The MSc thesis may be written in English or German.

Examples of titles of previous MSc theses:

Synthesis and temperature dependent structure characterization of microporous CsAlSi5O12
Stepwise dehydration of Cd- and Sr-exchanged heulandite
Crystal structure and chemistry of double-ring silicates: osumilite and roedderite
Manganese minerals from the Kalahari Manganese Field, South Africa: Nchwaningite, Mn2SiO3(OH)2.H2O, a new pyroxene-related chain silicate

Available Thesis Topics in Speciality Earth Materials (EM)

(this list is updated in December each year)

ELE	EM	ERG	GEOL	PAQS	Thesis topic	Advisors:
	x				Kinetics of chlorite dehydration, Details	Prof. Bernard Grobéty
	x	x			Matrix effects on the analysis of rock-forming minerals by LA-ICP-MS , Details	PD Dr. Thomas Pettke, Prof. Thomas Armbruster
	x				Oxygen diffusion in nanoceramics: BSCF membranes, Details	Prof. Bernard Grobéty, Frank Clemens (EMPA Dübendorf)
	x	x	x		The chemistry of minerals and fluids during prograde mineral transformations in the ultramafic Bergell contact aureole , Details	PD Dr. Thomas Pettke, Prof. Martin Engi
	x		x		The thermal peak in metamorphic black shales: Gradients in the Valaisan units and contrast to tectonic neighbours, Details	Prof. Martin Engi, PD Dr. Alfons Berger
x	x				The Twannberg meteorite fall and it's relation to glacial deposits, Details	PD Dr. Beda Hofmann
	x				Thermal behavior of ceramic and cement materials: the cause of anisotropic thermal expansion , Details	Prof. Thomas Armbruster, Dr. Biljana Lazic
	x				Thermal behavior of minerals: the cause of anisotropic thermal expansion , Details	Prof. Thomas Armbruster, Dr. Biljana Lazic
	x				Thermal transformation of amphibole asbestos, Details	Prof. Bernard Grobéty
	x				Volcanic Aerosols, Details	Prof. Bernard Grobéty, Tullio Ricci, (INGV, Italy)

Current master students in Speciality Earth Materials (EM)

Student	Room	Thesis topic	Advisors
	015	Matrix effects on the analysis of rock-forming minerals by LA-ICP-MS	PD Dr. Thomas Pettke, Prof. Thomas Armbruster

	204	Behavior of Zr-in-rutile thermometer under UHT conditions	Prof. Klaus Mezger
	204		Prof. Klaus Mezger
		Tephra chronostratigraphy of the Malpaisillo volcanic deposits (Western Nicaragua)	Prof. Bernard Grobéty

Former master students in Speciality Earth Materials (EM)

Student	Thesis topic	Advisors
Bretscher Annette	Beschreibung eines Meteoriten (Mesosiderit) im Detail	PD Beda Hofmann, Dr. Urs Eggenberger
Fisch Martin	Cation exchange and structural characterization of potential zeolites	Prof. Thomas Armbruster
Gfeller Frank		Prof. Thomas Armbruster, PD Marco Herwegh, Prof. Klaus Mezger
Greminger Andrea	Microstructure and Mechanical Stability of Mortars	PD Marco Herwegh, Prof. Thomas Armbruster, Prof. Adrian Pfiffner
Munoz-Helfenberger Andre	Liberation of Pore Water using HV Pulsed Power Equipment of selFrag	Dr. Urs Eggenberger, Prof. Larryn Diamond
Opitz Christoph	Oman Meteorites	PD Beda Hofmann, Dr. Urs Eggenberger
Zurfluh Florian	Meteorites in the Sultanate of Oman	Prof. Martin Engi, PD Dr. Beda Hofmann

Laboratory Facilities

MSc students have access to a wide range of modern analytical facilities at the host institute, including state of the art single-crystal X-ray equipment enabling structural characterization at high and low temperature (100 to 850 K), powder X-ray diffraction equipment for structural characterization up to 1400 K, petrographic microscopy, cathode-luminescence, scanning-electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, electron microprobe, Laser-Raman and FTIR spectroscopy, Laser-ablation-ICP-MS, fluid inclusion microthermometry, rock porosity and permeability apparatus, wet-chemical laboratories with atomic-absorption and ion-chromatography, mass-spectrometers for stable isotopes of C, O and H, and for radiogenic isotopes of the K-Ar, Rb-Sr, Nd-Sm, U-Pb, Ca, Mo and He systems. Experimental equipment includes porewater extraction devices, flow-through reaction vessels, exchange columns, hydrothermal autoclaves for high P–T studies and special high temperature furnaces for crystal growth and solid state reactions. Computational facilities include computer clusters for geochemical modelling and GIS applications. Additional facilities are available at BeNeFri partner universities and at collaborating research institutes.

Instructors

Teaching of the specialised courses on Earth Materials and supervision of MSc thesis projects is carried out by a team with extensive experience in applied and general mineralogy and petrology (all lecturers of the Institute of Geological Sciences at the University of Bern and Prof. Bernard Grobety of the Department of Geosciences at the University of Fribourg).

Further Information

Prospective students for the specialty in “Earth Materials” should contact the following professors for further information: , or