Possible MSc (thesis only) projects offered by BM Peake in 2010
1. Chemical Analysis of Sediment cores from Tasman Bay, Nelson.
(jointly supervised by Chemistry and either Marine Science and /or Geology)
This project is part of a much bigger Integrated Land Catchment management research project being undertaken mainly by Land Care and the Cawthron Institute in Nelson. There are strong indications that pulses of particulate and dissolved material are formed in the upper catchment areas of the Motueka River during storm episodes resulting in deposits of high concentrations of trace metals and other chemical species in the plume of the Motueka River in Tasman Bay. There is real concern that their presence may led to uptake of at least the trace metals by the mussels that are being increasingly farmed in this coastal marine area of Tasman Bay.
This project would involved a detailed chemical and mineralogical analysis of sediment cores that have already been collected along transects extending out for the mouth of the Motueka River and control sites in the Waimea Inlet.
2. Factors affecting reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in the Water of Leith.
(jointly supervised by Chemistry and Botany)
ROS are increasingly recognised as playing a large part in many aspects of the chemical behaviour of natural waters. Recent research has demonstrated a marked seasonal variation in the steady state levels of the most stable ROS viz. hydrogen peroxide, in this stream. However, there are other factors apart from seasonal light levels which might influence these levels.
This project would involve measuring the levels of three ROS ( hydrogen peroxide, superoxide anion, and singlet oxygen) in samples collected from the Leith across the full 12 months as a function of the levels of: 1) light, 2) Fe (II) and Fe(III), 3) dissolved organic matter, and 4) rainfall . An attempt would also be made to model the simultaneous variation in all of these parameters
Dr Barrie Peake
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