PhD Sundaland Reimagined: The Reconstruction of a Lost Cenozoic Continent

Project Description

The Sunda Shelf, also known as Sundaland, lies at the heart of Southeast Asia and represents one of the most important, yet still incompletely understood, continental regions on Earth. Formed through the accretion of crustal fragments that rifted from the Gondwanan margin from the Triassic onwards, Sundaland has remained a relatively stable continental block throughout much of the Cenozoic, despite its location at the tectonic triple junction between the Eurasian, India–Australia, and Philippine Sea plates. Today, it is expressed as a broad, shallow, largely submerged shelf, but over the last 65 million years it has been repeatedly exposed and drowned in response to changes in global sea level, tectonic uplift, subsidence, and rifting.

These changes have had a major influence on Southeast Asian landscapes, drainage systems, mountain belts, sediment routing pathways, and depositional environments. Large river systems were repeatedly diverted across the shelf, mountain belts were uplifted and eroded, and deep sedimentary basins developed intermittently across the region. The thick siliciclastic successions deposited within these basins are now highly relevant to understanding subsurface systems, including those associated with the energy transition, such as carbon capture, utilisation and storage.

This PhD project will address the current absence of integrated, data-driven palaeogeographic reconstructions for Sundaland throughout the Cenozoic. Although previous studies have investigated individual aspects of the region’s tectonic, environmental, vegetation, or drainage history, no comprehensive regional framework currently combines geological samples, tectonic reconstructions, provenance data, and remotely sensed datasets at an appropriate scale. The project will therefore reconstruct the tectonic and landscape evolution of Sundaland over the last 65 million years and assess how these changes shaped regional palaeoenvironments and sediment routing systems.

The central aim is to produce new palaeogeographic reconstructions of the Sunda Shelf at 1 million year intervals across the Cenozoic. The project will build on an existing database of published geological data, including light and heavy mineral assemblages, U–Pb zircon ages, lithological information, biostratigraphic data, and geographic locations. These datasets will be standardised into a structured regional database. A targeted field season in the Sundaland region, most likely in Malaysia or Indonesia, will then be used to collect additional samples from areas where data density is currently low.

New samples will be analysed using sedimentary provenance techniques, including petrographic analysis of light minerals, heavy mineral analysis, and detrital zircon U–Pb geochronology. These data will be integrated with existing provenance datasets to help identify sediment sources, reconstruct sediment pathways, and assess how these evolved through time. In parallel, existing tectonic reconstructions for the Sunda Shelf will be reviewed, evaluated, and refined in GPlates to identify the major tectonic events and crustal reconfigurations that shaped the region.

The combined geological, provenance, and tectonic datasets will be used to generate a series of palaeogeographic maps using ArcGIS and the PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas plugin in GPlates. These reconstructions will provide a new framework for understanding the changing landforms, drainage systems, depositional environments, and basin development of Sundaland throughout the Cenozoic.

Expected outcomes include a comprehensive geological and provenance database for Sundaland, detailed palaeogeographic models showing the evolution of its environments and landscapes, improved understanding of regional tectonic controls on sedimentary systems, and new insight into the role of Sundaland basins in future energy transition applications. The student will receive training in palaeogeographic reconstruction, sedimentary provenance, GPlates, tectonic modelling, fieldwork, research communication, thesis writing, and career development, while joining a growing team of researchers working on Southeast Asian sedimentary systems within the Southeast Asia Research Group.

Eligibility:

This project is open to Home and overseas students. However, the scholarship only covers Home fees. International students need to cover the difference themselves.

Applicants should hold a 2:1 in Geoscience at Undergraduate and preferably a Masters degree (in any STEM subject)

Funding:

This scholarship will cover tuition fees at the Home rate and provide an annual stipend (paid in line with UKRI recommended levels, £21,805 in 2026-27) for 36 months. Thereafter, candidates will be expected to pay a continuing affiliation fee (currently £130) whilst they complete writing up their thesis. Overseas candidates are welcome to apply but must be able to demonstrate that they can fund the difference in fees (approximately £15,000 GBP per year for 3 years).

How to Apply:

1. To apply you must complete our online application form.
2. Please select PhD Applied Geoscience as the programme and include the full project title, reference number (EGIS2026-AG) and supervisor name on your application form. Ensure that all fields marked as ‘required’ are complete.
3. Once have entered your personal details, click submit. You will be asked to upload your supporting documents. You must complete the section marked project proposal; provide a supporting statement (1-2 A4 pages) documenting your reasons for applying to this particular project, outlining your suitability and how you would approach the project. You must also upload your CV, a copy of your degree certificate and relevant transcripts and an academic reference in the relevant section of the application form.
4. If your first language is not English, we'll need to see evidence of your English language ability. The minimum English language requirement for entry to this programme is IELTS 6.5 (or equivalent) with no score lower than 6.0.If you do not have IELTS 6.5, we offer a range of English language courses to help you meet the English language requirement for this programme prior to commencing your studies. For more information about your application and our English Language requirements, please see Section 10 of our page on English Language Requirements as part of your application.

Enquiries:

Please contact Dr Amy Gough (A.Gough@hw.ac.uk) for further information or an informal discussion.

Please contact egis-pgr-apps@hw.ac.uk for technical support with your application.

Timeline:

The closing date for applications is 26 June 2026 and we expect interviews to take place in July 2026.

Applicants must be available to start in September 2026.

References:

Cheng, S. and Faidi, M.A., 2025. Palaeodrainages of the Sunda Shelf detailed in new maps. Journal of Palaeogeography, 14(1),

pp.186-202. Gough, A. (2024). Unlocking Ancient Landscapes: How Extensive Source-to-Sink Datasets Can Aid in

Reconstructing Southeast Asia’s Regional Palaeogeographies. In 21st Annual Meeting of the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society

2024. Hall, R. (2013). The palaeogeography of Sundaland and Wallacea since the Late Jurassic. Journal of Limnology, 72.