Sammendrag
Thaiane Niederauer had her internship at the University of Tromsø during winter 2025
Thaiane Niederauer
Hello everyone! My name is Thaiane and I’m a master’s student from Brazil. I study metamorphism and tectonics with Tonian age xenoliths from southern Brazil and Uruguay, and I aim to unravel their metamorphic history and tectonic events by estimating the pressure and temperature conditions that these rocks were formed in. The main approaches to achieve this is through thermobarometry – by analyzing mineral chemistry data to estimate the conditions at which a rock or mineral formed or equilibrated, and also by pseudosection modelling – constructing phase diagrams that show how a rock’s mineral assemblage changes with pressure and temperature, based on its bulk chemical composition.
I was already marveled with Norway with the view from above from the airplane as I traveled to my destination. I arrived in Tromso on February 3rd at four o’clock and, to my surprise, the sun had already set. I learned that the polar night – when the sun doesn’t go above the horizon for months during the wintertime – had just ended two weeks ago. By the time that I arrived, Tromso had barely over 5 hours of sunlight per day. In the airport, I was well received by Professor Jiri Konopásek, and was left at the UiT’s guesthouse, where it would be my home for the next eight weeks.
My internship took place at UiT between February and March of 2025, where I took part in the Phase Petrology and Thermodynamic Modelling in Metamorphic Studies course taught by Professor Jiri. In this course, I learned to use the software Perple_X, which at first glance is a rather scary-looking black screen in a Windows command prompt with an overly complicated installation procedure, but nonetheless very powerful and, actually, much easier to learn than what it seems! With this software, I can generate phase diagrams that display the stable mineral assemblages across a range of P and T conditions for my samples, based on their bulk rock composition.
In the classes, we started from the bottom to the top: we first learned what a stable mineral assemblage is, what are univariant reactions and what is an univariant point, and how to construct a chemographic diagram on hand based on the Schreinemakers method. Only after this brief introduction we learned how to install and use the Perple_X software with hands-on exercises. As the equilibrium mineral assemblages are calculated through a Gibbs energy minimization algorithm, in class we also learned a bit of thermodynamics and physico-chemical processes. The course duration was three weeks, and I spent the remaining days working on my samples, generating data and discussing the results with Professor Jiri and my advisor in Brazil.
When I wasn’t working on the computer, I enjoyed sightseeing around the city. The snow-covered landscapes were fantastic. Mind you: I had just fled from a 40-degree heat wave that hit southern Brazil just days before I traveled, so, at least for me, the weather was truly a bliss! I also enjoyed walking around the harbor area and Storgata street. I had the opportunity to meet the local cinema club in the Verdensteatret and to eat a reindeer-hotdog in Norway’s smallest bar, as well as to enjoy the nightlife Tromso has to offer.
But perhaps the most unforgettable experience was to see the northern lights for the first time. And the freedom to go roaming in the middle of the night just to find the best spot to watch it is something I’ll definitely miss.
I loved my experience in Norway and I’m grateful for all the knowledge I got, and the friendships I made there. I would like to send a special thanks and a hug to Helge and Jiri, for making me feel at home at UiT, and also to other students such as Stephan, Maria and Marina, for showing me things around and giving me tips during my brief stay. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about my experiences in Tromso and I hope I can go back visiting soon.