UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE

 

CRC 1211 Earth-Evolution at the Dry Limit

The CRC 1211 research focus is based on the relationships between Earth surface processes and life’s evolution and adaptation to arid and hyper-arid systems. In the current and planned project phase the CRC 1211 aims to identify and characterize the interplay of biotically and abiotically controlled Earth surface systems, and to identify thresholds for biological species development, their radiation and tipping points along with the transformation of the desert landscapes in response to climate changes. Furthermore, detailed long-term climatic records of the oldest and most arid zones on Earth will be reconstructed.

Christine Heim’s research topics within the programme:

Microbial life in the Atacama Desert is present in evaporites and soil crusts and is well-adapted to severe water limitations. The overarching goal of this project is to identify key players that influence and modify surrounding mineral phases including evaporitic substrates. Organic networks formed by various organisms may significantly change surface properties of evaporitic soil crusts leading to initial pedogenesis. Over geological timescales microorganisms sustainably contribute to the shaping of the surface and biotic communities. Biogeochemical methods (Lipid Biomarkers) and microscopy (SEM, TEM) are applied to get insight into theses recent processes and to reconstruct ancient traces of life in the sedimentary record of the Atacama Desert.

Yaping Shao's and Michael Staubwasser's research topics within the programme:

To know the spatial and temporal variations of soil moisture under extremely dry conditions is fundamental to the study of Earth evolution at the dry limit. Next to the liquid water phase, the vapour phase probably plays an important role in soil moisture evolution under extremely dry conditions, as in the Atacama Desert. Recently, new methods based on isotopes are being developed (MS) to measure soil moisture and novel models for desert soil moisture simulation (YS) have been proposed. This project integrates the two techniques to better understand how soil moisture evolves in the desert environment.

CRC 1357 Microplastics

Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 1357: "Microplastics - Understanding the mechanisms and processes of biological effects, transport and formation: From model to complex systems as a basis for new solutions" investigates the formation, migration and effects of microplastics and develops new approaches to solving this immense environmental problem.

Christina Bogner’s research topics within the programme:

We investigate the transport of chemically complex MP particles on soil surfaces and within the soil to understand their accumulation and transport. We will conduct irrigation experiments on flow cells, soil columns, and soil flumes and combine them with computer simulations to address the following questions: (i) How do precipitation intensity, microtopography, and macropores affect MP transport on the soil surface and infiltration into the soil? (ii) How do variability in precipitation, soil texture and structure affect the transport and accumulation of MP particles in soil? (iii) How does MP transport by bioturbation differ from MP transport by water?

CRC/TR 228 Future Rural Africa

„Future rural Africa“ is an interdisciplinary collaborative research center funded by the German Research Council (DFG) involving geographers, anthropologists, political scientists, agroeconomists, soil scientists and ecologists from the Universities of Bonn and Cologne as well as external partners to address large-scale land use change and related social-ecological transformations along growth corridors in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Christina Bogner’s research topics within the programme:

Globally, infrastructural development such as roads are continuously increasing due to the high demand for the mobility of people and goods. These developments have resulted in both positive outcomes and undesirable impacts such as changes in land use, biodiversity loss, and reduced ecosystem services through forest losses. The planning of roads is often a top-down process; visions and aspirations of local communities are often inadequately considered or ignored. In this research project, we want to assess the socio-economic impacts of road development as well as on land-use changes, biodiversity, and soil ecosystem services in the Lake Baringo region, Kenya.

SPP 2238 - Dynamics of Ore Metals Enrichment – DOME

The over-riding goal of the DOME SPP is to find solutions to fundamental questions of element transport and mineralization in heterogeneous chemical systems that are complex, dynamic and highly transient. The topic of ore genesis has been studied for a long time from a combined field/laboratory perspective and also experimentally in simplified systems, but rarely have these techniques been integrated in a coordinated way with the third perspective from numerical process modeling. The originality and innovation potential of this SPP lies in the coordination of empirical field-related studies that define the geological/mineralogical framework of natural ore systems with experimental work and numerical models that provide a quantitative understanding of the processes involved.

Sandro Jahn’s research group...

... uses both experimental and computational approaches to study the molecular structure as well as the physical and thermodynamic properties of hydrothermal fluids. In the context of the DOME SPP activities are focussed on metal speciation and transport in ore-forming fluids and on theoretical predictions of stable isotope fractionation between fluids, melts and minerals. Model systems are studied by a combination of molecular dynamics simulations and in situ spectroscopic methods, e.g., micro-Raman spectroscopy.