Micropalaeontology

Team: Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schmiedl

 

We investigate the variability of marine environments using micropaleontological and geochemical proxies. We want to understand benthic ecosystem variability in various marginal seas and oceans and how it is forced by long- and short-term climatic and oceanographic changes. We study the diversity, ecology and stable isotope composition of extant foraminifera from the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and North Sea. We use this knowledge to reconstruct climate and ocean circulation changes during the Holocene, Pleistocene and Neogene. Recent work centers on the development and refining of methods for the quantification of past changes in deep-water oxygenation, organic carbon flux rates and sea level. We apply these methods in paleoceanographic, paleoclimatic and sea-level studies. We also realize joint projects combining proxy records and model experiments.

 

Our research areas are:

- Ecology and stable isotope geochemistry of benthic foraminifera

- Development and application of transfer functions

- Paleoceanography and paleoclimatology

- Impact of climate changes on deep-sea ecosystems