Geological Institute

Research and teaching

Research and teaching focus on a better understanding of important processes on the earth's surface and in the lithosphere. Thereby, field observations are combined with experiments, modelling, and theory. Current research activities can be divided into three main areas, each consisting of several research projects:

Deformation of the continental lithosphere and development of sedimentary basins

• Natural and experimental rock deformations and mountain building processes, thermo-tectonic modelling.
• Carbonate and mixed sedimentary systems: sedimentology, deposition geometries, seismic imaging, paleoceanography.
• Basin analysis: continent-ocean-transition, continental margins, foreland and intramontane basins.

Interplay between geosphere and biosphere and its variability in earth's history

• Reaction of marine and lacustrine systems to past environmental changes.
• Coupling of biogeochemical cycles and climate during earth's history.
• Dynamical processes in modern sedimentary systems.
• Relation of the development of marine plankton and global environmental changes during the late phanerozoic.
• Ecology and dynamics of living calcareous phytoplankton and its dependence on oceanographic processes.
• Development of automated systems for the recognition of microfossils.

Geomechanical and geohydraulic processes in near-surface environments

• Tunnel construction and hydromechanical processes in fissured rocks.
• Hydraulic and hydrochemical processes in regional groundwater systems.
• Natural hazard assessment (slope instabilities and earthquakes).
• Prediction and geometric modelling of geological structures.