Marine Palynology

We study biological, ecological and early diagenetic processes affecting organisms forming organic-walled microfossils of marine and terrestrial origin, so-called marine palynomorphs (dinoflagellate cysts, pollen/spores). This includes factors that influence the production/entrance in the ocean, vertical and lateral transport in the water column, embedding in ocean floor sediments and early diagenetic effects on the species association composition as well as on the molecular characteristics of these organic microfossils. Special attention is given to the application of marine palynomorphs as proxies to reconstruct past oceanographic, environmental and climatic conditions in marine sedimentary archives. Hereby, the palynomorph associations are used to reconstruct natural and human-induced changes (e.g. pollution) in past marine ecosystems on high temporal scale (e.g. in roman- and medieval times, pre-industrial - industrial transition).

Working Area

South Atlantic (e.g. off Mauretania, Argentinia), Mediterranean Sea, Arabian Sea, Black Sea

Methods

Microscopic analysis, Infrared spectroscopy (micro-FTIR), pyrolyse GC-MS, Oceanographic sensors, Geochemical sensors