Research Group General Geology – Marine Geology

A focus of our research is to understand the formation, structure and dynamics of methane hydrates in natural systems and their influences on the marine environment. Like groundwater, springs on land, fluids and gas circulate through the upper sediment sequences of the seafloor and escape at so-called cold vents or cold seeps. Study objects are precipitates (carbonates, hydrates, and barites) and chemoautotrophic communities that are present at seeps when methane is oxidized in the sediments.

Working Area

Cold seeps and gas hydrate deposits at active and passive continental margins: South-China Sea, Hydrate Ridge off Oregon, Gulf of Mexico, Black Sea, Antarctica and Mediterranean

Methods

Seafloor mapping at various spatial scales, deployment of TV-guided equipment, sea­floor observation and sampling with submarines and remotely operated vehicles (ROV’s), petrological, geochemical and mineralogical investigations on rocks and sediments obtained by conventional coring or drilling, use of pressurized coring devices