News from the Research Focus

Eine Person steht in der verschneiten und baumlosen Landschaft Islands vor einer Seismometer Station.

Impending volcanic eruption in Iceland?

"The worst event in Iceland since 1973" - geoscientist Prof. Dr. Eva Eibl on the earthquakes and the impending volcanic eruption

Dr. Ugur Öztürk neben Wissenschaftsministerin Manja Schüle bei der Preisverleihung.

Dr. Ugur Öztürk has been awarded the 2023 Postdoc Award of the State of Brandenburg

... for his Nature paper on "How climate change and un-planned urban sprawl bring more landslides".

Eine Punktwolke des Uni Campus Golm aus der Luft.

From Space and From the Air, with Laser and Neutrons

The use of state-of-the-art sensor technologies in the research focus is helping us to better understand the Earth.

Prof. Max Wilke (Lehrstuhl Mineralogie) und Dr. Maximilian Korges (Koordinator von DOME) im Gespräch

DFG Priority Program on "Dynamics of Ore Metal Enrichment" enters second round

How are ore deposits formed? How do they develop and how can they be best - and above all sustainably - exploited?

Die auf ein Flüsschen zusammenge- schrumpfte Loire im französischen Département Charente-Maritime

Excellence cluster proposal

Recognizing dangers during floods and droughts: Scientists from the University of Potsdam look at risks of extreme events

„Water safety is one of the central concerns for our society"

New "WaterHub" to network research on water extremes. Read more in the new "Portal Wissen" page 96.

Get to know: LI@Geo.X

The laboratory infrastructure portal of the Geo.X network.

Highlights from Earth System Science

Risk management of floods and droughts depends on event magnitude

How effective and sustainable is risk management of flood and drought events worldwide? Empirical data show that this obviously depends on the event ...

Climate change boosts sediment flux

In recent decades, runoff or sediment input to rivers in the high mountains of Asia has increased sharply and will more than double by 2050.

Aufräumarbeiten/Reperaturen in einem indischen Tal im Himalaya nach einer Sturzflut.

Anatomy of a catastrophe - International study to February 2021 Uttarakhand disaster

The 2021 Chamoli disaster in the Indian Himalaya was triggered by an extraordinary rock and ice avalanche and debris flow, that destroyed infrastructure and left more then 200 people dead or missing.

A 3D-snapshot of the molecular structure of Platinum dissolved in a hydrothermal fluid

Platinum hitches a ride with sulfur in the Earth’s crust

Platinum group elements (PGE, also termed platinoids) have been believed to be extremely poorly soluble and little mobile in natural fluids ...

How the Mediterranean Sea heats up the far north

With progressing global warming, sea ice melting across the Arctic Ocean is expected to further increase and might be even accelerated by the newly described oceanic heat-channel.

New master's degree program "Climate, Earth, Water and Sustainability"

Graduates of our international master's degree program CLEWS will be trained to become experts in the field of climate science research in order to address the consequences of global warming.

Secrets of the Water

Two Potsdam researchers are involved in the new international Center for Molecular Water Science, which has now published its research program.

Potsdam geoscientist Prof. Dr. Manfred Strecker elected to the Academia de Ciencias of Argentina

The scientist is honored for his many years of research in South America in the fields of neotectonics and paleoecology.

Konjugierte Abschiebungen in nahezu idealer Ausrichtung zur Dehnung bilden einen kleinen Graben in miozänen Sediment-Schichten, die Erosionsprodukte aus dem Elburs-Gebirge sind.

Geoscientific database „DIoGeneS“ updated and made available by the Institute of Geosciences

„DIoGeneS“ contains photos and additional informationen on geologic structures and formations – of small to large scales – from around the world.

Darstellung eines Atomclusters aus Gold, Arsen und Schwefel in arsenführendem Pyrit (Im Hintergrund ein Rasterelektronenbild eines Pyritkristall, nicht skaliert)

An arsenic-driven pump for invisible gold in hydrothermal systems

An international team of scientists with participation of mineralogist Dr. Maria Kokh from the University of Potsdam was able to elucidate the mystery of ‘invisible’ gold enriched in sulfide minerals.

Moving Rocks – How climate warming changes mountain regions

Since 2015, geologist Sara Savi has been researching the influence of climate on debris flows in the high mountains of Argentina.

The Orroral Valley Fire, southern Canberra, January 2020

From fire to flash flood

scientists analyse consequences of devastating wildfires in Australia 2019/20

Glacial Ice holds rocks and gravel – if glaciers melt, large amount of loose gravel gets accumulated in the high mountainous valleys of the Alps

Increased Risk of landslides

Earth science researchers from Potsdam and Bozen demand for new precaution strategies for gravitational mass movements in the Alps

Dr. Katharina Mohring, Prof. Dr. Manfred Rolfes, Julia Borgold, Dr. Jan Lorenz Wilhelm.

How Secure is Safe?!

A Germany-wide project examines how to organize safety in urban neighborhoods

Peter van der Beek explains how ³HE and ⁴HE are separated and measured independently.

Looking at smallest atoms to understand large-scale Mountain ranges

A welcome to Peter van der Beek at the Institute of Geosciences

Geoethics - Integrity and Ethics in Science in Higher Education

Geoethics - Integrity and Ethics in Science in Higher Education - A keynote lecture by John Geissmann, Professor of Geosciences, University of Texas at Dallas - recorded on Monday, January 4,

Hot summers are no longer an exception in Potsdam.

Keeping Cool During a Heat Wave

How cities can better cope with climate change

Humboldt Fellow Gautier Nicoli (3.v.l.) does his research at the Skaergaard Intrusion, Greenland

Seen from the root of mountains

Humboldt Fellow Gautier Nicoli links plate tectonics and the carbon cycle

Geoscientific research of highest international standards

EGU honours two faculty members of the Institute of Geosciences

Seen from the root of mountains

Humboldt Fellow Gautier Nicoli links plate tectonics and the carbon cycle

The Olorgesailie Basin in the Kenya Rift Valley, part of the Eastern Branch of the East African Rift System. In the background the high topography of the Rift’s border faults.

Calculated

Why a whole region is rotating in the middle of Africa

Environmental researcher Thorsten Wagener joins University of Potsdam with Humboldt Professorship

Environmental scientist Prof. Dr. Thorsten Wagener has been awarded a Humboldt Professorship and will be joining the University of Potsdam to carry out research and teach.

Counting Neutrons for Environmental Research

Researchers measure soil moisture with the help of particles from space

Into the Eternal Ice

Ricarda Winkelmann is a climate researcher and junior professor at the University of Potsdam and the Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research

Daniel Vollmer, instaling a multi-sensor observatory in Iceland.

Fire and Ice – why Eva Eibl does research in Iceland in the mid of winter

People from all over the world travel through Iceland to see glaciers, waterfalls, volcanoes, geysers - but the true highlights are hidden from the eye.

Jonathan Weiss while monitoring GPS-Ground Motion sensors in the Andean Highlands. Photo: J. Weiss.

From GPS to geodynamics - how surface measurements help understand earthquakes and Earth structure

While there are some well-established theories of orogenesis, many aspects of how, when and why mountain ranges are created remain a mystery.

Recent Publications

Himalayan valley-floor widths controlled by tectonically driven exhumation

Clubb, F. J., Mudd, S. M., Schildgen, T. F., van der Beek, P. A., Devrani, R., & Sinclair, H. D., Nature Geoscience, 1-8, (2023).

Flood hazard potential reveals global floodplain settlement patterns

Devitt, L., Neal, J., Coxon, G., Savage, J., & Wagener, T., Nature Communications, 14(1), 2801, (2023).

A place-based risk appraisal model for exploring residents’ attitudes toward nature-based solutions to flood risks

Sungju Han, Philip Bubeck, Annegret Thieken, Christian Kuhlicke, Risk Analysis (2023).

Milankovitch-paced erosion in the southern Central Andes

Fisher, G. B., Luna, L. V., Amidon, W. H., Burbank, D. W., de Boer, B., Stap, L. B., Bookhagen, B., Godard, V., Oskin, M. E., Alonso, R. N., Tuenter, E., and Lourens, L. J.: , Nat Commun, 14, 424, (2023).

The role of continental subduction in mantle metasomatism and carbon recycling revealed by melt inclusions in UHP eclogites

Borghini, A., Nicoli, G., Ferrero S., O'Brien, P.J., Laurent, O., Remusat, L., Borghini, G., Milani, S., Science Advances, 9, eabp9482, (2023).

Underestimated mass loss from lake-terminating glaciers in the greater Himalaya.

Zhang, G., Bolch, T., Yao, T., Rounce, D. R., Chen, W., Veh, G., ... & Wang, W. Nature Geoscience, 1-6, (2023).

Tonian–Ediacaran evolution of the Brunovistulian microcontinent (Czech Republic) deciphered from LA-ICP-MS U–Pb zircon and 40Ar/39Ar muscovite ages

Timmerman, M.J., Krmíček, L., Krmíčková, S., Sláma, J., Sudo, M., Sobel, E., Precambrian Research 387, 106981, (2023).

Less extreme and earlier outbursts of ice-dammed lakes since 1900.

Veh, G., Lützow, N., Tamm, J., Luna, L. V., Hugonnet, R., Vogel, K., ... & Korup, O. Nature, 1-7, (2023).

Toward Large‐Scale Soil Moisture Monitoring Using Rail‐Based Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing

Altdorff, D., Oswald, S. E., Zacharias, S., Zengerle, C., Dietrich, P., Mollenhauer, H., Attinger, S., and Schrön, M.: , Water Resources Research, 59, e2022WR033514, (2023).

Quantifying drainage-divide migration from orographic rainfall over geologic timescales: Sierra de Aconquija, southern Central Andes

Schildgen, T. F., van der Beek, P., D’Arcy, M., Roda-Boluda, D., Orr, E. N., and Wittmann, H.: , Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 579, 117345, (2022).

On the evaluation of climate change impact models

Wagener, T., *Reinecke, R., and Pianosi, F.: , WIREs Climate Change, 13, (2022).

Pleistocene climate variability in eastern Africa influenced hominin evolution.

Foerster, V., Asrat, A., Bronk Ramsey, C. et al. Nat. Geosci., (2022).

MOSES: A Novel Observation System to Monitor Dynamic Events across Earth Compartments

Weber, U., Attinger, S., Baschek, B., Boike, J., Borchardt, D., Brix, H., Brüggemann, N., Bussmann, I., Dietrich, P., Fischer, P., Greinert, J., Hajnsek, I., Kamjunke, N., Kerschke, D., Kiendler-Scharr, A., Körtzinger, A., Kottmeier, C., Merz, B., Merz, R., Riese, M., Schloter, M., Schmid, H., Schnitzler, J.-P., Sachs, T., Schütze, C., Tillmann, R., Vereecken, H., Wieser, A., and Teutsch, G.: , Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 103, E339–E348, (2022).

How climate change and unplanned urban sprawl bring more landslides

Ozturk, U., Bozzolan, E., Holcombe, E. A., Shukla, R., Pianosi, F., & Wagener, T., Nature 608, 262-265, (2022).

Performance of a Rotational Sensor to Decipher Volcano Seismic Signals on Etna, Italy

Eibl, E. P. S., Rosskopf, M., Sciotto, M., Currenti, G., Di Grazia, G., Jousset, P., Krüger, F., and Weber, M.: , JGR Solid Earth, 127, (2022).

The challenge of unprecedented floods and droughts in risk management

Kreibich, H., Van Loon, A. F., Schröter, K., Ward, P. J., Mazzoleni, M., Sairam, N., ... & Di Baldassarre, G. (2022), Nature 608, 80–86.

Holocene bidirectional river system along the Kenya Rift and its influence on East African faunal exchange and diversity gradients

Dommain, R., Riedl, S., Olaka, L. A., deMenocal, P., Deino, A. L., Owen, R. B., ... & Strecker, M. R. (2022). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(28), e2121388119.

The cryptic seismic potential of the Pichilemu blind fault in Chile revealed by off-fault geomorphology

Jara-Muñoz, J., Melnick, D., Li, S., Socquet, A., Cortés-Aranda, J., Brill, D., Strecker, M. R. (2022): , Nature Communications, 13.

A comparison of flood protective decision-making between German households and businesses

Hudson, P., Thieken, A.H., Bubeck, P. (2022): Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 27(1): 5.

Compound inland flood events: different pathways, different impacts and different coping options

Thieken, A. H., Samprogna Mohor, G., Kreibich, H., and Müller, M. (2022), Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 165–185.

Automatic element and mineral detection in thin sections using hyperspectral transmittance imaging microscopy (HyperTIM)

Dämpfling, H.L.C., Mielke, C., Köllner, N., Lorenz, M., Christian Rogass, C., Altenberger, U., Harlov, D.E., Knoper, M. (2022), Eur. J. Mineral., 34, 275–284.

Investigating the role of differential biotic production on carbonate geometries through stratigraphic forward modelling and sensitivity analysis: the Llucmajor example

Tella, T. O., Winterleitner, G., Mutti, M. (2022), Petroleum Geoscience, Vol. 28.

The chemical and B-isotope composition of tourmaline from intra-granitic pegmatites in the Las Chacras-Potrerillos Batholith, Argentina

Ribacki, E., Trumbull, R.B., López de Luchi, M.G., Altenberger, U. (2022). The Canadian Mineralogist, 60, 1-18

Large landslides cluster at the margin of a deglaciated mountain belt

Pánek, T., Břežný, M., Harrison, S., Schönfeldt, E., Winocur, D., 2022, Scientific Reports, 12, 5658.

An Alternative Incoming Correction for Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensing Observations Using Local Muon Measurement

Stevanato, L., G. Baroni, S. E. Oswald, M. Lunardon, V. Mares, F. Marinello, S. Moretto, M. Polo, P. Sartori, P. Schattan, W. Ruehm, 2022. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(6), e2021GL095383.

Assessing the feasibility of a directional CRNS-sensor for estimating soil moisture

Francke, Till, Maik Heistermann, Markus Köhli, Christian Budach, Martin Schrön, and Sascha E. Oswald, 2022. Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems, 11, 75–92.

Multiple Flood Experiences and Social Resilience: Findings from Three Surveys on Households and Companies Exposed to the 2013 Flood in Germany

Kuhlicke, C., Masson, T., Kienzler, S., Sieg, T., Thieken, A. H., and Kreibich, H.: , Weather, Climate, and Society, 12, 63–88, (2020a).

The behavioral turn in flood risk management, its assumptions and potential implications

Kuhlicke, C., Seebauer, S., Hudson, P., Begg, C., Bubeck, P., Dittmer, C., Grothmann, T., Heidenreich, A., Kreibich, H., Lorenz, D. F., Masson, T., Reiter, J., Thaler, T., Thieken, A. H., and Bamberg, S.: , WIREs Water, 7, (2020b).