Research Projects

MiningImpact2: “Environmental impacts and risks of deep-sea mining” funded by BMBF and JPI Oceans

Activities of deep-sea mining will indisputably affect the status of the environment by disturbing the seafloor and the overlying water column. The habitats of unique benthic and pelagic communities may be affected depending on the technologies used as well as on the size of the area impacted directly by mining and indirectly by the dispersion of sediment plumes and mining debris. While the initial MiningImpact phase (2015-2017) investigated experimental and rather small-scale disturbances of the seafloor over decadal timescales, the second part (Aug 2018 -  Feb 2022) will independently study and comprehensively monitor in real time the environmental impact of an industrial trial to mine manganese nodules on the seafloor which will be conducted simultaneously and independently by the Belgian contractor DEME-GSR in the Belgian an German licence area in the Clarion-Clipperton-Zone. The project will further study regional connectivity of species in the deep-sea and their resilience to impacts, and the integrated effects on ecosystem functions, such as the benthic food-web and biogeochemical processes.

Project leader: Dr. Matthias Haeckel, Dr. Felix Janßen, Dr. Frank Wenzhöfer

Project Website: https://miningimpact.geomar.de/de

Cruise Blog: https://www.oceanblogs.org/eadsm/

Movie from the SO268 cruise: "Impacts and risks of deep-sea mining" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiJOUBdi4J0&feature=youtu.be

Television moma:future: "Bergbau am Meeresgrund": https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/zdf-morgenmagazin/moma-future-bergbau-am-meeresgrund-100.html (available until 7.5.2020)

ARCHES: “Autonomous Robotic Networks to Help Modern Societies” funded by Helmholtz Society

The funding of the research project ARCHES is a result of the call for funding of the Helmholtz Society for strategic future fields of research. This project involves partners from the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt - DLR), the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research (Zentrum für Ozeanforschung - GEOMAR) and the Alfred-Wegener-Institute (AWI). It is the aim of this consortium to establish multi-domain and multi-disciplinary research of key robotic technologies in line with the mission requirements of the Helmholtz Society, to provide solutions for the social challenges ahead. Within the scope of ARCHES, the project partners from a network of excellence and work to unity the highly specific developments in robotics from various Helmholtz research areas (ocean and space exploration, as well as other potential applications) to achieve a technology leap in Germany and beyond.

Project leader: Dr. Frank Wenzhöfer

Link: https://www.awi.de/en/science/biosciences/deep-sea-ecology-and-technology/projects-cooperations/hgf-projects.html

2014-2017: MICROFOX and MICROENERGY: “Microbial formation of minerals by communities of Fe(II)-oxidizing bacteria in modern and ancient environments” funded by ERC

Iron minerals are ubiquitously present in the environment. Their formation is linked to the global C and N cycle and they control the fate of nutrients, metals, and greenhouse gases. Three neutrophilic microbial groups contribute to Fe(III) mineral formation: microaerophiles, phototrophs and nitrate-reducing Fe(II)-oxidizers. However, as previous studies have always solely focused on only one particular Fe(II) metabolism, the contribution of the different Fe(II)-oxidizing groups to overall Fe(III) mineral formation in nature and the competition among them for Fe(II) within Fe(II)-oxidizing communities is still unknown. This frontier research defines the role of microbial iron mineral formation in modern and ancient Earth systems, open doors to new biotechnology applications and advance the search for life on the Fe-rich planet Mars.