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Ocean Floor

exploring & describing

The ocean floor is one of the most dynamic and geologically diverse regions on Earth. Its shape is constantly being changed by the input of sediments, their further transport and deposition as well as by submarine volcanism, earthquakes, anthropogenic influences and many other factors.

MARUM scientists deal with a broad spectrum of processes that shape the sea floor. These include current-driven sediment movement and its influence by human activities, the influence of seafloor dynamics on morphology and benthic ecosystems, as well as cascading natural hazards and their precursors. The interactions between the Earth's crust and the sediment bed at oceanic rift and spreading centers are also the focus of MARUM's research.

Some of the questions that drive our research are:

  • How are oceanic crust and plates formed and how do they evolve and how do they affect geochemical cycles in the ocean?
  • What controls slope instability and how does it affect human activities?
  • What processes control the transport and accumulation of sediments and other particles, such as organic carbon and plastic?
  • What factors control the growth of cold-water corals?

To answer those and many other questions, we apply different methods ranging from numerical modelling, analysis of sediment cores or observations of the seafloor using the technology of MARUM.

Participating Research Groups
Sampling with the diving robot MARUM-QUEST at a water depth of 520 meters on the Azores Plateau, Photo: MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen

Sampling with the diving robot MARUM-QUEST at a water depth of 520 meters on the Azores Plateau, Photo: MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen

seagras, Photo: NOAA

sea4society

Innovative approaches to improve the carbon storage potential of coastal vegetation ecosystems

(DAM Research Mission)

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Pillow lava at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge axis. Photo: MARUM − Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen

AIMS3

Alternate scenarios, Innovative technologies, and Monitoring approaches for Sub-Seabed Storage of carbon dioxide

(DAM Research Mission)

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Self-organized mineral structures, so-called biomorphs, which imitate living organisms but are the result of purely abiotic reactions. The size of these biomorphs is between one and 25 micrometers. Photo: Juan Manuel Garcia-Ruiz/CSIC

PROTOS

The Role of Silica in the Dawn of Life on our Planet

(ERC Synergy Grant)

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Current news

Showing 37-40 of 125 items.
So-called marine snow was a subject of research during the expedition. In order to study these organic and inorganic particles floating in the water column, the researchers need “marine snow catchers”, like the one seen here on board the research vessel. Photo: Florian Pohl, University of Bayreuth

Feb 6, 2025

Research in cloudy layers of water

In mid-January, 19 scientists boarded the research vessel MARIA S. MERIAN in Las Palmas, Spain, to study the vertical and lateral transport of organic ...

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The dives of the ROV MARUM-SQUID can be followed live. Photo: MARUM – Centre for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen

Jan 18, 2025

Live dive with MARUM-SQUID

An international team of scientists and technicians is currently off the coast of New Zealand to study cold-water corals. 

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The scientific drilling vessel CHIKYU. Photo: JAMSTEC

Dec 4, 2024

On the trail of the 2011 mega earthquake

What was the cause of the great Tōhoku earthquake of 2011, and how can we better understand geological processes in order to protect coastal infrastructure ...

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Ozeanboden.

The Ocean Floor – Earth’s Un­charted In­ter­face

MARUM is home to the Cluster of Excellence ›The Ocean Floor - Earth's Uncharted Interface‹.