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Ocean Floor

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

sea4society

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

(DAM Research Mission)

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)

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)

Current news

Showing 53-56 of 125 items.

The research vessel SONNE in the harbor of Port Louis. Photo: MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences; C.Wienberg

Aug 12, 2024

Start of the expedition to the cold-water corals in the West Indian Ocean

On August 8, MARUM expedition SO306 set sail from Port Louis, Mauritius. The destination of the expedition is the Western Indian Ocean and the Strait of ...

Organic and inorganic particles that sink from the ocean surface into the deep sea are also known as marine snow. Many environmental parameters are stored in them, which can be used to reconstruct the climate of the past, among other things. Photo: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen

Jul 31, 2024

What’s the weather like in the deep sea?

A new study has revealed how even the deepest seafloors are affected by the daily back-and-forth of the tides, and the change of the seasons, and that ...

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

Jul 11, 2024

Telepresence of MARUM-QUEST dive

The Knipovich Ridge in the North Atlantic is the destination of an expedition with the research vessel MARIA S. MERIAN, which is being led by MARUM ...

IODP Exp 389 science party members look at the cores at the IODP Bremen Core repository, located at MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen. Photo: Parker(at)ECORD_IODP

Feb 22, 2024

International research team obtains first high-resolution fossil coral record of environmental data off Hawai’i

For the first time, an international research team has succeeded in obtaining a high-resolution continuous record of environmental data from shallow-water ...

The Ocean Floor – Earth’s Uncharted Interface

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