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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 65-68 of 125 items.

A deep sea octopus sits on a manganese nodule (Photo: AWI / OFOS)

May 24, 2023

High natural radioactivity detected in manganese nodules

Manganese nodules in the deep sea contain a wealth of valuable metals that are vital to e.g. the electronics and steelmaking industries. Accordingly, these ...

Hydrothermal seeps and black smokers are oases of life in the deep sea – like this biological community in the Bismarck Sea at a water depth of 1,640 meters. Photo: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen

Apr 5, 2023

UN agency ISA postpones decision on deep-sea mining rules

Raw materials are in great demand. The deep sea is now coming into the spotlight as a potential new source of metals such as rare earths. The International ...

The research vessel MARIA S. MERIAN in the harbor basin of Montevideo. (Photo: H. Pälike)

Apr 3, 2023

3.4.2023 Logbook MSM116

The German research vessel MARIAS. MERIAN will set sail from Montevideo, Uruguay, on April 3, 2023, and begin the MSM116 expedition. The destination of the ...

Enceladus black smoker at the Aurora Vent Field (Source: HACON cruise 2021, REV Ocean).

Mar 9, 2023

Life in the smoke of underwater volcanoes

Disconnected from the energy of the sun, the permanently ice-covered Arctic deep sea receives miniscule amounts of organic matter that sustains life. ...

The Ocean Floor – Earth’s Uncharted Interface

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