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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 97-100 of 125 items.

The sample material from the deep biosphere that was analyzed for the study came, among others, from the IODP Expedition 329 with the research drilling ship JOIDES RESOLUTION. Here, the ship is moored in the harbor of Papeete, Tahiti, before the start of

Mar 2, 2021

Microbes deep beneath seafloor survive on byproducts of radioactive process

In a process called radiolysis, water is broken down into its component parts by ionizing radiation. In wet sediment and rock, this natural process ...

Icebreaker Oden on the Arctic Ocean. Credits: Lars Lehnert, SPRS

Feb 17, 2021

ArcOP – A novel scientific ocean drilling expedition to explore Arctic Ocean paleoceanography and climate

The European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD), the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat (SPRS) and Arctic Marine Solutions (AMS) will jointly ...

An artist’s impression of a perspective from the glacial ocean interior, looking upward towards Iceland and the Faroe Islands, with Jan Mayen Island in the foreground and Greenland to the right. An ice shield from above restricts the narrow flow paths. Su

Feb 6, 2021

Arctic Ocean was covered by a shelf ice and filled with freshwater

The Arctic Ocean was covered by up to 900 m thick shelf ice and was filled entirely with freshwater at least twice in the last 150,000 years. This ...

Prof. Elda Miramontes receives this year’s Roland Goldring Award.

Dec 29, 2020

Roland Goldring Award for Elda Miramontes

Prof. Elda Miramontes receives this year’s Roland Goldring Award. This is in recognition of her outstanding publication record and important contributions ...

The Ocean Floor – Earth’s Uncharted Interface

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