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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 13-16 of 125 items.
A hydrothermal vent on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Hot, mineral-rich fluids are distributed throughout the ocean via the dispersion cloud, known as the plume. The photo was taken during the M190 research expedition with the MARUM-QUEST4000 remotely operated vehicle. The arm of the robot holds a temperature lance into the plume to measure the temperature there. Photo: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen. Photo:

Oct 20, 2025

Iron’s Irony

A new review led by the MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen – highlights how hydrothermal vents on the seafloor ...

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Dr. Heather L. Jones examines tiny plankton fossils using a light microscope. Photo: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen; M. Toyos Simón.

Oct 1, 2025

Small change, big impact

Climate change poses a major threat to the organisms such as plankton that form the base of the marine food web. A team of scientists from MARUM – Center ...

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Panel discussion in the Winterer Foyer with Michael Schulz and Felix Rothenhäusler Panel discussion in the Winterer Foyer with Prof. Michael Schulz (MARUM) and Felix Rothenhäusler (Artistic Director Freiburg). Photo: S. Saber, Theater Freiburg

Sep 29, 2025

Science meets Theater

At the opening of the new season at the Theater Freiburg, the piece "WASSERWELT. DAS MUSICAL", created in cooperation with the MARUM, was performed on ...

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Group photo of participants at this year's ECORD Summer School. Photo: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen; V. Diekamp

Sep 10, 2025

ECORD Summer School 2025

This year's ECORD Summer School topic is “Southern Ocean – Antarctic paleoclimate interactions”. 30 early career scientists from 13 countries will meet at ...

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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‹.