Research

The sedimentary rocks of the Moodies Group in the Barberton Greenstone Belt (BGB), South Africa, are about 3.22 Ga old and are among the oldest well-preserved shallow-water strata in the world. They reach a stratigraphic thickness of nearly 4 km, are lithologically variable, and were deposited within about 1 to 14 Ma. The metamorphic grade is lower greenschist facies; widespread early diagenetic silicification has preserved micro- and macrotextures almost undeformed.

The Moodies strata represent a very high-magnification record of Archaean surface processes and are probably unique in the world in allowing regional and temporal contextualization of micro-scale, high-resolution analytical data. They are comparable to or exceed similarly aged strata in the Australian Pilbara region. Their nearshore depositional environment is ideal for studying and combining data from marine and terrestrial environments. They also record numerous bio-geo-atmo-hydrosphere interactions, particularly those associated with diverse and well-documented microbial life.

To better understand these processes through fresh and continuous rock sequences, eight research wells were drilled Nov. 2021 to July 2022, the cores of which we are currently studying in detail as part of a large international project.

The overall goal of Bromacker is, within the framework of a national, five-year cooperation project, to redevelop the worldwide unique fossil deposit "Bromacker" with an innovative and interdisciplinary working approach and thus to bring this unique window into the early evolution of terrestrial vertebrates closer to the public.

The TRA­CES pro­ject deals with in­ter­di­sci­pli­na­ry in­ves­ti­ga­ti­ons of the com­bi­ned ef­fects of cli­ma­te chan­ge and an­thro­po­ge­nic im­pacts on aqua­tic and terrestri­al eco­sys­tems in eas­tern South Af­ri­ca over the last 250 ye­ars. For this pur­po­se, exis­ting data sets are com­ple­ted by and com­pa­red with a wide range of new in­for­ma­ti­on, which will be gai­ned from  ma­ri­ne and ter­restri­al se­di­ment ar­chi­ves.

Moodies-group rocks include the oldest well-preserved terrestrial (i.e., deposited on land) rocks; older sedimentary rocks are all marine. These rocks can therefore answer a variety of questions: What was the surface insolation ? What was the atmospheric temperature ? How intense was the weathering ? Was the sun ever visible ? How high were the tides, and how close was the moon ? Was there already life on the land ?

HyINTEGER is an acronym and stands for:

Investigations into the integrity of wells and engineering materials under highly corrosive conditions in geological hydrogen underground reservoirs. 

The collaborative research project, approved for three years, is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (grant number: 03ET6073)

Investigations on the integrity of wells and technical materials under highly corrosive conditions in geological hydrogen underground reservoirs.

BMWi Project; (Grant no. 03 ET 6073).

"Holocene climate events in northern Arabia-environmental changes and human responses" (DFG FR1489/5) (together with M. Engel and B. Plessen)"

2015 - 2018

The role of partial convective upheaval in the Barberton greenstone belt: Linking deep crust-mantle and surface processes through integrated sedimentary and structural analysis of the syntectonic Moodies Group

DFG scholarship for Christoph Heubeck (2017 - 2019)

Tracing the origin of the Banded Iron Formation through an investigation of the 3.2 Ga old Moodies Group, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa

DFG scholarship for Inga Köhler (2016 - 2018)

Part of the DFG joint project "Lake System Response to Late Quaternary Monsoon Dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau" (DFG project Schw 671/8) within the SPP 1372 "Tibetan Plateau: Formation - Climate - Ecosystems (TiP)".
P. Frenzel, A. Schwalb (project leader, TU Braunschweig), S. Mischke (FU Berlin)

Micropalaeontology: Climate indicators in limnic and marine sediments, South Africa

BMBF Project: P. Frenzel

Project collaborator: Stephanie Meschner

The oldest mappable ecosystem in the world: Moodies Group (3.2 Ga), Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa

DFG scholarship for Christoph Heubeck (2014 - 2016)

Facies analysis of the Mapepe foreland basin, Barberton greenstone belt, by well-to-well correlation

DFG scholarship for Christoph Heubeck (2014 - 2016)

Investigation of geohydraulic, mineralogical, geochemical and biogenic interactions in the underground storage of hydrogen in converted gas reservoirs (H2STORE).

BMBF project (funding number: 03 SF 0434)

(DFG project, PAK 443: Tien Shan - Pamir Geodynamic Programme (TIPAGE))
Partner: Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Prof. Dr Reinhard Gaupp, Dr Thomas Voigt, Dipl. Geol. Martin Klocke)
Freiberg University of Mining and Technology
GeoResearchCentre Potsdam

The genesis of the Homo erectus excavation site at Bilzingsleben is being investigated using methods of microfacial analysis, micropalaeontological studies of ostracods and other microfossils as well as geochemical analyses of ostracod valves and sedimentological parameters. One focus is the reconstruction of the ecosystem, the sedimentation regime and the formation of the archaeological horizon. In addition, the general palaeoenvironmental conditions at the time of Homo erectus in Bilzingsleben are to be reconstructed.

Thuringian Graduate Scholarship ('Landesgraduate Scholarship')

05/2008-04/2010

Thomas Daniel, Peter Frenzel, Reinhard Gaupp

The project is part of the International Max Planck Research School for Global Biogeochemical Cycles (IMPRS-gBGC) in cooperation with the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Graduate Academy).

The Thuringian Mulde in central German exposes deposits of the German Muschelkalk sequence from the Triassic, which consists of limestone and dolomite rocks. Partial dissolution, oxidation and iron rearrangement can be observed in the limestones on the slopes of the Saale valley (e.g. in the Bad Kösen quarry). These features are most pronounced near a Middle Quaternary valley floor (Elster Terrace), decrease in cross-section along fissures and reach a minimum near the present groundwater table in a topographic level close to the present valley floor. This example of carbonate weathering includes the microbial influence on the re-precipitation and intermediate storage of carbonate along fracture surfaces. Furthermore, this site has the great advantage that the timing of the 100 m lowering of the water table, spanning >700 Ka, has good age control due to topographic dating of terrace formation and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of former fluvial sediments covering these terraces. The aim of this case study is to define and quantify the important processes of carbonate weathering on a geological time scale and to assess the rates of material transfer with CO2 over time.

PhD student: Jens Kirstein

DGMK Project 593-8

Paleo Oil- and Gasfields in the Rotliegend of the North German Basin: Effects upon Hydrocarbon Reservoir Quality (Paleo-oil and gas fields in the Rotliegend of the North German Basin: Effect of hydrocarbon migration on reservoir quality development)

Abstract

A comprehensive study was carried out with the aim of improving the predictive accuracy of 3D seismic, geological data and reservoir quality models. Seismic facies classes derived from neural network studies correlate with reservoir characteristics and can be used for exploration purposes. Deformation zones prove|to register for|to take sth. the extent of extensional fracture systems, which, depending on the diagenetic facies, can have a positive or negative influence on the reservoir characteristics. based on well data, modelling and seismic evaluations, the conceptual diagenesis model was confirmed and verified in essential parts. Petroleum system modelling was used to add timestamps for various relevant processes and to determine their influence on hydrocarbon migration. the importance of pre-oil hydrocarbon migration and the spatial distance to the Carboniferous source rock on the Rotliegend reservoir characteristics must be emphasised.

Project financed by SHELL-NAM (Assen, Netherlands)
S. Waldmann, R. Gaupp, D. Beyer (final thesis (degree programmes leading to a Diplom) in cooperation with E. Spangenberg and S. Raab (GFZ, Potsdam) and A. Busch (SHELL, Rijswijk); 02/2009-02/2011

BMBF project (03G0704G), part of the BMBF joint project "CO2 Largescale EGR in the Altmark Natural-gas field - CLEAN" as part of the special programme "Geotechnologies"External link
D. Pudlo, B. Kohlhepp, R. Gaupp; 09/2008-06/2011

Project in collaboration with Gaz de France (Lingen)
R. Gaupp, A. Krallmann (GdF, Lingen); 2008-2009
Final theses:
S. Klapperer: On the facies of the coloured sandstone in the Odenwald and northern Upper Rhine Graben
M. Meisel: Petrography, facies and diagenesis of the red sandstone reservoir on the Upper Rhine

DFG project Ga 457/11, 13 (subproject) within the framework of SPP 1158 "Antarctic research with comparative investigations in the Arctic region"
R. Schöner, M. Elsner, R. Gaupp, in co-operation with L. Viereck-Götte, J. Schneider (Freiberg), B. Bomfleur (Münster), H. Kerp (Münster); 09/2005-06/2009

Multinational project group (11 E&P companies, 6 national geological services, 25 universities and/or Research Centers, 6 other authorities and 3 consulting companies)
R. Gaupp (sub-project); 2005 - 2009

Variegated sandstone of the Hessian depression as a natural analogue
for industrial CO2 sequestration (COMICOR)

BMBF project (03G0695) in the framework of the special programme "Geotechnologies"
J. Köster, U. Hilse, J. Wendler, D. Pudlo, R. Gaupp, J. Kley, in co-operation with G. Nover, N. Zisser, J. v. d. Gönna (Univ. Bonn); 05/2008-04/2011

Analogue study in natural CO2 storage rocks from Central Europe DFG project AD 315/1 D. Pudlo, R. Gaupp, D. Adelmann; 10/2005-06/2009

DFG project GA 457/10 within the framework of the SPP 1135 "Dynamics of Sedimentary Systems under varying Stress Conditions by example of the Central European Basin-System"
A. Meier, R. Gaupp; 01/2006-12/2008

PhD project of the Research Training Group "Alteration and element mobility at the microbe-mineral interface"
D. Siegel, E. Kothe, R. Gaupp; 05/2006-04/2009

PhD project supported by a DAAD scholarship and the Research Training Group "Alteration and element mobility at the microbe-mineral interface"
W. Salama, R. Gaupp, M. El-Aref (Cairo); 10/2007-09/2009

Project of the Saxon Academy of Sciences, Leipzig
R. Gaupp (project leader), U. Koch (Bad Brambach), J. Heinicke (Freiberg); 1991 - 2010

n Co-operation with the CO2-SINK consortium
A.-W. Blaschke (final thesis), R. Schöner, R. Gaupp, A. Förster (GFZ Potsdam); 2007 - 2008

P. Abram, R. Gaupp; 2003 - 2006

DFG project Ga 457/8 within the framework of the SPP 1135 "Dynamics of Sedimentary Systems under varying Stress Conditions by example of the Central European Basin-System".
R. Schöner, R. Gaupp; 2002 - 2005

DFG project GA 457/9 in the framework of the SPP 1135 "Dynamics of Sedimentary Systems under varying Stress Conditions by example of the Central European Basin-System".
R. Lippmann, R. Gaupp, in co-operation with GFZ Potsdam: V. Neumann, R. Ondrak, R. di Primio, B. Horsfield, 2002-2005

DGMK research project 593-8, in co-operation with GFZ Potsdam, RWTH Aachen, TEEC Isernhagen
R. Gaupp et al.; 2001 - 2003

Doctoral thesis
C. Fischer, R. Gaupp

with the support of the State of Thuringia (Thuringian Graduate Scholarship)
I. Kamradt, R. Gaupp, G. Büchel (Applied Geology); since 2003

DFG project GA 457/6
T. Voigt, H. v. Eynatten, J. Franzke, R. Gaupp; 2000 - 2003

(doctoral) thesis
N. Hug, R. Gaupp; 1999 - 2004

(doctoral) thesis
B. Willscher, R. Gaupp; 1998 - 2004

DFG - Project GA 457/4
M. Felder, R. Gaupp

The microbial influence on weathering, reactive transport and remineralisation is being investigated by the Research Training Group "Alteration and element mobility at the microbe-mineral interface". The research is interdisciplinary and involves geological, mineralogical, soil, chemical and microbiological expert groups. Our main objective is to investigate the changes of minerals in direct contact with microorganisms.

Microbial metabolites are responsible for the active alteration of minerals. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate the role of microbes on minerals, which will help to identify specific microbially controlled processes and determine the kinetics of such reactions.

It has been shown that the multi-component black shale system (clay minerals, organic matter, opaline, pyrite) is directly altered by growing fungal inoculum. Schizophyllum commune, a white rot fungus, releases enzymes that can oxidise organic compounds. The microbial influence on clay minerals (clinochlore, nontronite and ripidolite) and organic substances as the main components of black shale is now being investigated separately. The focus of the projects is on experimental studies such as the microbial inoculation of minerals. We investigate the texture and structure of minerals using Curie point pyrolysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and mass spectroscopy after sequential extraction, reflected light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, vertical white light interferometry, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray transmission microscopy. Microscopy techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray transmission microscopy were combined with spectral analyses such as energy dispersive X-rays and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy to identify microbial changes in minerals. The resolution is monitored using inductively coupled plasma mass electrocopy and optical emission spectroscopy for relevant elements.

As the aqueous phase is the link between microbes and minerals, another focus is on dissolved organic matter (DOM) in aqueous systems to learn more about degradation processes in biogeochemical cycles. Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) is used to determine the elemental composition of DOM in complex systems on a molecular basis. Together with statistical approaches, this powerful tool allows to track changes in molecular composition during transformation.

The aim of this study is to quantify the microbially mediated dissolution rates of clay minerals and organic matter as major constituents of black shales. Black shales occur in the former Ronneburg uranium mining area, where their biological dissolution has an impact on biogeochemical cycles and the release of heavy metals.

DFG project Lu 544/8
K. Föhlisch, T. Voigt, R. Gaupp, H. Lützner