Active and on-going research:
- Ph.D project: Mechanisms of bentonite formation (working title)
- Bentonite deposits and smectite genesis
- Paleosols, calcretes, terrestrial carbonates, the Miocene of Southern Germany
- Industrial minerals
Finished Master (Diplomarbeit) research:
- Mikrofazies, Diagenese und Geochemie des Hauptrogensteins aus dem Pfirter Jura - (engl.: Microfacies, diagenesis and geochemistry of the "Hauptrogenstein" from the region of Ferrette, France).
Finished Master mapping (Diplomkartierung):
- Kartierung, Dokumentation und rohstoffgeologische Betrachtungen zum Braunen Jura und Hauptrogenstein im Markgräflerland - (engl.: Mapping, documentation and raw material aspects of the Brown Jurassic and Hauptrogenstein of the Margraves' Land).
Other research interests:
- Carbonate sedimentology
- Industrial minerals and construction materials (Bentonite, Limestone, Phosphorites, terrestrial Evaporites, etc.)
- Hydrothermal and epithermal mineral deposits
- Supergene, non-sulfide ore deposits
- Carbonate-hosted ore deposits - especially Mississippi Valley Type and related deposits
- Microfossils in metamorphic rocks
Methods that we have directly available at our department to characterize clay and industrial mineral deposits:
- X-ray powder diffraction
- microthermometry of fluid inclusions
- polarisation and UV microscopy of thin sections
