Geobiology
The interplay between Geology and Biology has shaped the Earth from the early dawn of life 3.8 billion years ago.
Biological processes can act as a geological force by altering chemical environments, but life itself must respond to changing global conditions.
On microscopic as well as global scales, the metabolic activity of organisms may induce the precipitation of minerals and the accumulation of ores, but also the destruction of geological structures, for example through the biocorrosion of minerals and rocks.
Combining modern methods, we extract geobiological information not only from visible remains of organisms, but also from organic molecules, rock fabrics, minerals, isotopes and other tracers.
Moving beyond the borders of the classical core disciplines, we identify cause-and-effect chains and synergisms between the geo- and the biospheres, and how they have been driving the evolution of life in the present and in the past.
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Archaische Bakterienriffe in pinkfarbener Salzlake Göttinger Geo- und Mikrobiologen auf Expedition im Indischen Ozean |
New Publications
-1.jpg "A Rare Glimpse of Paleoarchean Life: Geobiology of an Exceptionally Preserved Microbial Mat Facies from the 3.4 Ga Strelley Pool Formation, Western Australia")
