We are investigating the complex links between sedimentary basin evolution and paleoclimate change, studying fluid migration and leakage through and from porous media over geological time and over tens of kilometres, and retrieving molecular archives of past events.

We are using novel biotracers to investigate the comings and goings of surface and subsurface microbial ecosystems as living conditions change.

Organic and aqueous fluids serve as reactant and transport media, bringing about the cycling and recycling elements along fractures and within rock pore systems.

New concepts are high on the agenda to unravel physical and chemical processes in siliciclastic sediments of low permeability. It is our aim to apply new approaches in order to assess insight into the kind and kinetics of such processes. We will extend our investigations also to dense sandstones and carbonate rocks like chalk, and will integrate the results to scales from the micro-Darcy to the nano-Darcy range.

Targeted method developments are helping us to better resolve and quantify the sources, sinks and transformation rates involved in all of the above