Current research projects

The world's arid regions were and are particularly susceptible to climatic changes. At the same time, they are the habitat for more than 2 billion people. Due to the size of the areas, the poor infrastructure in many areas and the often adverse environmental conditions, there are still large gaps in the state of research on the rates of landscape change. Remote sensing data has been used intensively for several decades to monitor drylands. However, optical remote sensing methods often reach their limits when it comes to geomorphological processes and process rates. This project is therefore investigating the suitability of radar data for characterising surfaces.

Understanding 3D properties of objects is an integral part of geomorphological teaching. This can best be achieved during field trips. However, there are numerous reasons why teaching outdoor might not be possible, either for a group of students or just individuals. 3D models of landforms, either static or interactive, are a great method to improve students learning success, e.g. in a blended learning environment. Preparation of 3D models of individual geomorphologi­cal landforms has been so far time-consuming. But since 2020, LiDAR sensors have been integrated into some new smart­phones. These systems offer great potential for geomorphological teaching, as they enable simple and cost-effective recording of geomorphological landforms and objects in three dimensions. The smartphone LiDAR systems are suitable for the documentation and 3D reconstruction of objects in the range of several decimetres to metres. All in all, these smartphone LiDAR systems offer great potential, as they support the understanding of the three-dimensional structure of geomorphological landforms and objects in teaching in schools and universities and thus increase the success of teaching among pupils and students. Furthermore, 3D models make geomorphology more inclusive, e.g. for people not able to conduct field work. At the same time, in research, they offer new opportunities for scientific observation projects, e.g. through the continuous monitoring of geomorphological changes in the context of Citizen Science projects.

The project is part of the funding initiative ‘WUEDIVE - Digital Innovation in Teaching’ of the Centre for Scientific Education and Teaching (ZBL) and will deal with the possibilities of making landscape development processes, which often take place far too slowly for human perception (e.g. formation of river terraces, draining of marshlands), tangible in time-lapse and visually appealing with augmented reality techniques (VR and AR).

The sandbox is used to simulate various geomorphological processes on a small scale.One focus of the simulations is on fluvial-geomorphological processes.For example, the causes and consequences of flood events can be visualised.
High-precision laser scans enable the creation of 3-D models. Multi-temporal time slices of the geomorphological forms are used to calculate sediment balances. The digital models can be used to precisely determine local erosion and accumulation events.

Due to the direct coupling of alluvial fans (AF) to the source area, they present quintessential depositional features and preserve responses of the sediment routing systems to palaeoclimatic variability, tectonic activity and base-level changes in their architecture and stratigraphy. However, the impact of autogenic controls governing the AF internal dynamics make it challenging to decipher these allogenic environmental controls. AF are widespread in the Atacama Desert from its arid margins to its hyperarid core and, thus, provide great potential to link and compare these morphodynamic systems with other existing regional palaeoenvironmental archives – of which many have been and are planned to be further investigated within the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Centre 1211.