Past and present environmental changes of the marine realm are studied at the MARUM (Center for Marine Environmental Sciences), University of Bremen. Many of these studies are based on marine cores from localities worldwide. 154 km of deep-sea cores from 87 expeditions are now stored in the BCR (Bremen Core Repository).

The cores of the DSDDP (Dead Sea Deep Drilling Program), although conducted under the auspice of the ICDP (International Continental Scientific Drilling Program), are also stored in the BCR. They comprise a composite depth of ca. 460 m, cover the last ca. 220,000 years, and document a unique history of geology, biology, seismics, and lake level variations in the southern Levant.

In November 2015, Andrea Miebach, Chunzhu Chen (both PhD candidates in the B3 project), and Nadine Pickarski visited the MARUM to sample the DSDDP cores again. The cores include nice laminae and halite sections but also homogeneous and disturbed sediments. They opened 151 core sections and took 382 laminae/halite samples for pollen analyses. These samples will enable them to increase the time resolution of their ongoing studies on vegetation and climate variations in the southern Levant.

Bremen Core Repository. Photo: Andrea Miebach

Dead Sea lithology: Halite, laminae, homogeneous and disturbed sediments (from left to right). Photo: DSDDP Scientific Party