On 18th June 2014, three brave PhD students from the RWTH Aachen University, part of the CRC 806 B1 and D1 projects, left Aachen for five days. Their destination: Wurzburg, Bavaria, or to be political correct, Franconia. Their goal: explore the secrets of paleosols. Their method: the International Course on Paleosols and Paleoenvironment hold by Alexander Makeev (Moscow State University), Birgit Terhorst (University of Wurzburg), Elizabeth Solleiro Rebolledo (UNAM, Mexico City), and Tobias Sprafke (University of Wurzburg).

The Workshop started off with an introduction of all participants. We all were really happy to finally meet the paleosols. We heard a lot about them. The lectures brought us from the Pre-Cambrian to the Quaternary with stops in all phases of the last 3.5 Ga, from Greenland to South Africa, India, Russia, Mexico, Austria, and many many other incredible places on our beautiful planet. We learned a lot and saw a variability of paleosols on pictures, so that we were eager to go out in the field and see them live and in 3D. But first we got the opportunity to see them through a microscope in its birthday suit. Incredible to see the tiny pieces a paleosol is made of. The grand finale was a field trip to three different places in the region, e.g. the gypsum quarry close to Marktbergel. Besides some beautiful coloured paleosols, the profiles here included well preserved archaeological findings due to the high clay contents. Later that last day, we drove back home to Aachen, a bit wired but happy that the thirst for knowledge was partly satisfied.

The consequence of this trip: we kind of fell in love with paleosols.

Paleosol sequence at the gypsum quarry close to Marktbergel. Photo: Janina Bösken

For dinner: some regional geoscientific insights. Photo: Janina Bösken