This year’s section meeting of the Geochemistry, Petrology & Petrophysics groups of the DMG just took place on June 5^th & 6^th. The two-day event was -of course- organized online, via the online platform GatherTown. Organizers truly outdid themselves in creating a large, interactive and fun space for researchers from all over Germany to interact with each other, exchange ideas, and have a good time. The UoC contributed to the two-day event with talks and posters, while the CRC 1211 was represented by two posters from C04 and D02.

As a cherry on top, this year’s poster-prize went to PhD student Niklas Wehmann (C04), who is working on deciphering the transformation process of water-bearing gypsum to water-free anhydrite in the Atacama Desert.

We surely are looking forward to many more productive meetings of this kind and discuss -maybe even in person- the latest research from all over the country.

view poster (poster-prize winner Niklas Wehmann)

From January 14 to February 28, Chilean entomologists from subproject B2 conducted an extensive fieldwork campaign in the Atacama Desert and adjacent regions to address tasks of the second phase of CRC1211. This campaign was divided in two main parts.

The first part involved the installation of trap systems in five longitudinal transects south of the hyperarid area of the Atacama Desert between Copiapó and Coquimbo (27º-30ºS) and from the coast to high Andes (above 4,700 m asl). The objective of this experiment was to obtain material for a better and general understanding of the origin/migration corridors of insects, particularly darkling beetles, inhabiting the hyperarid Atacama Desert, i.e., an understanding of the biogeographical interactions between the Coquimbo and Atacama regions.

During the second part of the trip, we installed an experimental station in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert with the main goal of defining a desert region largely devoid of metabolically active organisms. The chosen locality is south of Calama on the western slope of the Cordillera Domeyko at above 3,000 m asl. To first confirm the complete absence of arthropods, we set up a large-scale pitfall trap system covering an area about 8,100 m² This experimental station works with a flexible weather station which is provided by colleagues of the Z-cluster and is controlled in regular intervals of two months.

After 11,132 kilometers covered, about 70 collection points and more than 20 kg of collected material, our journey was successfully completed and besides the often very demanding scientific work, many beautiful and funny stories remain in our memories.

for all CRC 1211 members.

Mondays during the summer semester - 5:00-6:30 pm via Zoom

If you are interested in joining, please write to Daniela Hülle (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).