On June 18th, 2026, the PhD students were invited to take part in a Research Training Day (RTD) in Lindlar. Lindlar, a small town near Cologne, is renowned for its exceptionally well‑preserved...

In March 2026, Subproject D02 conducted an extensive field campaign in the Namib Desert. Site selection and sampling were guided by previously published data on Neogene sediments of the Namib Group,...

From 1st March to 26th March 2026, subprojects B01 and B07 successfully completed this year’s joined field campaign to the Atacama. Professors Dietmar Quandt (University of Bonn) and Julia Bechteler...

On 8 October 2025, the German Research Vessel SONNE left the port of Antofagasta for an almost six-week expedition off the Atacama Desert. The objective of Expedition SO315 “CARNIVAL” is the...

This September, we, the PhD students Robert Hadfield (subproject C07), Julia Simonis (subproject B07) and Marianela Marino (subproject B01) and the Master student Socha Geirises (subproject B08),...

Thanks to the support of the Integrated Research Training Group of CRC1211, I had the invaluable opportunity to spend four weeks gaining practical research experience in Germany and Sweden. This...

Day1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 all Pictures © Benni Ritter-Prinz, Hannah Hartung & Damián A. López     Day 1:The introduction excursion of the CRC1211 started on Sunday...

Supported by the Graduate School Scholarship Programme (GSSP) of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Graduate School of Geosciences (GSGS) at the University of Cologne offers two...

CRC 1211 ‘Earth – Evolution at the Dry Limit’, which is now entering the third funding period, investigates the mutual relationships between biological and landscape evolution in the driest deserts...

From December 11th to 15th 2023, the American Geophysical Union held its annual meeting in San Francisco, California. The meeting reunited more than 25.000 scientists from more than 100 countries to...

In a collaborative effort between the Universidad de Chile (represented by Prof. Dr. Miguel Allende and his team from the Center of Genome Regulation) and the University of Cologne (the team of the...

In August 2023, members of subprojects Z03 and B02 conducted a comprehensive field irrigation experiment in the Paposo area. The experiment took place on top of an alluvial fan surface, where...

The molecular lab at Gobabeb – Namib Research Institute was established (in August 2023) with support of the CRC1211 and as an initiative of the Nees Institute for Plant Biodiversity, University of...

November 27th, at 4:00 pm (Geo/Bio-Hörsaal) we will have a talk of a guest speaker within the CRC 1211 Felipe Lobos-Roco (Atacama Desert Center at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile)   Abstract:...

A workshop conference on the relationships between the evolution of the Earth’s surface, biota and climate at the water limit of habitable Earth.   Download Programm Poster

From December 6 to 16, 2022 an interdisciplinary team of 11 PIs of the CRC1211 joined for an introductory fieldtrip to the northern part of the Namib Desert with the aim to initiate...

We congratulate Dr. Julia Bechteler, PI in CRC1211 B07 and former research and teaching assistant at the Nees Institute for Plant Biodiversity at the University of Bonn, who has accepted an offer...

Thursday, April 27, 2023 at 19:00  /  Café Nees – Bankettsaal, Poppelsdorfer Schloss, Meckenheimer Allee 169, 53115 Bonn Admission free!   Roswitha von den Driesch (Stadtklangkünstlerin Bonn 2023) and Jens-Uwe...

From Jan. 22nd to Jan. 27th 2023 a joint group from ETH Zürich and University of Zürich held the 15th winter school on light- and electron-microscopy. Awarded with a mobility grant from the IRTG,...

an opportunity for knowledge transfer, networking, and international co-operation The threat of Covid-19 pandemic-related impediments (e.g. health issues, travel restrictions) forced the...

© 2022 Springer Nature Brought to you by Plant Systematics and Evolution, this is our 2022 topical collection. The northern Chilean Atacama Desert is among those regions on Earth where life exists...

On the 23th and 24th of August up to 20 postgraduates and students from the Universidad Católica del Norte (UCN) in Antofagasta participated at an online short course about the use and application...

End of June/beginning of July, the B02 cluster received a visit from silverfish specialist John Irish from Namibia. John is a collaborator on our subproject and his visit involved intensive three...

This summer, in July 2022, both PhD students of project B08 made their way to Norway to learn more about the taxonomy of soil invertebrates and learn how to obtain good DNA barcodes of those in the...

On the 28th and 29th of June up to 15 scientists from the geological survey of Chile participated at an online short course about the use and application of cosmogenic nuclides for dating surfaces...

On the 13 and 14th of May, we conducted the Spring 2022 CRC1211 Science Meeting at the Institute of Geology & Mineralogy of the University of Cologne. Up to 90 Scientists presented more than 40...

Wie das Meer die Wüste formte     von Prof. Dr. Patrick Grunert Staubtrocken. Müsste man die Atacama-Wüste mit einem Wort beschreiben, es wäre wohl dieses. Ablagerungen heute verschwundener Flüsse zeugen...

Geophysical expedition to the Namib completed Without any major complications we successfully completed our 21 days geophysical survey at the Roter Kamm impact crater and the Aurus clay pan on 15...

After taking the samples to the shipping agency in Antofagasta, our last days in the Paranal claypan were dedicated to packing and organizing all our gear. It was also time to gradually tear down...

After more than one year of intense preparations and extensive delays, we are finally taking off to the Roter Kamm. The 4-5 million year old impact crater and the Aurus clay pan close by are located...

The third week in the Paranal claypan started with promising results. We continued working at Hole 1B, and after passing a critical tephra around 30 meters, the drilling continued smoothly. We made...

On Monday, January 10, our group of three CRC researchers: Jacob Feller, Damian Lopez, and Volker Wennrich arrived in Antofagasta, Chile, for the Deep Drilling operation in the Paranal claypan. In...

Supported by the Graduate School Scholarship Programme (GSSP) of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Graduate School of Geosciences (GSGS) at the University of Cologne offers two...

Joint field work of the B-Cluster projects nearly finished the sampling in the coastal transect and gathered additional data for the B projects and clusters. A special highlight was the joint...

Great news to be announced The CRC 1211 is happy to announce a new collaboration with “Andinas Chile” to provide valuable opportunities for all members of the Andean community, such as participation in training...

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...

 

by Bárbara Vargas-Machuca The first IRTG Workshop about "Communication, group dynamics and (self-)motivation for doctoral students” last two days, and despite the coronavirus crisis, this workshop...

  We are very happy to announce that the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1211 "Earth - Evolution at the Dry Limit" is entering its second phase and is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG)...

For the first time, a short course/colloquium on electromagnetic Geophysical exploration techniques is hosted at the University of Chile, Santiago de Chile. It will take place on Monday the 2nd of...

The Botanical Garden in Bonn is hosting the exhibition "Forscher, Sammler, Pflanzenjäger – Unterwegs mit Humboldt & Co." The exhibition, which runs until 15th September 2019, illuminates the history of...

The joint fieldwork of the subprojects C3, Z2 and Z3 in February and March 2019 was successfully completed. We were able to conduct UAV-based flights over several surfaces, in particular with the...

With 5,531 oral presentation and 9,432 posters, the EGU General Assembly 2019 was one of the major events among the Geoscience community. Scientist from all over the globe gathered in Vienna to...

GM5.3/BG7.4/CL4.38/PS4.7 Earth - Evolution at the dry limit (co-organized) Convener: Tibor J. Dunai Co-conveners: Eduardo Campos , Cristina Dorador , Claudia Knief , Laura Evensta       Water is the...

A Master-Student excursion for the students from the University of Cologne was conducted during end of September till mid of October to the Atacama Desert and the high Andes. In total up to 16...

PhD student Sebastian Munoz - July to October 2018 Due to the new scientific collaboration between the Universidad Catolica del Norte (Antofagasta, Chile) and the Collaborative Research Centre 1211...

In September, we conducted an excursion with 20 geography students from the RWTH Aachen University to northern Chile against the background of our research project C2 within the CRC 1211 "Earth -...

In April 2018, the members of the subproject C2 successfully completed the second field trip to the westernmost part of the Atacama Desert. While fieldwork in 2017 dealt with coastal alluvial fans...

During the long and intensive joined field campaign of C3, Z2 and Z3 in February and March 2018, further 10 weather stations were established. The southern transect at 25.1°S and the northern...

{/jb_icon-calendar} 12 March 2018 The next few days we will share with you the exiting research conducted by our university in the Atacama Desert. The Atacama Desert stretches from the north of...

First CRC 1211 gathering in 2018 at the Schlosshotel Domäne Walberberg in Bornheim, Germany,from Monday, 5th of February 2018  to Wednesday, 7th of February 2018.   © 2018 Oliver Bödeker    © 2018 Oliver...

Investigation of atmospheric water supply to the Atacama desert (Chile) from combined in-situ, ground-based and satellite remote sensing observations Scientific work is full of surprises. While...

On Friday the 6th of October, geologist from the Chilenean Geological Survey (SERNAGEOMIN, Paulina Vasquez and Fernando Sepulveda Vasquez), from the UCN (Eduardo Campus), from the US (Tereca Jordan)...

In September 2017 we carried out our second field trip to the Atacama Desert to investigate the local hydrological situation at the Salar de Llamara and the Salar de Huasco. Investigations at the...

During the 10-15 of September, a small group of geologists from Chile and Germany, represented by Prof. Eduardo Campos, Prof. Rodrigo Riquelme, Sebastian Muñoz (all UCN) and Prof. Tibor Dunai and...

We are studying the distribution of microorganisms, mainly bacteria, in the Atacama Desert. We identify the bacteria that live in the dry and salty soils as well as in association with hosts, such...

Deciphering the evolution of the alluvial fans [between 21°S and 25°S – the interplay between climatic and tectonic control] Despite the hyperaridity, we encountered a surprisingly diverse fauna...

Tracing water availability, organic carbon sources, and life at the dry limit using radiocarbon analysis Our project is about reconstructing changes in water availability and its effect on organic...

Constraining the Pleistocene environmental history of the Atacama: Extending the age range of luminescence dating The D05 project uses optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, a technique...

Dating of old continental sediments in arid environments The great antiquity of the Atacama Desert means that some questions about its geological evolution are beyond the capabilities of current...

In March 2017, the first kick-off workshop of the CRC1211 “Earth Evolution at the Dry Limit” took place at Hornitos, Chile. Short talks given by researchers from Germany of each cluster and...

07.10.2016 – 01.11.2016 This first sampling campaign of B05 was conducted together with the team of B04. Corresponding to recent scientific studies, it was found that soils of the Atacama Desert do...