Dr. Holger Kuhlmann

Current position

Assistant Curation and Laboratory Manager for the ECORD Science Operator (ESO) at Bremen University. The ECORD Science Operator implements scientific marine drilling operations for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP).

Research

My interests focus on marine geology topics of the African coast. The tropical and subtropical regions of the African Conitnent are of interest because of their climate sensitivity incorporating important meridional climatic and oceanographic gradients. The intense coastal upwelling plays an important role for climate relevant biogeochemical cycles. Additionally, this region receives high amounts of lithogenic material as dust or river transported material from the adjacent African Continent. These two processes results in high sedimentation rates of up to 100 cm/kyr.

During various expeditions a large pool of sediment cores were retrieved (PANGAEA-database). To investigate all sediment cores I used quick and non-destructive core logging tools. Physical properties (e.g. magnetic susceptibility, lightness) were obtained using the Multi-Sensor Core Logger (MSCL).
From the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) Core Scanner we receive element intensities/concentrations of the climate relevant elements.

The obtained dataset is used for stratigraphic purposes and reconstructions of terrigeneous input and marine productivity contributions to the sediment (e.g. accumulation rates).
Detailed high resolution analyses of millennial cyclicities and abrupt climate changes during the Holocene and last glacial time period were performed.
The achieved age models for the sediment cores additionally build the basis for time slice approaches investigating micropalaeontological and geochemical parameters for a comparison of present conditions with e.g. Younger Dryas, last glacial maximum (LGM). High-resolution Holocene sequences of NW Africa were analyzed to figure out the origin, teleconnections and impact of decadal and millenial cycles on the environment.