Throughout much of the past 2.7 Ma our planet has experienced significantly colder climatic conditions than today. Alongside colder temperatures and different precipitation patterns, continental ice sheets were expanded, the continental weathering regime as well as the continental runoff significantly modified with consequences for the marine environment.

One research path in the Marine Geosystems group investigates the effect of significantly expanded continental ice sheet presence on the resulting Hf isotopic composition of riverine runoff. The compositions are recorded in marine authigenic substrates that can be used to better constrain the ice sheet history on land. Together with authigenic Pb isotopes, a highly diagnostic recently developed tracer for climatic warming and ice sheet retreat, centennial to millennial trends in regional climate patterns are reconstructed.