Assoc. Prof. Dr. Till J.J. Hanebuth 

River deltas sensitively respond to sea level, river flooding, storm surges, land sinking, and sediment availability. As hot spots for agricultural and maritime activities, their vulnerability is addressed by engineering solutions (dams, canals, and dykes). Societies also deteriorate their natural resilience, leading to erosion, vegetation change, and contamination. Significant deltaic deposition takes place offshore, as well, providing sensitive, continuous, high-resolution records of the historic variability of climate, environment, and human activities.

The marine depocenters found on the vast Bengal Shelf (Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta) show enormous sediment accumulation allowing us to quantify monthly to centennial changes regarding climate, catchment, delta plain, coastline, and the ocean. Our international team of scientists will exploit this exceptional phenomenon using various geophysical and sediment-coring methods aboard the German R/V SONNE in spring 2024. We will analyze 40 new sediment cores for the history of a) river discharge and flooding events, b) cyclone frequency, magnitude, and impact, c) sediment and carbon transfer from land to ocean, and d) accumulation of contaminants. The goals for my HWK Fellowship are to measure, interpret, and discuss the new geophysical, sedimentological, and geochemical material; take advantage of unique instrumentation that scans sediment cores at an exceptional sub-millimeter resolution; and prepare joint publications.