Niklas Metzner

Research interests

My research is focused on the paleoenvironmental changes (e.g., weathering, redox conditions) during the Great Oxidation Episode, using major and trace elements and stable isotope systematics. I am further interested in Cretaceous stratigraphy and green clay authigenesis.

My PhD project investigates the rise of the atmospheric oxygen between 2.45 and 2.32 Ga ago during the Great Oxidation Episode (GOE) and the following increase to possibly present-day atmospheric oxygen levels during the ~2.2–2.0 Ga Lomagundi-Jatuli Event (LJE) as these mark major perturbations of earth’s atmosphere. The rise of oxygen was accompanied by a dramatic modification in element fluxes from the continents to the oceans and to marine sediments, which, as a feedback loop, has influenced productivity and, as such, the production of oxygen in shallow waters. The sedimentary rocks of the Pretoria Group in the Transvaal Basin in South Africa represent a perfect archive for investigating the environmental perturbations during this period. Insights into environmental changes will be provided by the shallow to deep marine sediments of the almost continuous succession of the 2.32 Ga Timeball Hill Formation, deposited directly after the GOE until the approx. 2.08 Ga Magaliesberg Formation, deposited during the δ13Ccarb excursion of the LJE. Major element analyses will provide insights into changes in weathering of the continents and climate. Additionally, trace elements combined with stable carbon and transition metal isotopes (Fe-Mo-W) will provide insights into the redox and bioproductivity changes in the Paleoproterozoic oceans.

Short CV

Publications

• Metzner N, Niebuhr B, Pürner T, Svabenicka L & Wilmsen M (2025): Integrated stratigraphy and facies development of the lower Danubian Cretaceous Group (Bavaria, SE-Germany): dissecting Cenomanian-middle Turonian onlap patterns onto the Bohemian Massif. Zeitschrift der deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften 176 (1): 67-94. doi: 10.1127/zdgg/2025/0473
• Metzner N, Wilmsen M & Böning P (2024): Greensand formation, siliceous earth deposition and coastal metal drawdown in the Danubian Cretaceous Basin (Bavaria, Germany). Marine and Petroleum Geology, 170: 107067; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2024.107067
• Wilmsen M, Bansal U, Metzner N & Böning P (2024): Geochemical and depositional environment of an Upper Cretaceous greensand giant (Münsterland Cretaceous Basin, Germany). Chemical Geology, 661: 122168; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2024.122168
• Metzner N, Niebuhr B, Pürner T & Wilmsen M (2023): Chemostratigraphy of the lower Danubian Cretaceous Group (Cenomanian–lower Turonian, Bavaria, SE Germany)—A new carbon isotope reference curve and inter-basinal correlation. Cretaceous Research, 149: 105568; doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105568.