Study Contents MSc Applied & Environmental Geoscience

This course covers chemical thermodynamics in aqueous systems, sorption and partitioning processes of organic and inorganic compounds in the hydrosphere and practical case studies. The objective is to gain quantitative evaluation and prediction capabilities for important hydrogeochemical parameters based on sound thermodynamic concepts. By this, fate and behavior of chemicals in the environment can be predicted.

Taught by: Christiane Zarfl, Stefan Haderlein, Peter Grathwohl

This course establishes a fundamental quantitative scientific understanding of various global-change processes. Different topics are presented and discussed in a combination of lectures and seminar presentations introducing and comparing climatic systems of the past and presence, climate change models, possible impacts of global-change processes on various environmental systems and compartments (regions, species, pollution, land use) and future effects.

Taught by: Kira Rehfeld

The course has a strong emphasis on physical hydrogeology, covering flow and transport in groundwater systems. Emphasis is given on quantitative description of groundwater flow and solute transport, deriving govering equations and analytical solutions for simple configurations. Computer methods for the solution of groundwater problems are taught in the Groundwater Modeling 2.

Taught by: Olaf Cirpka

Scientific practice is a research-oriented internship within a work group of the Department of Geosciences. The key objective is to gain insight in ongoing research projects and to plan and design a research agenda for a potential Master's thesis.
All work groups contribute to the supervision within scientific practice.

Scientific Presentation serves to acquire communication and presentation skills. The module includes participations on the Master’s Day and attendances at department seminars. Integral part is the presentation of the results of the Master's thesis in the respective research group and a poster presentation on the Master’s Day.

This course discusses geochemical principles controlling the abiotic transformation  of pollutantsas well as the physiological and biochemical basis for their biotransformation. Transformation reactions and pathways for various organic (e.g. BTEX, chlorinated hydrocarbons) and inorganic pollutants (e.g. radionuclides, nitrate) are covered as well as advances in applied remediation techniques and methods to assess pollutant turnover. The course contains lectures and case studies.

Taught by: Prachi Joshi

Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is one of the most important analytical techniques to determine the occurrence and fate of new emerging polar pollutants in the water cycle, e.g. pharmaceutical residues, corrosion inhibitors, organophosphate flame retardants. The course focuses on principal approaches and applications of LC-MS analysis. This includes the basic principles and operating parameters of electrospray ionization, mass separation and ion detection. Approaches for target and non-target analysis and multi-residue methods are demonstrated by practical examples and can be exercised in an accompanying lab course.

Taught by: Christian Zwiener

The module "Modeling of Reactions, Microbial Dynamics and Bioreactive Transport" acts as a substitute for the module Hydrogeochemical Modeling. The modules gives an introduction into mathematical and numerical modeling of reactions, inter-phase mass transfer, microbial dynamics, and reactive transport relevant for the fate of compounds and microorganisms in porous media.
Students will be able to: formulate mathematical models of reactive systems (with and without transport) and solve them numerically using matlab. They can critically assess which processes dominate under which conditions. They acquire key competences in the quantitative, process-based analysis of reactive systems influenced by microbial processes.

Taught by: Olaf Cirpka

The course deals with the study of the physical processes that occur in the Earth's atmosphere and plays crucial role in understanding the Earth's climate, weather patterns, and air quality. The course encompasses the study of topics such as the structure of the atmosphere, radiative forcing, clouds, turbulence and meteorological sensors. Special focus is given to the the lowest part of the atmosphere the so called atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). The flow field within the ABL is of interest to not only meteorologists but also to those students who want to know about the role of the atmosphere in environmental science and its application in geography, agriculture, forestry, ecology and engineering. This course therefore also aims to present the main features of the ABL and its turbulent characteristics to understand the basic interactions between the atmosphere and the underlying Earth's surface under different regimes.

Taught by: Andreas Platis

This module offers an introduction to atmospheric processes, factors governing climate and climate change, links between climate and other Earth systems, and climate change of the past, present and future. Furthermore, it teaches the theoretical and practical knowledge of numerical models and mathematical-statistical techniques required for the description, explanation and prediction of climate. It comprises of lectures and computer exercises.

Taugh by: Kira Rehfeld

This module gives an introduction into the physics of Earth’s surface, with emphasis on processes shaping the Earth’s surface on human and geological timescales. Most importantly an overview of the relevant cycles (energy, water, relevant elements/gases) acting on Earth’s surface will be given. Specific topics addressed in the lecture include: Earth’s surface energy balance, carbon and hydrological cycle and mass balance, how and why tectonics, topography, and climate interact over short and long (million year) timescales, physical and mathematical approaches for understanding erosion and sedimentation by rivers, hillslopes, glacial, and biotic processes. The course combines lectures and computer exercises.

Taught by: Christoph Glotzbach

This course covers the numerical simulation of groundwater flow and conservative solute transport using computer models. Basic discretization methods are explained and tested in exercises before standard software for groundwater flow-and-transport simulations is used. The course involves hands-on exercises and a larger calibration exercise as project work.

Taught by: Tao Yuan

This module includes a lecture and a field course on hydrogeological field investigation techniques. The curriculum includes pumping tests, slug tests and tracer tests, among others, involving the theoretical background (taught in the lecture), the practical field application, and the analysis of data after the field course.

Taught by: Carsten Leven

Sources for groundwater contaminations can be complex both in terms of the contaminants involved as well as with respect to their areal extent of the pollution (e.g. local point sources such as landfills or large scale industrial areas). In this module students learn to address real case scenarios of contaminated sites and to interpret the inherent contamination characteristics due to subsurface conditions and the compounds under consideration. The comprehensive overview on practical aspects of contaminant hydrogeology involves building of conceptual models of a contaminated site, assessing potential risks and developing solution strategies for subsurface contaminations, a key competence of environmental geoscientists.

Taught by: Michael Finkel

This module teaches advanced methods in geophysics including data acquisition, processing and modelling. In each semester we will typically explore one or two methods in-depth (e.g. refraction seismics, electrical resistivity tomography, ground-penetrating radar, magnetics) and develop a full processing chain from first principals, e.g. including survey planning, data acquisition, forward modeling and data integration using computational inverse techniques.

Taught by: Reinhard Drews

In this course, the student build their own reactive-transport models from scratch to addresss specific problems. This is mainly project work in small groups with monthly progress-report presentations and a final presentation with a written report. The class requires the competences gained in "Modeling of Reactions, Microbial Dynamics and Bioreactive Transport".

Taught by: Olaf Cirpka and Tao Yuan

This module covers the environmental and human health risk assessment of chemicals according to the European regulation REACH. It will provide the scientific underpinning of chemical risk assessment but also practical experiences with the regulatory process.
Groups of three students will conduct a comprehensive risk assessment for one selected chemical according to the European regulation for industrial chemicals. The risk assessment is performed stepwise in the exercises and then compiled into a written technical report that will be graded. In addition, each student presents a paper in the seminar on a specialized topic in environmental risk assessment. Finally we learn scientific methods for risk assessment that are not in regulation yet but might make it there one day.

Taught by: Beate Escher

Lab experiments in small teams; mini-research project, seminar

Content & Objectives:

• Knowledge and application of key instrumental techniques in environmental chemistry (Sampling, extraction- & enrichment techniques, chromatography (IC, GC, HPLC); mass spectrometry; stable isotope analyses)
• Experimental design; hands-on laboratory skills; evaluation and interpretation of experimental data and their uncertainty
• Knowledge of current research topics in environmental chemistry & microbiology

Taught by: Philipp Martin, Stefan Haderlein

Isotopes provide an excellent tool for environmental, low temperature research. They allow, e.g., to identify sources and sinks, transport pathways, diffusion processes and degradation mechanisms in biological reactions.
The course is split into two parts. Part 1 provides an overview of isotope application in the environment, and introduces traditional and non traditional isotopes, radiogenic and radioactive isotopes, mass-dependent and mass independent fractionation, with a focus on inorganic processes. Part 2 deals with isotopes in the organic chemistry world and explains analytical aspects.

Taught by: Heinrich Taubald, Philipp Martin

This course discusses the degradation of organic pollutants as well as the consequences of different biogeochemical processes on the fate of inorganic pollutants including bioremediation processes. These topics are discussed in the context of redox zonation, thermodynamics and kinetics of microbial processes. A second focus is on microbe-mineral interactions including biomineralization processes. Lectures as well as students presentations based on recent scientific articles are part of the course.

Taught by: Andreas Kappler

Within this laboratory course the students will learn to apply various microbial lab techniques (sterile working techniques), to be able to follow and interpret microbial activities quantitatively, and to know about different microbial metabolic pathways, in particular microbial formation and transformation of minerals.

Taught by: Andreas Kappler

This module offers a broad introduction into the principles of applied geophysics with a focus on sub-surface imaging techniques using gravimetry, magnetics, seismics, geoelectrics and electromagnetics. Field based exercises are conducted in small groups offering ‘hands on’ experiences in collecting, processing and interpretation of geophysical data. In-class exercises include theoretical problem-solving, self-designed practical setup (e.g., using minicomputers and smart phones), and computational methods.

Taught by: Reinhard Drews

The module deals with methods of soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering. In a lecture the basic principles of geotechnical classification of soils and rocks, geotechnical investigation methods, and procedures for determining mediated soil and geomechanical parameters are taught and will be consolidated in exercises. During the soil mechanics laboratory course, various geotechnical laboratory methods for determining basic geotechnical soil and rock parameters are practically applied, analyzed, and evaluated.

Taught by: Johannes Giere of Prof. Dr. Ing. E. Vees und Partner Baugrundinstitut GmbH (lecture), Carsten Leven (lab course)

In this module you will get a basic introduction to GIS, GPS and remote sensing. You will learn how to get your individual datasets (with smartphones, from satellites, from paper maps or various web sources), how to bring them into shape (digitizing and working with map projections) and how to make advanced GIS analyses with them like terrain analyses, hydrological analyses, suitability analyses or unsupervised classifications of satellite images.
We are using free GIS-software (QGIS for Windows/macOS/Linux and its Plugins/ Libraries) and free iOS/Android apps only. So you will be able to work with your personal equipment for your own GIS-projects after having finished this GIS-course.  

Taught by: Holger Schäuble (QGIS, smartphone mapping), Gerhard Lörcher (GPS, remote sensing)

This course offers a systems approach to understand energy systems that include a bioprocessing step, such as anaerobic digestion, anaerobic fermentation, microbial fuel cells, and photobioreactors with algae. It focuses on biomass-to-bioenergy conversion, including introduction to major treatment steps, such as pretreatment steps, fermentation steps, and product separation steps. The course integrates physics, engineering, environmental impacts, economics, and sustainable development. Different energy generation technologies will be compared to gain an understanding of the advantages and limitations of these technologies.

During the first course, the theory of environmental biotechnology is taught by lectures. During the second course, the students prepare their own design of a sustainable environmental biotechnology system during a group-based cooperative learning effort.

Taught by: Lars Angenent

This course will teach the fundamentals of drinking-water treatment and wastewater treatment. This is inherently an interdisciplinary topic, because the teaching uses chemistry, physics, microbiology, and engineering to explain the treatment options. During 13 weekly lectures the following topics will be addressed:

• Basics of Water and Wastewater Treatment: Coagulation, filtration, sedimentation; Adsorption; Membrane Filtration; Oxidation; Disinfection; Activated Sludge Plants; Sludge Treatment; Anaerobic Digestion; Alternative and modern processing
• Combination of individual processes
• Up-to-date examples of drinking water treatment plants and wastewater treatment plants

Taught by: Lars Angenent