Fachbereich Geowissenschaften

Study Contents MSc Applied & Environmental Geoscience

The Master's program in "Applied & Environmental Geoscience" (AEG) is a 2-year program consisting of compulsory modules (30 credits), elective modules (60 credits) and a Master's thesis (30 credits). The program starts in the winter semester.
In the first semester, three compulsory modules familiarize students with core areas in environmental chemistry, groundwater modeling and global change processes.
An individual focus of study is determined by choosing one of the three specializations in the following areas:

  • Environmental Chemistry and Environmental Microbiology
  • Environmental Physics
  • Hydrogeology

Elective modules allow additional individualization of the study program.

In the compulsory modules "Scientific Practice" and "Scientific Presentation", students acquire practical interdisciplinary skills and benefit from close interaction with research groups when preparing their Master's thesis.

The following figures show the degree program for the three specializations.

Detailed information on the study contents can be found in the Module Handbook.

Compulsory Modules for all AEG Students

These modules introduce students to the necessary theoretical and quantitative aspects of environmental and applied geosciences and help them to acquire additional interdisciplinary, methodological, conceptual and practical skills in preparation for the Master's thesis project.

Environmental Chemistry

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

Global Change

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

Groundwater Modeling 1

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 and Scientific Presentation

Scientific practice is a research-oriented internship within the work groups of the Department of Geosciences. The key objective is to participate in research projects and to formulate a research agenda for the Master thesis, which takes place at the end of the MSc program. Integral part of the scientific practice program is the presentation of the thesis results in a seminar in the fourth semester (scientific presentation).

All work groups contribute to the supervision within scientific practice.

Compulsory Modules in the Specializations

For each specialization, a combination of three relevant core modules is defined. These are compulsory modules for those who choose the respective specialization.

Specialization "Environmental Chemistry and Environmental Microbiology"

Biotransformation of Pollutants

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

Environmental Analytical Chemistry

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

Hydrogeochemical Modeling

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

Specialization "Environmental Physics"

Atmospheric Physics

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

Climate Dynamics

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

Physics of the Earth's Surface

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

Specialization "Hydrogeology"

Groundwater Modeling 2

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

Hydrogeological Field Investigation Techniques

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

Remediation of Contaminated Sites

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

Elective Modules

The remaining necessary 42 credits can be chosen from any of the available modules listed in the module handbook.
Upon request, additional modules related to the content and qualification objectives of the program can be admitted as elective modules by the chairperson of the examination board.

We recommend the following elective modules:

Elective Modules

Advanced Geophysics

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

Case Studies in Environmental Geosciences

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

Data Analysis and Modeling Methods in Geo- and Environmental Sciences 1 & 2

World-wide technical advances in monitoring the surface and sub-surface result in a new data environment for modern Geo- and Environmental sciences. Problem solving increasingly requires rigorous models and also integration of observations varying in space and time. Extracting the relevant information is achieved with computational methods that also require an understanding of the underlying mathematical principles.
The module allows students to freely combine three methodological units from an extended list. This enables the students to acquire methodological competence in the field of data analysis and modeling, which are needed for their individual study focus, e.g. as part of their Master's thesis.

An overview of the selectable units is given here

Earth Processes

This course provides an introduction to Geology as well as ancient and ongoing earth processes. Contents are:

  • General introduction to geology for non-geologists
  • Understanding the system earth (e.g. rocks and minerals)
  • Surface processes acting on depositional environments (e.g. rivers, wind, oceans)
  • Landscape evolution
  • Internal processes (e.g. earthquakes, plate tectonics)

Taught by. Peter Süß

Environmental and Human Health Risk Assessment of Chemicals

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

Environmental Chemistry Lab

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

Environmental Isotope Chemistry

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

Environmental Microbiology and Geomicrobiology

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

Experimental and Analytical Methods in Geoscience and Environmental Science 1 & 2

This module is designed to advanced students to gain access to and knowledge of selected and frequently used analytical methods in geosciences, lectured by analytical experts/groups of the institute in theory and "hands on the machines".
The module allows students to freely combine three methodological units from an extended list. This enables the students to acquire methodological competence in experimental/analytical fields, which are needed for their individual study focus, e.g. as part of their Master's thesis.

An overview of the selectable units is given here.

Geomicrobiology Lab

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

Geophysics

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

Geotechnical Engineering

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)

GIS and Remote Sensing

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)

Sustainable Environmental Biotechnology Systems 1 & 2

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

Water Treatment

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

Suggested Elective Modules of the MSc Geosciences

The following modules of the MSc Geowissenschaften/Geosciences are recommended for AEG students holding a BSc in Geoscience. Some of these courses are taught in German. Please refer to the module handbook of MSc Geowissenschaften regarding prerequisites for participation.

  • Advanced Sedimentology
  • Economic Geology
  • Glaciology
  • Carbonate Facies Analysis
  • Isotope Geochemistry
  • Marine Geology and Geochemistry
  • Advanced Field Methods in Geoscience

Further modules can be offered on an irregular basis. Regularly offered modules outside this list can be taken for credit upon permission of the head of the examination committee. Please check the module handbook.

Core Lecturers

The main lecturers in the AEG course are professors at the Department of Geoscience at the University of Tübingen and their research associates. Some courses are taught by external lecturers, like professors from other universities, scientists from research institutes, or experts from practice.