GRK 1364:  Shaping the Earth's Surface in a Variable Environment: Interactions between Tectonics, Climate and Biosphere in the African-Asian Monsoonal Region

• Subject Area: Geology and Palaeontology
• Term: from 2006 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 19943600

• Final Report Year: 2017

Final Report Abstract

The RTG GRK1364 was conducted by the University of Potsdam (UP), the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), and the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). Between 2006 and 2015, a total of 42 dissertation projects was realized. 33 PhD students finished with a degree. Five more did submit their theses. 31 PhD projects were originally funded, but 11 additional projects were associated and funded by independent DFG, BMBF, AWI, PIK, and UP grants. A total of 5 postdoctoral scholars was affiliated with the RTG. The Cenozoic history of the East African Rift and the Himalayan collision zone reflects the rich interactions between tectonics, climate, and the biosphere. Despite geologic and geodynamic differences, both environments are located in the realm of the Indian-African Monsoon and provide the possibility to analyze tectonic and climatic forcing mechanisms of surface processes, climate, environmental change, and biotic evolution on different timescales, ranging from decades to millions of years. Both regions are tectonically active, which has caused the diversion of atmospheric moisture transport, changes in rainfall location and amount, and environmental change. These effects of climate change and variability are superposed on the long-term tectonic processes associated with the mantle-driven regional uplift of the East African Plateau at about 17 Ma and the formation of the Himalayan orogenic wedge by sustained shortening until the present day. Both areas now constitute efficient orographic barriers for monsoonal precipitation, with pronounced rainfall gradients and accompanying differences in the density of vegetation and surface processes. The combination of tectonically controlled topography and climate has resulted in the formation of humid, high-elevation areas and semiarid lowlands between the rift shoulders and escarpments, and the foreland and interior parts of the Himalaya, respectively. Our research also shows that there appears to be a feedback between climatically controlled surface processes and tectonics: with out-of-sequence thrusting and tectonic reorganization triggered by variations in sedimentary loading in the toe area of the Himalayan orogenic wedge. Despite these observations of possibly climate-driven tectonic processes our new thermochronologic data and 10Be basin-wide erosion rates document that long-term exhumation is detached from erosion rates at shorter timescales and that high erosion rates may not always coincide with focused rainfall, but are rather influenced by fault activity over structural ramps. However, our studies of present-day and past environmental conditions also reveal the pivotal role of climate change and climate variability on the surface-process regime on shorter timescales. For example, climate-vegetation response model simulations, time series analysis of rainfall, and the application of atmospheric-moisture transport models helped identify and quantify the impact of the El Niño Southern Oscillation to East African Indian Monsoon rainfall variability, and revealed the role of teleconnections between the rainfall regimes in East Africa and the Indian subcontinent. In this context our studies clearly document the far-reaching impact of climate variability and associated lag times in hydrologic and sedimentary processes that repeatedly caused episodes of high sediment production during the onset of humid conditions when vegetation covers were thin. Conversely, a stabilization of the landscape with a denser vegetative cover and low erosion rates followed when the changeover to new environmental conditions was sustained over longer periods. By analogy, these areas may have been similar to conditions that characterize the present-day threshold regions between dry and humid areas whose erosion-rate measurements co-vary with vegetation density. In summary, the impact of the RTG for the UP and its extramural partners was profound. Not only new talented researchers were trained and scientific prestige was gained through first-tier publications and conference contributions, but new research alliances were forged and new forms of across-disciplinary training measures were established.

Publications

• (2011): The Mid-Miocene East African Plateau: A pre-rift topogrpahic model inferred from the emplacement of the phonolitic Yalta lava flow, Kenya. Geological Society of London Special Publications, 357 (1), 285-300
  Wichura, H., Bousquet, R., Oberhänsli, R., Strecker, M.R., and Trauth, M.H.
  
• (2006): Development of the southern Eastern Cordillera, NW Argentina, constrained by apatite fission track thermochronology: From early Cretaceous extension to middle Miocene shortening. Tectonics, 25, TC6003
  Deeken, A., Sobel, E.R., Coutand, I., Haschke, M., Riller, U., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2006): Early Holocene water budget of the Nakuru-Elmenteita basin. Central Kenya Rift: Journal of Paleolimnology, 36, 281-294
  Dühnforth, M., Bergner, A.G.N., and Trauth, M.H.
  
• (2006): Propagation of orographic barriers along an active range front: insights from sandstone petrography and dethtal apatite fission-track thermochronology in the intramontane Angastaco basin, NW Argentina, Basin Research, 18, 1-26
  Coutand, I., Carrapa, B., Sobel, E.R., Strecker, M.R., Schmitt, A.K., and Deeken, A.
  
• (2007). Recurrence plots for the analysis of complex systems. Physics Reports, 438 (5-6), 237-329
  Marwan, N., Romano, M.C., Thiel. M., and Kurths, J.
  
• (2007): Climatic, Socio-economic, and health factors affecting human vulnerability to cholera in the Lake Victoria Basin, East Africa. Journal of Human Environment, 36 (4), 350-358
  Olaga, D., Marshall, M., Wandinga, S.O., Opondo, M., Yanda, P.Z., Kangalawe, R., Githeko, A., Downs, T., Opere, A., Kabumbuli, R., Kirumura, E., Ogallo, L., Mugambi, P., Apindi, E., Githui, F., Kathuri, J., Olaka, L., Sigalla, R., Nanyunja, R., Baguma, T., and Chola, P.
  
• (2007): Generalised recurrence plot analysis for spatial data. Physics Letters A, 360 (4-5). 545-551
  Marwan, N., Kurths, J., and Saparin, P.
  
• (2007): High- and low-latitude forcing of Plio-Pleistocene East African climate and human evolution. Journal of Human Evolution, 53, 475-486
  Trauth, M.H., Maslin, M.A., Deino. A.L., Strecker, M.R., Bergner, A.G.N., and Dühnforth, M.
  
• (2007): Measures of complexity for 3D image analysis of trabecular bone. European Physical Journal - Special Topics, 143 (1), 109- 116
  Marwan, N., Saparin, P., and Kurths, J.
  
• (2007): Nonlinear time series analysis of dissolved oxygen in the Orbetello Lagoon (Italy). Ecological Modelling, 203 (3-4), 339-348
  Facchini, A., Mocenni, C., Marwan, N., Vicino, A., and Tiezzi, E.B.T.
  
• (2007): Order patterns recurrence plots in the anaylsis of ERP data. Cognitive Neurodynamics, 1 (4), 317-325
  Schinkel, S., Marwan, N., and Kurths, J.
  
• (2007): Quantification of order patterns recurrence plots of event related potentials. Chaos and Complexity Letters, 2 (2/3), 301-314
  Marwan, N., Groth, A., and Kurths, J.
  
• (2008): Different eclogite types from the Pakistan Himalaya and implications for exhumation processes. Himalayan Journal of Earth Sciences, 5 (7)
  Wilke, F.D.H., O'Brien, P.J., and Ahmed Khan, M.
  
• (2008): Evolution of shallow benthic communities during the Late Paleocene-earliest Eocene transition in the Northern Tethys (SW Slovenia). Facies, 54, 25-43
  Zamagni, J., Mutti, M., and Košir, A.
  
• (2008): Glacier-surface velocities in alpine terrain from optical satellite imagery - accuracy improvement and quality assessment. Remote Sensing of Environment, 112, 3806-3819
  Scherler, D., Leprince, S., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2009). Tectonic and climatic control on evolution of rift lakes in the Central Kenya Rift, East Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews, 28 (25-26), 2804-2816
  Bergner, A.G.N., Strecker, M.R., Trauth, M.H., Deino, A., Gasse, F., Blisniuk, P., and Dühnforth, M.
  
• (2009): Erosional variability along the northwest Himalaya. Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface, 114, F01015
  Thiede, R.C., Ehlers, T.A., Bookhagen, B., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2009): Evolutionary implications of discordant dines across the Baltic Mytilus hybrid zone (Mytilus edulis, Mytilus trossulus). Heredity, 103, 146-156
  Stuckas, H., Stoof, K.R., Quesada, H., and Tiedemann, R.
  
• (2009): Halk-precessional dynamics of monsoon rainfall near the East African Equator. Nature, 462 (7273), 637-641
  Verschuren, D., Sinninghe-Damste, J.S., Moernaut, J., Kristen, I., Blaauw, M., Fagot, M., Haug, G.H., and Wolff, C.
  
• (2009): Late Pleistocene-Holocene rise and collapse of the Lake Suguta, northern Kenya Rift. Quaternary Science Reviews, 28 (9-10), 911-925
  Garcin, Y., Junginger, A., Melnick, D., Olago, D.O., Strecker, M.R., and Trauth, M.H.
  
• (2009): Recent and fossil DNA as indicators of past environmental change. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Epp, L.
  
• (2009): Responses of a shallow-water ecosystem to the early Paleogene greenhouse environmental conditions: evolution of larger foraminifera and coral communities in the Northern Tethys. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Zamagni, J.
  
• (2009): The first microbialite-coral mounds in the Cenozoic (Uppermost Paleocene) from the Northern Tethys (Slovenia): environmentally-triggered phase shifts preceding the PETM. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 274, 1-17
  Zamagni, J., Košir, A., and Mutti, M.
  
• (2010). Quantifying crystalline exhumation in the Himalaya. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Wilke, F.
  
• (2010): Climatic implications of annual to decadal resolution stable isotope data from calcite varves of the Piánco interglacial lake record. Southern Alps. Global and Planetary Change, 73 (3-4), 168-174
  Mangili, C., Plessen, B., Wolff, C., and Brauer, A.
  
• (2010): Complete synchronization in coupled Type-1 neurons. Journal of Physics, 74, 2, 189-205
  Malik, N., Ashok, B., and Balakrishnan, J.
  
• (2010): E-W extension in the NW Indian Gimalaya. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 122 (9), 1499-1515
  Hintersberger, E., Thiede, R.C., Strecker, M.R., and Hacker, B.
  
• (2010): Emplacement of the mid-Miocene Yatta lava flow, Kenya: Implications for modelling long channelled lava flows. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 198 (3-4), 325-338
  Wichura, H., Bousquet, R., and Oberhänsli, R.
  
• (2010): Evidence for Mid-Miocene uplift of the East African Plateau. Geology. 38 (6), 543-546
  Wichura, H., Bousquet, R., Oberhänsli, R., Strecker, M.R., and Trauth, M.H.
  
• (2010): Geochronological evidence of Pan-African eclogites from the Central Menderes Massif, Turkey. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences 19(4), 431-447
  Oberhänsli, R., Candan, O., and Wilke, F.D.H.
  
• (2010): Historical genetics on a sediment core from a Kenyan lake: Intraspecific genotype turnover in a tropical rotifer is related to past environmental changes. Journal of Palaeolimnology, 43, 939-954
  Epp, L.S., Stoof, K.R., Trauth, M.H., and Tiedemann, R.
  
• (2010): Human evolution in a variable environment: the amplifier lakes of Eastern Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews, 29, 2981-3348
  Trauth, M.H., Maslin, M.A., Deino, A., Junginger, A., Odada, E.O., Olago, D., Olaka, L., Strecker, M.R., and Tiedemann, R.
  
• (2010): Multi-stage history in different eclogite types from the Pakistan Himalaya and implications for exhumation processes. Lithos, 114 (1), 70-85
  Wilke, F.D.H., O'Brien, P.J., Altenberger, U., Konrad-Schmolke, M., and Ahmed Khan, M.
  
• (2010): Noise-induced synchronization in bidirectionally coupled Type-1 neurons. European Physical Journal B, 74, 177
  Malik, N., Ashok, B., and Balakrishnan, J.
  
• (2010): Seasonal precipitation gradients and their impact on fluvial sediment flux in the Northwest Himalaya, Geomorphology, 118, 13-21
  Wulf, H., Bookhagen, B., and Scherler, D.
  
• (2010): Spatial structures and directionalities in monsoonal precipitation over South Asia. Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics, 17 (5), 371-381
  Malik, N., Marwan, N., and Kurths, J.
  
• (2010): The multistage exhumation history of the Kaghan Valley UHP series, NW Himalaya, Pakistan from U-Pb and 40Ar/39Ar ages. European Journal of Mineralogy, 22 (5), 703-719
  Wilke, F.D.H., O'Brien, P.J., Gerdes, A., Timmermann, M., Sudo, M., Ahmed Khan, M.
  
• (2010): The sensitivity of East African rift lakes to climate fluctuations. Journal of Paleolimnology, 44 (2), 629-644
  Olaka, L.A., Odada, E.O., Trauth, M.H., and Olago, D.O.
  
• (2010): Timing and extent of late Quaternary glaciation in the western Himalaya constrained by 10Be moraine dating in Garhwal, India. Quaternary Science Reviews, 29, 815-831
  Scherler, D., Bookhagen, B., Strecker, M.R., von Blanckenburg, F., and Rood, D.
  
• (2010): Validation of the HIRHAM-simulated Indian summer monsoon circulation. Advances in Meteorology, 1687-9309
  Polanski, S., Rinke, A., and, Dethloff, K.
  
• (2010): Vulnerability to epidemic malaria in the highlands of Lake Victoria basin: the role of climate change/variability, hydrology and socio-economic factors. Climate Change, 99, 473-497
  Wandinga, S.O., Opondo, M., Olago, D., Githeko, A., Githui, F., Marshall, M., Downs, T., Opere, A., Oludhe, C., Ouma, G.O., Yanda, P.Z., Kangalawe, R., Kabumbuli, R., Kathuri, J., Apindi, E., Olaka, L., Ogallo, L., Mugambi, P., Sigalla, R., Nanyunja, R., Baguma, T., and Achola, P.
  
• (2011). Detection of trend changes in time series using Bayesian inference. Physical Review E, 84, 021120
  Schütz, N. and Holschneider, M.
  
• (2011). Environmental variability in Lake Naivasha, Kenya, over the last two centuries. Journal of Paleolimnology, 45, 353-367
  Stoof-Leichsenring, K.R., Junginger, A., Olaka, L.A., Tiedemann, R., and Trauth, M.H.
  
• (2011). Modest diatom responses to regional warming on the southeast Tibetan Plateau during the last two centuries. Journal of Paleolimnology, 46 (2), 215-227
  Wischnewski, J., Mackay, A.W., Appleby, P.G., Mischke, S., and Herzschuh U.
  
• (2011): Climate fluctuations and their consequences for mammalian and hominin evolution: closing the gap in the northern Kenya Rift. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Junginger, A.
  
• (2011): Climate variability and glacial behavior in the western Himalaya. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Scherler, D.
  
• (2011): East African monsoon and ENSO variability since the last glacial. University of Potsdam, University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Wolff, C.
  
• (2011): East African Rift lakes and their sensitivity to climate fluctuations. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Olaka, L.
  
• (2011): Exhumational variability within the Himalaya of northwest India. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 305 (1-2), 103-114
  Deeken, A., Thiede, R.T., Sobel, E.R., Hourigan, J.K., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2011): Genetic analysis of the impact of environmental changes on planktonic organisms from tropical lakes in Kenya: their composition and evolution. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Stoof-Leichsenring, K.
  
• (2011): Hillslope-glacier coupling: the interplay of topography and glacial dynamics in High Asia. Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface
  Scherler, D., Bookhagen, B., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2011): Late Miocene-Pliocene deceleration of dextral slip between Pamir and Tarim: Implications for Pamir orogenesis. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 304 (3-4), 369-378
  Sobel, E.R., Schoenbohm, L.M., Jie, C., Thiede, R.C., Stockli, D., Sudo, M., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2011): Molecular profiling of diatom assemblages in tropical lake sediments using taxon-speific PCR and Denaturing High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (PCR-DHPLC). Limnology and Oceanography: Resources, 11, 842-853
  Epp, L.S., Stoof, K.R., Trauth, M.H., and Tiedemann, R.
  
• (2011): Nonlinear data analysis to detect complex tectonics-climate-biosphere interactions in the African-Asian monsoonal domain. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Malik, N.
  
• (2011): Reconstructing climate variability on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau since the last Lateglacial - a multi-proxy, dual­site approach comparing terrestrial and aquatic signals. Quaternary Science Reviews, 30 (1), 82-97
  Wischnewski, J., Mischke, S., Wang, Y., and Herzschuh, U.
  
• (2011): Reconstructing climate variability on the Tibetan Plateau - comparing aquatic and terrestrial signals. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Wischnewski, J.
  
• (2011): Reduced interannual rainfall variability in East Africa during the last ice age. Science, 333 (6043), 743-747
  Wolff, C., Haug, G.H., Timmermann, A., Sinninghe-Damste, J.S., Brauer, A.. Sigman, D.M., Cane, M.A., and Verschuren, D.
  
• (2011): Seasonality in equatorial climate over the past 25 k.y. revealed by oxygen isotope records from Kilimanjaro. Geology, 39(12), 1111-1114
  Barker, P.A., Hurrell, E.R., Leng, M.J., Wolff, C., Cocquyt, C. Sloane, H.J., and Verschuren, D.
  
• (2011): Spatially variable response of Himalayan glaciers to climate change affected by debris cover. Nature Geoscience, 4. 156-159
  Scherler, D., Bookhagen, B., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2011): Terrestrial and aquatic responses to climate change and human impact on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau during the past two centuries. Gobal Change Biology, 17, 3376-3391
  Wischnewski, J., Kramer, A., Kong, Z., Mackay, A.W., Simpson, G.L., Mischke, S., and Herzschuh, U.
  
• (2011): The role of extension during brittle deformation within the NW Indian Himalaya. Tectonics, 30, TC3012
  Hintersberger, E., Thiede, R.C., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2011): The role of the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau in the Indian monsoon. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Polanski, S.
  
• (2011): Topographic evolution of the East African Plateau: A combined study on lava-flow modeling and paleo-topography. University of Potsdam. PhD thesis
  Wichura, H.
  
• (2012). Anorogenic plateau formation: The importance of density changes in the lithosphere. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmosphere, 117 (B7), 7204
  Duesterhoeft, E., Bousquet, R., Wichura, H„ and Oberhänsli, R.
  
• (2012). Climatic and geologic controls on suspended sediment flux in the Sutlej River Valley, western Himalaya. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 16, 2193-2217
  Wulf, H., Bookhagen, B., and Scherler, D.
  
• (2012): Analysis of spatial and temporal extreme monsoonal rainfall over South Asia using complex networks. Climate Dynamics, 39 (3-4), 971-987
  Malik, N., Bookhagen, B., Marwan, N., and Kurths, J.
  
• (2012): Apatite fission track and (U-Th)/He ages from the Higher Himalayan Crystallines, Kaghan Valley, Pakistan: Implications for an Eocene Plateau and Oligocene to Pliocene exhumation. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 59, 14-23
  Wilke, F.D.H., Sobel, E.R., O'Brien, P.J., and Stockli, D.F.
  
• (2012): Climatic change recorded in the sediments of the Chew Bahir basin, southern Ethiopia, during the last 45,000 years. Quaternary International 274, Special Issue Collaborative Research Center, 25-37
  Foerster, V., Junginger, A., Langkamp, O., Gebru, T., Asrat, A., Umer, M., Lamb, H., Wennrich, V., Rethemeyer, J., Nowaczyk, N., Trauth, M.H., and Schäbitz, F.
  
• (2012): Contemporary surface processes in the Sutlej region of northern India. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Wulf, H.
  
• (2012): Dynamical regimes and transitions in Plio-Pleistocene Asian monsoon. Europhysics Letters, 97, 40009
  Malik, N., Zou, Y., Marwan, N., and Kurths, J.
  
• (2012): Hidden diversity in diatoms of Kenyan Lake Naivasha: A genetic approach detects temporal variation. Molecular Ecology, 21 (8), 1918-1930
  Stoof-Leichsenring, K.R., Epp, L.S., Trauth, M.H., and Tiedemann, R.
  
• (2012): Large surface velocity fluctuations of Biafo Glacier, central Karakoram, at high spatial and temporal resolution from optical satellite images. Journal of Glaciology, 58 (209), 569-580
  Scherler, D. and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2012): Remotely-sensed evapotranspiration estimates for an improved hydrological modeling of the early Holocene mega-lake Suguta, northern Kenya Rift. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 361-362, 14-20
  Borchardt, S. and Trauth, M.H.
  
• (2012): Simulation and comparison between Mid-Holocene and preindustrial Indian Summer Monsoon Circulation Using a Regional Climate Model. The Open Atmosphere Journal, 6 (1), 42-48
  Polanski, S., Rinke, A., Dethloff, K., and Herzschuh, U.
  
• (2012): Streamflow response in small upland catchments in the Chilean Coastal Range 7ot he 8.8Mw Maule Earthquake on February 27 2010. Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface, 117, F02032
  Mohr, C.H., Montgomery, D.R., Huber, A., Bronstert, A., and Iroumé, A.
  
• (2012): Tectonic versus climate influence on landscape evolution: a case study from the upper Spiti valley, NW Himalaya. Geomorphology 145-146, 32-44
  Anoop, A., Prasad, S., Basavaiah, N., Brauer, A., Shahzad, F., and Deenadayalan K.
  
• (2013). Intensified monsoon and spatiotemporal changes in precipitation patterns in the NW Himalaya during the early-mid Holocene. Quaternary International, 313-314, 74-84
  Anoop, A., Prasad, S., Krishnan, R., Naumann, R., and Dulski, P.
  
• (2013). Oceanic-style subduction controls late Cenozoic deformation of the Northern Pamir orogen: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 363, 204-218
  Sobel, E., Chen, J., Schoenbohm, L., Thiede, R.C., Stöckli, D., Sudo, M., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2013): Abundance and distribution of leaf wax n-alkanes in leaves of Acacia and Eucalyptus trees along a strong humidity gradient in northern Australia. Organic Geochemistry, 62, 62-67
  Hoffmann, B., Kahmen A., Cernusak, L.A., Arndt, S.K., and Sachse, D.
  
• (2013): Environmental impact on shallow lake fisheries in Malawi: a coupled catchment-based and paleaeolimnological approach. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Dulanya, Z.
  
• (2013): Holocene climatic variability in the Himalayan region: a case study on paleolake sediments from the Spiti Valley. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Anoop, A.
  
• (2013): Hydrological constraints of paleo-Lake Suguta in the northern Kenya Rift during the African humid period (15-5 ka BP). Global Planetary Change, 111, 174-188
  Junginger, A. and Trauth, M.H.
  
• (2013): Impact of bottom water anoxia on nitrogen isotopic ratios and amino acid contributions of recent sediments from small eutrophic Lonar Lake, Central India. Limnology and Oceanography, 58 (3), 1061-1074
  Menzel, P., Gaye, B., Wiesner, M.G., Prasad, S., Stebich, M., Das, B.K., Anoop, A., Riedel, N., and Basavaiah, N.
  
• (2013): Large spatial and temporal variations in Himalayan denudation. Earth Planetary Science Letters, 371-372 (0), 278-293
  Thiede, R.C. and Ehlers, T.A.
  
• (2013): Late Cenozoic extension and crustal doming in the India-Eurasia collision zone: New thermochronologic constraints from the NE Chinese Pamir. Tectonics, 32 (3), 763-779
  Thlede, R.C., Sobel, E.R., Chen, J., Schoenbohm, L.M., Stockli, D.F., Sudo, M., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2013): Mapping of shoreline shifts of lakes Malombe and Chiuta - implications of recent climatic and environmental changes. Catena, 104, 111-119
  Dulanya, Z., Reed, J., and Trauth, M.H.
  
• (2013): Palaeoenvironmental implications of evaporative Gaylussite crystals from Lonar lake, Central India. Journal of Quaternary Science, 28 (4), 349-359
  Anoop, A., Prasad, S., Plessen, B., Naumann, R., Menzel, P., Basavaiah, N., Weise, S., Gaye, B.,and Brauer, A.
  
• (2013): Runoff generation and soil erosion processes after clear cutting. Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface, 118 (2), 814-83
  Mohr, C.H., Coppus, R., Iroumé, A., Huber, A., and Bronstert, A.
  
• (2013): Siberian larch forests and the ion content of thaw lakes form a geochemically functional entity. Nature Communications, 4 (2408)
  Herzschuh, U., Pestryakova, L., Savelieva, L., Heinecke, L., Böhmer, T., Biskaborn, B.K., Andreev, A.A., Ramisch, A., Shinneman, A.L.C., and Birks, H.J.B.
  
• (2013): Simulation of the Indian Monsoon and its variability during the last millenium. Climate of the Past Discussions, 9 (1), 703-740
  Polanski, S., Fallah, B., Prasad, S., Cubasch, U.
  
• (2013): Slow advance of the weathering front during deep, supply-limited saprolite formation in the tropical Highlands of Sri Lanka. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 118, 202-230
  Hewawasam, T., von Blanckenburg, F., Bouchez, J., Dixon, J.L., Schuessler, J.A., and Maekeler, R.
  
• (2013): The role of extension during the evolution of the Himalaya in north­western India. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Hintersberger E.
  
• (2013); Carbon cycling within an East African lake revealed by the carbon isotope composition of diatom silica: A 25-ka record from Lake Challa, Mt. Kilimanjaro. Quaternary Science Reviews 66, 55-63
  Barker, P.A., Hurrell, E.R., Leng, M.J., Plessen, B., Wolff, C., Conley, D.J., Keppens, E., Milne, I., Gumming, B., Laird, K.R., Kendrick, C.P., Wynn, P.M., and Verschuren, D.
  
• (2014): 46 000 years of alternating wet and dry phases on decadal to orbital timescales in the cradle of modern humans: the Chew Bahir project, southern Ethiopia. Climate of the Past Discussions, 10, 977-1023
  Foerster, V., Junginger, A., Asrat, A., Lamb, H.F., Wennrich, V., Weber, M., Rethemeyer, J., Frank, U., Brown, M.C., Trauth, M.H., and Schaebitz, F.
  
• (2014): A Study of the sensitivity of response spectral amplitudes on seismological parameters using algorithmic differentiation. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 4, 2240-2252
  Molkenthin, C., Scherbaum, F., Griewank, A.. Kuehn, N., Staord, P.
  
• (2014): Estimation of sedimentary proxy records together with associated uncertainty. Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics Discussion, 1, 1023-1071
  Goswami, B., Heitzig, J., Rehfeld, K., Marwan, N., Anoop, A., Prasad, S., and Kurths, J.
  
• (2014): Hydrological and erosion responses to man-made and natural disturbances - Insights from forested catchments in south-central Chile. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Mohr, C.
  
• (2014): Late Quaternary climate variability in the source region of Homo sapiens. PhD thesis
  Förster, V.
  
• (2014): Linking Holocene drying trends from Lonar Lake in central India to North Atlantic cooling events. Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology, Paleogeography,410, 164-178
  Menzel, P., Gaye, B., Mishra, P., Anoop, A., Basavaiah, N., Marwan, N., Plessen, B., Prasad, S., Riedel, N., Stebich, M., and Wiesner, M.G.
  
• (2014): Modern seasonality in Lake Challa (Kenya/Tanzania) and its sedimentary documentation in recent lake sediments. Limnology and Oceanography, 59 (5), 1621-1636
  Wolff, C., Kristen-Jenny, I., Schettler, G., Plessen, B., Meyer, H., Dulski, P., Naumann, R., Brauer, A., Verschuren, D., and Haug, G.H.
  
• (2014): Palaeolimnological reconstruction of recent environmental change in Lake Malombe (S. Malawi) using multiple proxies. Water SA, 40, 717-727
  Dulanya, Z., Croudace, I., Reed, J.M., and Trauth, M.H.
  
• (2014): Prolonged monsoon droughts and links to Indo-Pacific warm pool: a Holocene record from Lonar Lake, Central India. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 391, 171-182
  Prasad, S., Anoop, A., Riedel, N., Sarkar, S., Menzel, P., Basavaiah, N., Krishnan, R., Fuller, D., Plessen, B., Gaye, B.. Röhl, U., Wilkes, H., Sachse, D., Sawant, R., Wiesner, M.G., and Stebich, M.
  
• (2014): Recent ecological responses to climate variability and human impacts in the Nianbaoyeze Mountains (eastern Tibetan Plateau) inferred from pollen, diatom and tree-ring data. Journal of Paleolimnology, 51 (2), 287-302
  Wischnewski, J., Herzschuh, U., Rühland, K.M., Bräuning, A., Mischke, S., and Smol, J.P.
  
• (2014): Seasonal logging, process response, and geomorphic work. Earth Surface Dynamics, 2, 117-125
  Mohr, C.H., Zimmermann, A., Korup, O., Iroumé, A., Francke, T., and Bronstert, A.
  
• (2014): Spatial heterogeneity in lipid biomarker distributions in the catchment and sediments of a crater lake in central India. Organic Geochemistry, 66, 125-136
  Sarkar, S., Wilkes, H., Prasad, S., Brauer, A., Riedel, N., Stebich, M., Basavaiah, N., and Sachse, D.
  
• (2014): Tectonic control of Yarlung Tsangpo Gorge revealed by a buried canyon in Southern Tibet, Science, 346 (6212), 978-981
  Wang, P., Scherler, D., Liu-Zeng, J., Mey, J., Avouac, J.-P., Zhang, Y., and Shi, D.
  
• (2014): The effect of solar radiation changes on water levels in paleo-Lake Suguta, Northern Kenya Rift, during the African Humid Period (15-5 ka BP). Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology, 396, 1-16
  Junginger, A., Roller, S., Olaka, L.A., and Trauth, M.H.
  
• (2014); Ice dams, outburst floods, and glacial incision at the western margin of the Tibetan Plateau: A >100 k.y. chronology from the Shyok Valley, Karakoram. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 126 (5/6), 738-758
  Scherler, D., Munack, H., Mey, J., Eugster, P., Wittmann, H., Codilean, A.T., Kubik, P., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2014); Tectonic control on 10Be-derived erosion rates in the Garhwal Himalaya, India. Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface, 119, 1-23
  Scherler, D., Bookhagen, B., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2015). Estimating the fill thickness and bedrock topography in intermontane valleys using artificial neural networks. Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface, 120, 1-20
  Mey, J., Scherler, D., Zeilinger, G., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2015): A 17-My-old whale constrains onset of uplift and climate change in east Africa. PNAS. 112(3), 3910-3915
  Wichura, H., Jacobs, L.L., Lin, A., Polcyn, M.J., Manthi, F.K., Winkler, D.A., Strecker, M.R., and Clemens, M.
  
• (2015): Aerosol-Cloud-Monsoon Interactions based on HIRHAM Regional Climate Model simulations from 1950 until 2010. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Hanf, F.
  
• (2015): Cenozoic extension in the Kenya Rift from low-temperature thermochronology: Links to diachronous spatiotemporal evolution of rifting in East Africa. Tectonics, 34
  Torres Acosta, V., Bande, A., Sobel, E.R., Parra, M., Schildgen, T.F., Stuart, F., Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2015): Denudation processes on different timescales in Kenya (East Africa). University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Torres Acosta, V.
  
• (2015): Environmental Change and Human Occupation of Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya during the last 20,000 years. Quaternary Science Reviews, 129, 333-340
  Foerster, V., Vogelsang, R., Junginger, A., Asrat, A., Lamb, H.F., Schaebitz, F., and Trauth, M.H.
  
• (2015): Episodes of Environmental Stability and Instability in Late Cenozoic Lake Records of Eastern Africa. Journal of Human Evolution, 87, 21-31
  Trauth, M.H., Bergner, A.G.N., Foerster, V., Junginger, A., Maslin, M.A., and Schaebitz, F.
  
• (2015): Episodes of Environmental Stability and Instability in Late Cenozoic Lake Records of Eastern Africa. Journal of Human Evolution. 87, 21-31
  Trauth, M.H., Bergner, A.G.N., Foerster, V., Junginger, A., Maslin, M.A., and Schaebitz, F.
  
• (2015): Facilitation in drylands: Modeling a neglected driver of savanna dynamics. Ecological Modelling, 304, 11-21
  Synodinos, A.D., Tietjen, B., and Jeltsch, F.
  
• (2015): Full microtremor H/V(z, f) inversion for shallow subsurface characterization. Geophysical Journal International, 202 (1), 298-312
  Lontsi, A.M., Sánchez-Sesma, F.J., Molina-Villegas, J.C., Ohrnberger, M., and Krüger, F.
  
• (2015): Holocene Variations in the Strength of the Indian Monsoon System: A Combined Biomarker and Stable Isotope Approach. University of Potsdam. PhD thesis
  Sarkar, S.
  
• (2015): Increased late Pleistocene erosion rates during fluvial aggradation in the Garhwal Himalaya, northern India. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 428, 255-266
  Scherler, D., Bookhagen, B., Wulf, H., Preusser, F., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2015): Microbial abundance in lacustrine sediments. International Journal of Earth Sciences, 104, 1667-1677
  Kallmeyer, J., Grewe, S., Glombitza, C., and Kitte, J.A.
  
• (2015): Mineralogical transformations set slow weathering rates in low-porosity metamorphic bedrock on mountain slopes in a tropical climate. Chemical Geology, 411, 283-298
  Behrens, R., Bouchez, J., Schuessler, J.A., Dultz, S., Hewawasam, T., and von Blanckenburg, F.
  
• (2015): Modeling past, present and future transient vegetation dynamics in East Africa under the influence of its climate and topography. Univesity of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Fer, I.
  
• (2015): Modern pollen vegetation relationships in a dry deciduous monsoon forest - a case study from Lonar Crater Lake, central India. Quaternary International, 371, 268-279
  Riedel, N., Stebich. M., Anoop, A., Basavaiah, N., Menzel, P., Prasad, S., Sachse, D., Sarkar, S., and Wiesner, M.
  
• (2015): Monsoon source shifts during the drying mid-Holocene: Biomarker isotope based evidence from the core 'monsoon zone’ (CMZ) of India. Quaternary Science Reviews, 123, 144-157
  Sarkar, S., Prasad, S., Wilkes, H., Riedel, N., Stebich, M., Basavaiah, N., and Sachse, D.
  
• (2015): Rainfall, weathering and erosion: quantification of earth surface processes in the Suguta Valley, northern Kenya, using multi-spectral and hyper-spectral data. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Borchardt, S.
  
• (2015): Semi-automated detection of annual laminae (varves) in lake sediments using a fuzzy logic algorithm. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 435, 272-282
  Ebert, T. and Trauth, M.H.
  
• (2015): Sensitivity of probabilistic seismic hazard obtained by algorithmic differentiation: A feasibility study. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 105, 1810-1822
  Molkenthin, C., Scherbaum, F., Griewank, A., Kuehn, N., Staord, P., and Leovey H.
  
• (2015): Talas-Fergana Fault Cenozoic timing of deformation and its relation to Pamir indentation. The Geological Society of London Special publication 427
  Bande, A., Sobel, E.R., Mikolaichuk, A., and Torres Acosta, V.
  
• (2015): The effect of vegetation cover on millennialscale landscape denudation rates in East Africa. Lithosphere, 7, 4
  Torres Acosta, V., Schildgen, T.F., Clarke, B.A., Scherler, D., Bookhagen, B., Wittmann, H., von Blanckenburg, F., and Strecker M.R.
  
• (2015): Understanding erosion rates in the Himalayan orogen: A case study from the Arun Valley. Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface, 120 (10), 2080-2102
  Olen, S.M., Bookhagen, B., Hoffmann, B., Sachse, D., Adhikari, D.P., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2016). Combining surfacewave phase-velocity dispersion curves and full microtremor horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio for subsurface sedimentary site characterization. Interpretation, 4 (4), SQ41-SQ49
  Lontsi, A.M., Ohrnberger, M., Krüger, F., and Sánchez-Sesma, F.J.
  
• (2016). High-resolution modeling closes the gap between data and model simulations for Mid-Holocene and present-day biomes of East Africa. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 444, 144-151
  Fer, I., Jeltsch, F., and Tietjen, B.
  
• (2016): Approximate variational inference based on a finite sample of gaussian latent variables. Pattern Analysis and Applications, 19(2), 475-485
  Gianniotis, N., Schnorr, C., Molkenthin, C., and Bora, S.
  
• (2016): Biogeochemical adaptation to variable lake chemistry. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Grewe, S.
  
• (2016): Climate-driven sediment aggradation and incision since the late Pleistocene in the NW Himalaya, India. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, A49, 321-331
  Dey, S., Thiede, R.C., Schildgen, T.F., Wiltmann, H., Bookhagen, B., Scherler, D., Jain, V., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2016): Climatic and geomorphic drivers of plant organic matter transport in the Arun River, E Nepal. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 452, 104-114
  Hoffmann, B., Feakins, S.J., Bookhagen, B., Olen, S.M., Adhikari, D.P., Mainali, J., and Sachse, D.
  
• (2016): Climatic controls on debris-flow activity and sediment aggradation: The Del Medio fan, NW Argentina, Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface, 121
  Savi, S., Schildgen, T.F., Tofelde, S., Wittmann, H., Scherler, D., Mey, J., Alonso, R.N., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2016): Deciphering the past and present monsoonal moisture gradients in the Arun valley, eastern Nepal. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Hoffmann, B.
  
• (2016): Detecting trends, rhythms and events in modern and past climate records using advanced methods of time-series analysis. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Berner, N.
  
• (2016): Differentiating between rain, snow, and glacier contributions to river discharge in the western Himalaya using remote-sensing data and distributed hydrological modeling. Advances in Water Resources, 88, 152-169
  Wulf, H., Bookhagen, B., and Scherler, D.
  
• (2016): Glacial isostatic uplift of the European Alps, Nature Communications, 7, 1-9
  Mey, J., Scherler, D., Wickert, A.D., Egholm, D.L., and Tesauro, M.
  
• (2016): Holocene internal shortening within the northwest Sub-Himalaya: Out-of­ sequence faulting of the Jwalamukhi Thrust, India. Tectonics, 35
  Dey, S., Thiede, R.C., Schildgen, T.F., Wittmann, H., Bookhagen, B., Scherler, D., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2016): Intermontane valley fills: records of climate, tectonics and landscape evolution. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Mey, J.
  
• (2016): Late Quaternary vegetation and lake system dynamics in north-eastern Siberia: Implications for seasonal climate variability. Quaternary Science Reviews, 147, 406-421
  Biskaborn, B.K., Subetto, D.A., Savelieva, L., Vakhrameeva, P.S., Hansche, A., Herzschuh, U., Klemm, J., Heinecke, L., Pestryakova, L., Meyer, H., Kuhn, G., and Diekmann, B.
  
• (2016): Modeling vegetation change during Late Cenozoic uplift of the East African plateaus. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 467, 120-130
  Fer, I., Tietjen, B., Jeltsch, F., and Trauth, M.H.
  
• (2016): Neotectonics and cooling history of the southern Patagonian Andes: Assessing the role of ridge collision and slab window formation inboard of the Chile Triple Junction (46-47°S). PhD thesis
  Georgieva, V.
  
• (2016): Rainfall variability and trends of the past six decades (1950-2014) in the subtropical NW Argentine Andes. Climate Dynamics, 48 (3), 1049-1067
  Castino, F., Bookhagen, B., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2016): Rapid Last Glacial Maximum deglaciation in the Indian Himalaya coeval with midlatitude glaciers: New insights from 10Be-dating of ice-polished bedrock surfaces in the Chandra Valley, NW Himalaya. Geophysical Research Letters, 43, 1589-1597
  Eugster, P., Scherler, D., Thiede. R.C., Codilean, A.T., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2016): Reconstructing rates and impact of glacial erosion in the Arun Valley, eastern Himalaya. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Olen, S.
  
• (2016): River-discharge dynamics in the Southern Central Andes and the 1976-77 Global Climate Shift. Geophysical Research Letters, 1-9
  Castino, F., Bookhagen, B., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2016): Role of climate and vegetation density in modulating denudation rates in the Himalaya. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 445, 57-67
  Olen, S.M., Bookhagen, B., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2016): Shear wave velocity profile estimation by integrated analysis of active and passive seismic data from small aperture arrays. Journal of Applied Geophysics, 130, 37-52
  Lontsi, A.M., Ohrnberger, M., and Krüger, F.
  
• (2016): Spatiotemporal patterns and trends of Indian monsoonal rainfall extremes. Geophysical Research Letters, 43 (4), 1710-1717
  Malik, N., Bookhagen, B., and Mucha, P.J.
  
• (2016): Tectonic and climatic control on the evolution of the NW Himalayan mountain front. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Dey, S.
  
• (2016): Tectonic control on rock uplift, exhumation and topography above an oceanic-ridge collision - Southern Patagonian Andes (47°S), Chile: Neotectonics and topography in Patagonia. Tectonics
  Georgieva, V., Melnick, D., Schildgen, T.F., Ehlers, T.A., Lagabrielle, Y., Enkelmann, E., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2017 Sustained out-of-sequence shortening along a tectonically active segment of the Main Boundary thrust: The Dhauladhar Range in the northwestern Himalaya. In: Lithosphere 9 (5) 715–725
  Thiede, R.C., Robert, X., Stübner, K., Dey, S., and Faruhn, J.
  
• (2017): 1D shallow sedimentary subsurface imaging using ambient noise and active seismic data. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Lontsi, A.
  
• (2017): Derivative-based global sensitivity analysis: Upper bounding of sensitivities in seismic hazard assessment using automatic differentiation. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 107, 2
  Molkenthin, C., Scherbaum, F., Griewank, A., Leovey, H., Kucherenko, S., and Cotton, F.
  
• (2017): Modeling past and future climate induced vegetation changes in East African savannas. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Synodinos, A.
  
• (2017): Precipitation evolution of Central Asia during the last 5000 years. The Holocene, 27 (1)
  Wolff, C., Plessen, B., Dudashvalli, A., Breitenbach, S.F.M., Cheng, H., Edwards, L.R., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2017): Sensitivity analysis in seismic hazard assessment using algorithmic differentiation. University of Potsdam, PhD thesis
  Molkenthin, C.
  
• (2017): Short-lived increase in erosion during the African Humid Period: Evidence from the northern Kenya Rift. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 459, 58-69
  Garcin, Y., Schildgen, T.F., Torres Acosta, V., Melnick, D., Guillemoteau, J., Willenbring, J., and Strecker, M.R.
  
• (2018) Multi‐basin depositional framework for moisture‐balance reconstruction during the last 1300 years at Lake Bogoria, central Kenya Rift Valley. In: Sedimentology 65 (5) 1667–1696
  Gort, G., Verschuren, D., Ryken, E., Wolff, C., Renaut, R.W., Creitz, M., Van der Meerem, T., Haug, G., Olago, D.A., and Mees, F.
  
• (2018): Formation of Lake Victoria during coeval rifting in East Africa: a 3-D thermomechanical modeling approach. In: EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts (EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts), S. 8516
  Wichura, H., Quinteros, J., Melnick, D., Brune, S., Schwanghart, W., and Strecker, M.R.