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Steffen Mischke

Professor Teaching courses on Sedimentology and Thesis skills, and doing research (paleoenvironmental and paleoclimate reconstructions mostly based on sediments and microfossils)
School of Engineering and Natural Sciences
Faculty of Earth Sciences
E-mail
Phone number
Office
Askja -  N-236
Speciality
Abstract

Steffen uses Holocene and Pleistocene lake, wetland and fluvial sediments to reconstruct landscape and climate change in alpine and arid regions. His research is focused on Central Asia, the Near East and northwestern Africa, and Iceland. He is interested in the environments of early hominins and examines early human impacts on the landscape and aquatic ecosystems. Thus, a lot of his work is conducted in close cooperation with archeologists. His specific expertise is the use of ostracod (micro-crustacean) species assemblages for paleoecological inferences and geochemical analyses of ostracod valves for paleoenvironmental reconstructions. In Iceland, Steffen works on the distribution of shallow marine ostracods as indicators of ecosystem state and potential tools to monitor impacts of global climate change. His PhD students use insect remains such as chironomid head capsules to investigate human impacts on lake ecosystems in the last ca. 200 years, and work on the concentrations, types and sources of microplastics in lakes in Iceland.

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Education
  • 2009 Habilitation
  • 2001 Ph.D.
  • 1997 Diploma
Courses 2024 - 2025