The Bioenergy Village (Bioenergiedorf Jühnde)

The central aim of the project is to switch the electricity and heat supply in rural areas from conventional to biomass energy sources. This is realized as a lighthouse project by the active participation of the population of the village Jühnde (Southern Lower Saxony), which is the first “Bioenergy Village” of Germany.

Our scientific team from the universities of Goettingen and Kassel has initiated that project and actually analyzes the ongoing ecological, economical and social changes. Our long term goal is to develop social, technical, ecological and agricultural knowledge necessary for extending the bioenergy concept to other interested villages.

It is a project of the Interdisciplinary Center for Soustainable Development (University of Goettingen), funded by Agency of Renewable Resources (Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe, FNR) and Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture (Bundesministerium für Verbraucherschutz, Ernährung und Landwirtschaft, BMVEL) from 2000 to 2008.

Funded by: FNR (Government)

More details: http://www.bioenergiedorf.info

Paleogene geology and exhumation history of the Dinarides

The project aims at a multi-method characterization of the provenance of the Paleogene Dinaridic Flysch (DF) deposits, in order to obtain a detailed understanding of the geodynamic setting and evolution of the DF basins and its adjacent source areas. The Dinarides form a central part of the entire European Alpine mountain chain between the Alps and the Hellenides, albeit the level of knowledge on its evolution is much lower compared to the adjacent orogenic belts. Quite unusually, the Dinarides comprise three major flysch belts. The external belt is considered to represent the base of a foreland basin fill but the geotectonic position of the internal flysch units is highly speculative. Also, the existence of one or two oceanic realms in this sector of the Alpine chain is still a matter of debate. The methods applied to solve these open questions involve sandstone petrography, advanced heavy mineral analysis, whole-rock geochemistry, single-grain mineral and melt inclusion chemistry, as well as single-grain fission track, U/Pb, (U-Th)/He, EMPA and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology. The project is carried out in cooperation with several institutes from Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Italy, and the Netherlands.

Funded by: DFG (2004 - 2007)

Excellent outcropping conditions at islands built up of Middle Eocene Flysch at Supetarska Draga, Rab Island, Croatia, provide fine sampling localities.	Detrital zircon crystal hosting a variety of mineral and melt inclusions. In-situ chemical analysis of these inclusions can provide insight into the petrologic evolution of zircon-hosting sediment source rocks.

see results and list of publiucations: www.sediment.uni-goettingen.de/staff/mikes/