Welcome to the department of Mineralogy & Petrology

Our department investigates processes that lead to the formation, alteration and transformation of minerals and rocks in nature and in technical systems. A number of modern analytical methods are used to determine the chemical-structural and physical properties as well as ages of minerals and rocks. These data help to elucidate physicochemical conditions during the formation of the earth in general and during the formation of deposits in particular. They also form an important basis for characterising geological bodies for geothermal energy, gas storage and final disposal and for making them technically usable.

Our current field-related research deals with the formation of chromium-platinum deposits in South Africa, silicate-carbonate manganese deposits in Brazil, carbonatite-related niobium, rare earth element deposits in Namibia/Angola, and Fe-Ti-Apatite ores in Namibia, as well as with the formation of magmatic and metamorphic rocks of the Schwarzwald. Our experimental work focuses on fluid-rock interactions. There are also cooperation projects with archaeology, art history and materials science.