Research is being done in three fields, all with a field component in the Mediterranean:

• Paleo-climate/(paleo)-Oceanography  (particularly deep-sea and near-coastal sediment and water column in the Eastern Mediterranean; focussing on the periods 0-15 years; 0-500 years; 0-5,000 years; 0-12,000 years; 0-1 million years). The research concerns the validation and preservation of proxies and the interpretation of high-resolution paleo-climate signals.

 • Biogeochemical processes in extreme environments (including early diagenetic processes in anoxic hypersaline deep- water lakes, and submarine mud volcanoes. The studied processes include oxic and anoxic decomposition of methane, the reduction of sulphate, the (im) mobilization of Fe, Mn, and the (new) formation of minerals.

• Composition and related origin of gas hydrate, liquid, gas, and minerals (e.g. plate-tectonics induced fractures result in the release of concentrated gases, liquid and minerals of great depth to the surface. The geochemical/isotope-composition provides information on the depth (pressure, temperature) of origin)