Dr. Hella Wittmann-Oelze
Function and Responsibilities:
- Supervisor for Lab for Cosmogenic Nuclides (Clean Lab 1000+)
- Safety Officer for Section 3.3
Research Interests:
- Earth surface processes and their quantification using cosmogenic nuclides
- Development of methods for cosmogenic nuclides (meteoric and in situ-produced nuclides)
- fluvial Geomorphology, Quaternary Geology
Career:
- since 2009: "Post-Doc" Scientist at GFZ
- since 2017: Scientist at GFZ
- 1/2019: Sabbatical stay at Institute de Pysique de Globe de Paris/ Université Diderot
Education:
- 1999-2004 Undergraduate Studies of Geosciences, Leibniz University of Hannover
- 2004: "Diploma" in Geosciences, Leibniz University of Hannover
- 2005-2008: PhD in Geosciences, Leibniz University of Hannover
Projects:
2023-2028
Collaboration with FU Berlin, F. von Blanckenburg, "Devendra"- Deciphering the Effect of Vegetation and Erosion on basalt and carbonate weathering by Novel Denudation Rate Approaches, funded through European Research Council (ERC).
2023-2026
"Palavas"- Present and past weathering fluxes from tropical volcanic islands, DFG-funded bilateral project with ANR. Partners: A. Bernhardt (FU Berlin), Julien Bouchez (IPG Paris), Fabien Arnaud (EDYTEM Chambery).
2019-2023
Chinese Scholarship Council Fellowship for Chenyu Wang: Tracing riverine-marine geochemical exchange using the meteoric cosmogenic 10Be/9Be in the Amazon estuary, funded through the Chinese Scholarship Council.
2019-2021
DFG proposal “The coupled vegetation, weathering, erosion, and sediment-export response to climate change unraveled from novel proxies in Chilean marine sediment” (WI 3874/7-1)
2019-2021
Co-PI of DFG proposal “Environmental signal propagation and controls on terrigenous sediment export to the Indian Ocean” (WI 3874/6-1)
2018-2020
Collaboration with T. Schildgen, D. Roda-Boluda, GFZ Sektion 4.6: LandFlux: Quantifying landslide activity and contribution to sediment fluxes with cosmogenic radionuclides and grain-size distributions".
2017-2020
Collaboration with T. Schildgen, M. D´Arcy, GFZ Sektion 4.6: "Timing of past glaciation at the Sierra de Aconquija, northwestern Argentina, and throughout the Central Andes."
2017-2020
Collaboration with D. Sachse, M. Repasch, GFZ Section 4.6: "Residence times of sediment from meteoric cosmogenic nuclides in a natural laboratory: The Rio Bermejo, Argentina"
2017-2018
Collaboration with O. Oncken, A. Douanla, GFZ Sektion 4.1: "Denudation rate gradient based on cosmogenic nuclides from the Swiss Plateau to the Aar Massif."
2016-2019
Chinese Scholarship Council Fellowship for Kai Deng, in collaboration with Shouye Yang Tongji University, China: “Meteoric cosmocgenic nuclides as novel erosion proxy in Taiwan”
2016-2017
Collaboration with N. Hovius, K. Cook, GFZ Section 4.6: "Erosion and climate driven of Gongg Shan on the eastern margin of the tibetan Plateau"
2015-2018
Collaboration with T. Schildgen, S. Tofelde, GFZ Sektion 4.6: "Climatic influence on erosion in the southern central Andes."
2015-2017
Collaboration with C. Spiegel, R. Rosenkranz, Bremen University: “Investigating Tectonism-Erosion-Climate-Couplings (iTECC Program)- Erosion in the Shillong Plateau using in situ 10Be”
2014-2016
Collaboration with P. Clift, T. Jonell, Louisiana State University, USA: “Controls on patterns of Erosion and Sediment Transport in a Monsoonal, Tectonically Quiescent Drainage, Song Gianh, Central Vietnam"
2014-2016
Collaboration with R. Thiede, S. Dey, University of Potsdam: "Sediment aggradation and incision in the NW Himalayas, India"
2014-2016
Collaboration with G. Hoke, P. Val, Syracuse University, USA “Paleo-Erosion rates from cosmogenic 10Be in Argentina”
2013-2016
Collaboration with T. Schildgen, S. Savi, University of Potsdam: "Climatic modulation of sedimentary processes and late Quaternary landscape evolution: The Del Medio debris-flow fan, NW Argentina”
2013-2015
Collaboration with W. Rahaman (A. v. Humboldt Fellowship), National Centre for Antarctic & Ocean Research, Goa, India: “Sediment fluxes in the Ganga basin derived from meteoric cosmogenic nuclides”
2012-2015
Co-PI of EU-funded “CLIMAMAZON” (http://www.clim-amazon.eu/) project, Joint Brazilian-European research facility for climate and geodynamic research on the Amazon River basin sediments
2013-2014
DFG short proposal “Meteoric 10Be as a tracer of terrestrial denudation in marine sediments: A feasibility study” (WI 3874/2-1)
2013-2014
DFG short proposal “Patterns of erosion in the Western Alps and quantification of sediment reworking in the associated Po River foreland basin” (WI 3874/3-1)
2012-2016
DFG proposal “Sediment production in large river basins throughout the Quaternary” (WI 3874/1-1)
Research Boards and Committees:
- Reviewer for EPSL, GCA, Quaternary Geochronology, etc. and also NSF, SNF and DFG
- since 2019: Associate Editor for journal "Geochronology" (EGU open access)
- since 2024: Associate Editor for journal "Global and Earth Surface Processes Change" (Elsevier)
Awards:
- 2013 Viktor-Moritz-Goldschmidt Price of the German Mineralogical Society
- 2014 Award for "Excellence in Reviewing" for the Journal of "Quaternary Geochronology"
- 2015 Award for "Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing" for the Journal "Earth and Planetary Science Letters"