Seabed samples from the North Sea to be used in research and teaching

For many years, researchers from the SeisLab group at the Department of Geoscieence have worked closely with the offshore wind industry on sharing data for research, teaching and student projects.

The collaboration has recently given the researchers access to unique core material from one of Energinet’s major offshore wind areas in the North Sea.

The cores are up to 70 metres long and contain sediments from the Holocene, Weichselian, Eemian and Saalian periods. This gives researchers and students an opportunity to investigate and learn more about the geological development of the North Sea during the latter part of the Quaternary Period.

The material may provide new insights into the environment, geology and former landscapes of the North Sea. This includes Doggerland, the former land area between Jutland and England where Stone Age people lived before the area was submerged.

At the Department of Geoscicence, Professor Katrine Juul Andresen is already working with data from the surveys together with two PhD students, a postdoc and several Master’s and Bachelor's students. She expects more students to work with the material in the coming years. 

This is a good example of how collaboration between universities and industry can strengthen research, teaching and talent development while ensuring that existing data and samples are used to generate new knowledge.