Contact

Universität Potsdam
Institut für Geowissenschaften
Haus 27, Zi. 1.38
Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24
14476 Golm

Email: trauth 'at' geo.uni-potsdam.de
Tel.: +49 331 977 5810
Fax: +49 331 977 5700

Education and Professional Experience

since 2008 – Chief Series Editor Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences (Springer)
since 2008 – Member of the Steering Committee of the MSc Program Evolution Across Scales
since 2007 – Deputy representative of the DFG Graduateschool GRK 1364
since 2003 – Privatdozent (associate professor equivalent) at the University of Potsdam
2003 – Dr. rer. nat. habil. in Geosciences
since 1995 – Research Scientist and Lecturer at the University of Potsdam
1995 – Dr. rer. nat. in Geology, University of Kiel
1992 - 1995 – DFG Stipend, University of Kiel, Graduate School
1992 – Diploma in Geology, University of Karlsruhe
1984 - 1992 – University of Karlsruhe: Geophysics and Geology

Research Interests

My research is on terrestrial paleoclimatology and paleoecology in tectonically active regions, in particular in the area of climatically controlled environmental changes during the past five million years. The methods employed include all kinds of environmental reconstructions from lake sediments and modelling techniques to link environmental changes to climate fluctuations. The studied time scales range from a few million years to ENSO-related annual variations in precipitation (e.g., Trauth et al., EPSL, 2000; Trauth et al., Geology 2001; Trauth et al., EPSL 2003). A second aspect of my research is the influence of environmental changes on the biosphere. In this context, I work on the impact of climate change on human evolution (time scales of 10^7 to 10^6 years) (e.g. Trauth et al., Science 2005; Trauth et al., J Human Evolution 2007; Trauth et al., QSR 2009), the availability and quality of water resources (time scales of 10^6 to 10^2 years) (e.g., Trauth et al., EPSL 2003) and climatically-induced landslides, erosion processes and floods (time scales of 10^4 to 10^0 years) (e.g., Trauth et al., EPSL 2000; Trauth et al., J Sed Res 2003). A third aspect of my research is the reliability of climate proxies and the development of new statistical tools for environmental reconstructions (e.g. Trauth et al., Paleoceanography 1998; Trauth, Math Geol 1998; Trauth, Comp Geosci 1998; Trauth, MATLAB Recipes for Earth Sciences, 2nd Edition, Springer 2007; Trauth et al., QSR 2009). Current larger projects are the DFG-funded Suguta Valley Project on Tectonics, Climate and Human Evolution, the DFG-funded Graduateschool on African and Asian Tectonics, Climate and Evolution and the Volkswagen Foundation-funded Masters Program Evolution Across Scales. I am also involved in an ICDP and an IODP initiatives. For information about past projects in South America and East Africa please send me an email.

Teaching

Introductory lab study of rocks and minerals (winter semester), Historical geology exercises (summer semester), Field course paleontology and stratigraphy of Oeland (Sweden) (summer semester), Field course on the geology of the Dresden area (summer semester), Computer Applications in Geosciences (summer semester), Mathematical Geology (Part I in winter semester and part II in summer semester), Field course tectonics and sedimentation of Southwest Germany (summer semester), Field course Central Kenya Rift (summer semester), Various seminars on paleoclimatogy and earth-surface processes (summer and winter semester), Signal processing for paleoceanographers (at Bremen and Kiel Universities). Shortcourses on MATLAB Recipes for Earth Sciences – past shortcourses at U Kiel, U Bremen, U Bratislava, U Ghent, UA Barcelona, BGR Hannover, UC London, U Munich, BGI Bayreuth, U Nairobi, and U Potsdam.

Books

Trauth, M.H. (June 2007): MATLAB Recipes for Earth Sciences – Second Edition. Springer, 288 p., 95 Figures and a CD-ROM, Hardcover, ISBN: 978-3-540-72748-4 (Link) (Errata File)

Schlüter, T., with contributions by Trauth, M.H. (May 2008): Geological Atlas of Africa – Second Edition. With Notes on Stratigraphy, Tectonics, Economic Geology, Geohazards and Geosites of Each Country. Springer, 307 p., 249 illus., Hardcover, ISBN: 978-3-540-76324-6 (Link)

Selected Publications

Wichura, H., Bousquet, R., Oberhänsli, R., Strecker, M.R., Trauth, M.H. (2010): Evidence for Mid-Miocene uplift of the East African Plateau. Geology, in press.

Epp, L., Stoof, K.R., Trauth, M.H., Tiedemann, R (2010): Historical genetics on sediment core from Kenyan lake sediments: Intraspecific genotype turnover in a tropical rotifer is related to past environmental changes. Journal of Paleolimnology, in press.

Bergner, A.G.N., Strecker, M.R., Trauth, M.H., Deino, A., Gasse, F., Blisniuk, P., Dühnforth, M. (2009): Tectonic versus climate influences on the evolution of the lakes in the Central Kenya Rift. Quaternary Science Reviews, 28, 2804-2816.

Trauth, M.H., Maslin, M.A. (2009): Comments on "Diatomaceous sediments and environmental change in the Pleistocene Olorgesailie Formation, southern Kenya Rift" by R. Bernhart Owen, Richard Potts, Anna K. Behrensmeyer and Peter Ditchfield. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 282, 145-146.

Maslin, M.A., M.H. Trauth (2009): Plio-Pleistocene East African Pulsed Climate Variability and its influence on early human evolution, in "The First Humans - Origins of the Genus Homo" (editors F. E. Grine, R. E. Leakey and J. G. Fleagle), Springer Verlag, Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series, 151-158.

Trauth, M.H., Larrasoaña, J.C., Mudelsee, M. (2009): Trends, rhythms and events in Plio-Pleistocene African climate. Quaternary Science Reviews, 28, 399-411.

Garcin, Y., Junginger, A., Melnick, D., Olago, D.O., Strecker, M.R., Trauth, M.H. (2009): Late Pleistocene-Holocene rise and collapse of the Lake Suguta, northern Kenya Rift. Quaternary Science Reviews, 28, 911-925.

Trauth, M.H., Maslin, M.A., Deino, A., Strecker, M.R., Bergner, A.G.N., Dühnforth, M. (2007): High- and low-latitude forcing of Plio-Pleistocene African climate and human evolution. Journal of Human Evolution, 53, 475-486.

Strecker, M.R., Alonso, R.N, Bookhagen, B., Carrapa, B., Hilley, G.E., Sobel, E.R., Trauth, M.H. (2007): Tectonics and Climate of the Southern Central Andes, Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 35, 747-787.

Dühnforth, M., Bergner, A.G.N., Trauth, M.H. (2006): The hydrological budget of the Nakuru-Elmenteita basin, Central Kenya Rift, during the Early Holocene wet period. Journal of Paleolimnology, 36, 281-294.

Alonso, R.N., Bookhagen, B., Carrapa, B., Coutand, I., Haschke, M., Hilley, G.E., Schoenbohm, L., Sobel, E.R., Strecker, M.R., Trauth, M.H., Villanueva, A. (2006): Tectonics, Climate, and Landscape Evolution of the Southern Central Andes: the Argentine Puna Plateau and Adjacent Regions between 22 and 30°S. In: Oncken et al. (Eds.) The Andes - Active Subduction Orogeny, Frontiers in Earth Sciences, Springer, Heidelberg, 265-283.

Trauth, M.H., Maslin, M.A., Deino, A., Strecker, M.R. (2005): Late Cenozoic Moisture History of East Africa. Science, 309, 2051-2053.

Bergner, A.G.N., Trauth, M.H. (2004): Comparison of the hydrologic and hydrochemical evolution of Lake Naivasha (Kenya) during three highstands between 175 and 60 kyr BP. - Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology,  215 (1-2), 17-36.

Marwan, N., Trauth, M.H., Vuille, M., Kurths, J. (2003): Nonlinear time-series analysis on present-day and Pleistocene precipitation data from the NW Argentine Andes.- Climate Dynamics, 21, 317-326.

Trauth, M.H., Bookhagen, B., Marwan, N., Strecker, M.R. (2003): Multiple landslide clusters record Quaternary climate changes in the NW Argentine Andes.- Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 194, 109-121.

Trauth, M.H., Deino, A., Bergner, A.G.N., Strecker, M.R. (2003): East African climate change and orbital forcing during the last 175 kyr BP. - Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 206, 297-313.

Trauth, M.H., Bookhagen, B., Mueller, A., Strecker, M.R. (2003): Erosion and climate change in the Santa Maria Basin, NW Argentina during the last 40,000 yrs.- Journal of Sedimentary Research, 73 (1), 82-90.

Bergner, A.G.N., Trauth, M.H., Bookhagen, B. (2003): Magnitude of precipitation / evaporation changes in the Naivasha Basin (Kenya) during the last 150 kyrs.- Global and Planetary Change, 36/1-2, 117-135.

Trauth, M.H., Deino, A., Strecker, M.R. (2001): Response of the East African climate to orbital forcing during the Last Interglacial (130-117 kyr BP) and the early Last Glacial (117-60 kyr BP).- Geology, 29 (6), 499-502.

Weinelt, M., Kuhnt, W., Sarnthein, M., Altenbach, A. V., Costello, O., Erlenkeuser, H., Mathiessen, J., Pflaumann, U., Simstich, J., Struck, U., Thies, A., Trauth, M.H., and E. Vogelsang, (2001): Paleoceanographic proxies in the Northern North Atlantic. In: P. Schäfer, W. Ritzau, M. Schlüter, and J. Thiede (eds.) The northern North Atlantic: A changing environment, Springer Verlag, 319-352.

Bookhagen, B., Haselton, K.R., Trauth, M.H. (2001): Hydrological modelling of a Pleistocene landslide-dammed lake in the Santa Maria Basin, NW Argentina.- Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 169, 113-127.

Trauth, M.H., Alonso, R.A., Haselton, K.R., Hermanns, R.L., Strecker, M.R. (2000): Climate change and mass movements in the northwest Argentine Andes.- Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 179/2, 243-256.

Hermanns, R, Trauth, M.H., Michael McWilliams, Strecker, M.R. (2000): Tephrochronologic constraints on temporal distribution of large landslides in NW-Argentina.- Journal of Geology, 108, 35-52.

Altenbach, A.V., Pflaumann, U., Schiebel, R., Thies, A., Timm, M. and Trauth M. (1999): Scaling percentages of benthic foraminifera with flux rates of organic carbon.- Journal of Foraminiferal Research, vol. 29(3): 173-185.

Trauth, M.H., Strecker, M.R., (1999), Formation of landslide-dammed lakes during a wet period between 40,000 - 25,000 yr B.P. in northwestern Argentina.- Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 153/1-4, 277-287.

Trauth, M.H. (1998): Noise removal from duplicate paleoceanographic time-series: The use of adaptive filtering techniques.- Mathematical Geology, 30(5), 557-574.

Trauth, M.H. (1998): TURBO: a dynamic-probabilistic simulation to study the effects of bioturbation on paleoceanographic time series.- Computers and Geosciences, 24(5), 433-441.

Trauth, M.H., Sarnthein, M., Arnold, M. (1997): Bioturbational mixing depth and carbon flux at the seafloor.- Paleoceanography, 12, 517-526.

Trauth, M.H., Strecker, M.R. (1996): Late Pleistocene Lake-Level Fluctuations in the Naivasha Basin, Kenya. In: Johnson, T.C., Odada, E. (ed.): The Limnology, Climatology and Paleoclimatology of the East African Lakes, The International Decade for the East African Lakes (IDEAL), 549-557.