Limnogeology Summer School: Environmental Change, Natural Hazards and Human Impact in Central Switzerland
This ENLIGHT course will foster the cooperation and mobility of master students through enhancing their awareness of the geological and environmental sciences in the context of ongoing climate and environmental change. Participants get important knowledge and basics how to do environmental reconstructions using geophysical, sedimentological, palynological and other methods. This will be essential for students who want to do their qualification thesis in environmental sciences in the University or do future work in projects paleoenvironmental sciences. The lecture staff will be comprised of senior and junior scientists from all three Universities (Universities of Bern, Ghent and Göttingen).
Students participating in this summer school investigate how sediments store past environmental conditions, including climate change, human impact and natural hazards (earthquakes, rockslides, tsunamis) and how they can be recognized. Using Lake Lucerne as a model basin, the studied lake sediments serve as a base to reconstruct all these past changes to better understand ongoing and future developments. The available infrastructure consists of boats with survey and coring equipment, as well as laboratory infrastructure, providing the base to work in a spectacular setting at the edge of the Alps. Emphasis is given on the modern depositional processes that are essential in interpreting the fossil geologic record of lakes and marine environments.
The key goal is to investigate the record of a sedimentary basin by linking the catchment (source) to the deep-water sink, fostering a holistic understanding of environmental processes on various temporal and spatial scales, all under the influence of increasing anthropogenic pressure.
About the course
Content
The course will enable participants to develop specific skills related to geophysical, sedimentological and palynological data interpretation and soft skills related to the planning of field research and research project organization. The teaching staff will provide a general introduction into Lake Lucerne and on relevant limnogeological research topics and methods, related to the expertise of the staff from the three co-organizing institutions. Furthermore, the students will work in small groups, advised by the teaching staff, on their own projects that they will present to the plenum at the end of the course. Team work will comprise organization of research task distribution among team members, as well as planning and conducting geophysical surveys, coring-site selection, coring at the selected site, and analysis of the seismic data and sediment cores within the specified timeframe. This will require a strategy assessment to optimize scheduling of the different tasks within the available time window to optimally address the research questions to be answered.
Learning outcomes
- Recognizing the potential of lake-sediment sequences as archives of environmental change.
- Learning to plan field and laboratory work based on the research question, timing and available resources
- Learning about the application of geophysical exploration methods to characterize the sedimentation systems in lacustrine basins.
- Learning sediment-core analysis and their paleoenvironmental interpretation.
- Learning basic morphological characteristics to describe and identify important pollen, spore and other palynomorph taxa using processed sediment samples and reference collections.
- Learning how palynological proxies together with other proxies (multi-proxy approach) can be used for vegetation and environmental reconstruction.
- Learning to disentangle 'natural' climate, tectonic and other environmental influences from human-induced changes.
- Presenting the gained knowledge from their independent projects to the audience and discussing the results in an international context.
Programme
The five-day course emphasizes "hands-on" experiences and will comprise fieldwork on the lake, laboratory analysis, and excursions in the catchment. Students will work in groups and eventually present their results in seminars. A half-day preparatory Zoom session will introduce the staff members and the logistic and scientific back bones (study site, first introduction to the methods that will be applied in the field) to prepare the students for the course.
The course will take place in the field station the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (eawag.ch) strategically located in Kastanienbaum on the shores of Lake Lucerne in Central Switzerland, where also housing is available. During the field course, using various research boats, we will employ geophysical methods (seismic reflection survey) that provide the critical data to investigate the basin infill formed since the last glaciation. We then will collect sediment cores at various locations that will be analyzed using multiple sedimentological techniques in the laboratory. The choice of the location of seismic reflection profile and sediment coring will be proposed by the students depending on their research question. Multiple proxies (composition, sediment structures, biological remains, etc.) will be studied so that the sediment-based environmental history can be reconstructed.
Assessment
Grading system: We will apply a numeric grading system according to the scheme of the respective home university
Assessment method(s): A group report and presentation will be graded.
Lecturers
University of Bern:
- Prof. Flavio Anselmetti
- Prof. Katrina Kremer
- Prof. Hendrik Vogel
- Dr. Michael Strupler
Ghent University:
- Prof. Maarten Van Daele
- Kimberly Demeestere
University of Göttingen:
- Prof. Hermann Behling
- Dr. Lyudmila.Shumilovskikh
- Dr. Lisa Feist
Course dates
On-site: August 31 to September 4, 2026 in Kastanienbaum (Lake Lucerne), Switzerland.
Online: August 24th, 14h15-17h00 (CEST)
How to apply?
Entry requirements: enrollment in a master program in geo-, bio- or environmental sciences and/or a completed bachelor degree in one of these fields and/or highly interested in paleosciences through investigation of a lacustrine sedimentary basin with limnogeologic methods.
Students from the three organizing ENLIGHT partner universities (Bern, Ghent, Göttingen) are eligible to participate. Students will be selected at each of these universities separately.
Master students interested in the course need to apply via their home university. They should contact their faculty or programme coordinator to verify whether it can fit in their curriculum and to ensure academic recognition of the credits obtained. The home university will select the permitted number of students, inform the students as soon as possible, and then send these names to the host institution. Unsuccessful students will be placed on a waiting list and may get a place, if other universities do not use all their allocated places.
Grants: Visiting students will be eligible for a SEMP mobility grant paid by the University of Bern. Find more information here. Please check with your local mobility coordinator whether you are also eligible for an E+ grant, provided by your home university.
Travel: Visiting students will be responsible for making their own travel arrangements to Switzerland.
Fees (Accommodation & meals at research station): As the research station at Lake Lucerne is in a remote location, accommodation and meals at the station will be organised centrally for all participants. The package (accommodation and meals) costs CHF 400 per student. We therefore strongly recommend using the SEMP mobility grant from the University of Bern to cover these costs. All other course-related costs (research facilities, boats, equipment, excursions, etc.) will be covered by the organisers.
Please select your home university below and contact your ENLIGHT coordinator for further information on the application process or consult the linked information.
- University of Bern: Register via UniBE local teaching system (KSL). Root/course number: TBC. For info:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Ghent University:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (see information about BIP's) - University of Göttingen:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (for BIP’s)
Contact
Prof. Flavio Anselmetti, Inst. of Geological Sciences, Univ. of Bern