Professor for Water and Soil Resource Research
The working group is dedicated to a holistic view upon interactions between land use, land management, water and soil resources. Therefore, interdisciplinary research at the intersection between hydrology, soil science, geomorphology, agronomy and biogeochemistry is essential, and is the focus of the working group members.
Special interests within the working group are:
- Surface runoff and soil redistribution as affected by landscape patchiness and connectivity.
- Modelling soil redistribution with conceptual, physically-oriented and data-driven, machine learning approaches
- Sediment-burden carbon redistribution and its effects upon terrestrial and aquatic carbon balance.
- Macro and Microplastic in agricultural soil systems (coordinating the EU Innovative Training Network SOPLAS)
- Sustainable management of water and soil resources.
- Land use and land management interactions with regional climate
We use and refine a wide range of conceptual, physically oriented and date-driven, machine learning models to analyse different aspects of water, sediment, carbon and microplastic fluxes on various spatial and temporal scales. Moreover, field as well as laboratory measurements are carried out to improve process understanding, which range from sediment, carbon and microplastic analyses to continuous monitoring in small catchments.
Apart from research in Central Europe, the working group is active in the tropical South of India as well as in Central and Western Africa. The research group is part of the faculty of Applied Informatics of University Augsburg and is also involved into the activities of the Environmental Science Centre (WZU) and the Centre for Climate Resilience (ZfK).
Overview
News
New Publication
Spatiotemporal variations in aeolian sediment source fingerprinting using geochemical tracers and a Bayesian mixing model.
Aeolian Research, 74, 101008.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeolia.2025.101008
Successful Defense of Cordula Witzig
Dr. Cordula Witzig passed her PhD defense ("Temporal Variability of Microplastic Concentration and Composition in Streams and Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluents: Mitigation of Cross-Contamination, Long-Term Mixed Sampling, and Representativeness Assessment") in cooperation between Soil and Water Resource Research and Technologiezentrum Wasser Karlsruhe. We wish her all the best for the future.
Farmers’ Association Visits Institute to Discuss Plastic Use in Agriculture
We were pleased to welcome members of the Württemberg-Franconian Turkey Producers Association to the Institute of Geography for a constructive discussion on plastic contamination in agricultural soil systems.
Contact
Professor
Water and Soil Resource Research
Phone: +49 821 598 2665
Email: peter.fiener@geo.uni-augsburg.de
Secretary
Physical Geography and Climate Science
Phone: +49 821 598 2670
Email: sekretariat-phygeo@geo.uni-augsburg.de
General Contact:
Address
Arbeitsgruppe Wasser- und Bodenressourcen Forschung
Institut für Geographie
Universität Augsburg
Alter Postweg 118
86159 Augsburg
Phone (Secretary): +49 821 598 2670
E-Mail (Secretary): sekretariat-phygeo@geo.uni-augsburg.de
Building B
Institute of Geography