Recent Projects


Cyclostratigraphy and the astronomical time scale for the Tethyan Campanian (Late Cretaceous)

The proposed project addresses cyclostratigraphy and a floating astronomical time scale for the Campanian stage, based on four continuous cyclic limestone-marl records in the Tethys, i.e. two sections in Austria and two sections in Turkey.

Regional Tectonics, Sedimentation and Chronology of the Molasse Basin in Eastern Austria (OMV Molasse Project)

The Molasse project focuses on Lower Miocene reservoir sands in the eastern Molasse Basin of Lower Austria: the Eggenburgian sands (Eggenburg Group; Eggenburgian stage, Early Miocene) and the Oncophora beds (Traisen Formation, late Ottnangian, Early Miocene).
Integrated methods will be used including sedimentology, stratigraphy, sedimentary petrology, seismic interpretation and structural geology.


UNESCO/IUGS IGCP 609 - Project on sea-level changes in a greenhouse climate

The International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) of UNESCO and IUGS (International Union of Geosciences) funded the five year project IGCP609 on "Climate-environmental deteriorations during greenhouse phases: Causes and consequences of short-term Cretaceous sea-level changes".

UNESCO/IUGS IGCP 661 – Fossil Blue Holes, the karst critical zone, and Greenhouse Palaeoclimate

This project is part of the International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) of UNESCO and IUGS (International Union of Geosciences), framework project IGCP661 "Global comparative research on structure, substance cycle and environment sustainability of the critical zone in karst systems". The theme of the Austrian sub-project is on “Evolution of fossil blue hole limestones and the critical zone in a greenhouse world”, funded by International research programs of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Middle Triassic Carbonate reservoir rocks [Mid-Triassic Project] (cooperation with OMV)

This project, funded by OMV E & P, investigates Middle Triassic carbonates at the eastern margin of the Northern calcareous Alps and the subcrop of the Vienna Basin (Austria). The project aims at stratigraphy and structures of the Northern Calcareous Alps in the light of platform-to-basin facies models and new ideas on pervasive salt tectonism. Mag. Michael Moser works especially on a structural transect at the easternmost outcrop analogues to buried structural reservoirs.

Detrital Composition of Siliciclastics (cooperation with OMV)

The aim of the project, funded by OMV E & P, is to analyze the stratigraphic and spatial changes in mineralogical composition of (reservoir) sandstones and seal rocks like shales and marlstones in sedimentary basins. The project aims at integrated provenance studies including a data base and evaluation of various factors influencing the composition of clastic rocks such as surface and subsurface processes. Special emphasis is on the influence of climate on weathering of rocks, clay mineral formation and evolution, and diagenetic processes.