Using algorithms to better understand the history of the earth
FAU student develops a new method to reconstruct ecosystems millions of years old
Niklas Hohmann, a master’s student in geosciences at FAU, has developed a new algorithm to better reconstruct the succession of ecosystems through Earth’s history. He presents the results in the journal Palaios.
Geologists are able to read rock layers like a book and use them to reconstruct the course of Earth’s history. Important clues in this regard are provided by the type and number of living creatures contained as fossils in the rock strata. However, there is one major problem: The time contained in such rock packages is not always easy to determine without doubt. A few centimeters of sediment could have been deposited in a few hundred years, but also within millions of years. Continue reading…