Physical Laboratory

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In the Physical Laboratory, experiments are performed to study mainly the interactions of sediment and water, but also measure rheological properties of sediment and prepare samples for further analysis in the other labs. In detail, the following research topics are addressed: transport and transformation of organic matter through river transport, erodibility and erosivity in fluvial bedrock erosion, interactions of chemical and physical processes in rivers, and shear force of fungal mycelium.

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Selected infrastructures

Instrumentation

Laboratory instrumentation

Instruments

  • Abrasion Mills

    Similar to annular flumes, abrasion mills are used to study fluvial sediment transport. However, the main focus of this design is the interaction between the transported material and the stream bed, and therefore abrasion mills are more suitable to measure the erodibility of bedrock. The abrasion mills were designed and built directly at GFZ.

  • Flumes

    The Physical Laboratory houses eight annular (ring-shaped) flumes which are currently being used to investigate organic carbon oxidation and silicate weathering in river systems. The flumes are also well suited for fluvial sediment transport and abrasion studies and are available to use for interested scientists. The flumes were designed and built directly at GFZ.

  • Shear Test Apparatus

    A shear apparatus was designed and built to test the breaking strength of soil material. The test device can pull apart a test sample with a force that can be adjusted very precisely using a pneumatic cylinder, thereby measuring its breaking strength. A system of sealable beakers is currently available as test containers, into which two parallel stainless steel wire grids are inserted into a holder beforehand. The beakers were specially developed to investigate the influence of fungal mycelium on soil strength. Loose substrate can be filled in, sterilised and inoculated with the desired mycelium. Once the fungus has grown through the mycelium, the two stainless steel wire meshes lying on top of each other are sheared against each other during the measurement and the breaking force of the substrate is determined.

  • Tailor-Made Stream Tables