Laboratories and testing facilities

The Department of Geography has various laboratories and testing facilities that are used for research and teaching. The laboratories are located in the department’s basement, while other testing facilities such as the laboratory flume, a weather station and a hydrological measuring weir are based at the Frankenforst research site.

Laboratories

Analyses for research projects or (doctoral) theses in the fields of soil physics, soil chemistry and water chemistry are conducted in the Department of Geography’s laboratories. Besides its main chemistry laboratory, the department also has a laboratory for soil physics as well as other laboratories used by the various working groups.

Students can familiarize themselves with a variety of laboratory methods in methodological and project seminars and analyze water, soil and sediment samples independently. The laboratories can also be used to process samples for bachelor’s or master’s theses.

A student in lab clothes stands in the lab and conducts an experiment

Frankenforst research site

Since 1999 the Frankenforst agricultural teaching and research site is used for research and teaching conducted by the Department of Geography. Various hydrological and climatological measuring stations have been set up for teaching and research purposes. Also open-profile pits for soil analysis can be found there. The Frankenforst research site situated on the right bank of the Rhine, around 10 km south-east of Bonn.

More information and measurement data (in German only)

Departmental weather station

The departmental weather station is mainly used for teaching purposes and measures various climate parameters such as temperature, humidity, precipitation, sunlight and wind direction/speed. Soil sensors are also installed to record the temperature and moisture content of the soil.

More information and measurement data (in German only)