Bündel-Antrag Ohrid-See: Evolutionary, geological, and environmental history of Lake Ohrid (EGEL)

Lake Ohrid is a large (360 km2) and deep (289 m) lake of tectonic origin and is shared between the Republics of Macedonia and Albania. Biological and biogeographical studies of the lake revealed an outstanding degree of endemism and suggest a Pliocene origin of Lake Ohrid, making the lake the oldest one in Europe. The high age and the high degree of endemism make Lake Ohrid a first class site to investigate the link between geological and biological evolution in ancient lakes. Given its importance as refugium and spreading centre, the lake was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1979, and included as a target site of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) already in 1993. The political situation in the Balkan in the mid 1990ies, however, hampered further establishment of Lake Ohrid as potential ICDP site. This proposal bundle seeks funds for the detection of the timing of major evolutionary events, the investigation of the origin, the sedimentological inventory, neotectonic movements, and the paleoecology and paleolimnology of Lake Ohrid in order to develop a full ICDP proposal for deep drilling. Within the scope of this cover proposal funds for the coordination of the single proposals, for scientific exchange between the single bundle proponents, and for the data management are applied for.

DFG Programme Infrastructure Priority Programmes

Subproject of SPP 1006:  International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP)