Renard Centre of Marine Geology (RCMG)

Scientists of the Renard Centre of Marine Geology (RCMG) conduct fundamental and applied geological and geophysical research in lakes, fjords, seas and oceans. A strong asset of RCMG is its field-based approach; RCMG scientists and technicians routinely go on the field themselves to collect their research data… these usually consist of various types of geophysical data, combined with sediment samples.

Field-based research requires good equipment and infrastructure… RCMG has a wide range of state-of-the-art marine geophysical equipment (a.o. high-resolution reflection seismics, side-scan sonar, multibeam echosounder) and sampling tools (a.o. coring platform for deep lakes, gravity corer, piston corer).
In addition, in recent years significant investments were made for the construction of a sedimentological lab, equipped with modern infrastructure for geophysical, sedimentological and geochemical analysis of cores and sediment samples.
RCMG also has close collaborations with the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) for additional logistic support in terms of marine robotics.

Research at RCMG focuses on a series of major topics:

• Paleoceanography: reconstruction of the dynamics of large ocean bottom current from the analysis of contourite deposits and cold-water coral mounds;
• Paleoclimatology: reconstruction of climate evolution from the analysis of sediments in lakes and fjords (e.g. in Chile, Alaska, Japan, Africa);
• Geohazards: earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, underwater landslides, floods,… from the analysis of sediments in lakes and fjords (e.g. in Chile, Alaska, Japan, Indonesia, Africa, Turkey, Nepal);
• Marine geoarcheology: reconstruction of the geological history of the southern North Sea during the Quaternary and the related development of the paleolandscape;
• Natural marine resources: study of natural sand and gravel volumes and manganese nodules in order to contribute to a more sustainable use of these natural marine resources;
• Gas hydrates and gas seeps: fundamental research of the occurrence of gas hydrates along continental margins and in large lakes.