Eric Runge

• Dr. rer. nat
• Postdoctoral researcher at Linnaeus University

Biogenic magnetite is a potential biosignature for microbial iron cycling in hydrothermal sulfide systems, critical environments for unraveling the emergence and early evolution of life. However, the preservation potential of biogenic magnetite under hydrothermal conditions is poorly understood. Here, we show that the hydrothermal sulfidation of ab...

Pyrite (FeS 2 ) is a mineral of wide interest due to its importance in the biogeochemical cycling of Fe and S, which is tied to those of carbon and other trace metals and nutrients. The mineral itself has potential applications as biosignatures, for environmental remediation and as semiconductors. Despite being a common authigenic mineral in sedime...

The Río Tinto system located in southern Spain is a 100-km long acidic (pH ≈ 2.3) river rich in dissolved iron, sulfate and heavy metals. The red-tinted river, formed as a product of natural acid rock drainage that has been exacerbated over the years by anthropogenic mining activities, hosts a variety of extremophilic microorganisms that are potent...

Nano-magnetite is a potential archive for biosignatures and paleoenvironmental proxies in hydrothermal systems. However, sulfidic diagenesis at hydrothermal conditions potentially drives the rapid transformation of magnetite to Fe sulfide minerals. The identity and characteristics of transformation products from these reactions are crucial for inte...

The morphology of pyrite has been used to infer ancient redox states and biogenicity. However, the influence of trace metals on pyrite morphology is poorly understood. Through batch synthesis experiments, we demonstrate that bioessential trace metals (Co, Cu, Mo, Ni, Zn) accelerate pyrite formation. The first precipitate, FeS(am), transformed to an...

Microbially mediated iron and sulfur cycling have impacted redox transitions and the bioavailability of nutrients throughout Earth’s history. Here, we incubated Geobacter sulfurreducens in the co-presence of ferrihydrite and S0 at pH 6.5, 7.2 or 8.0. Microbial reduction of Fe(III) and S0 resulted in a shift from ferruginous (Fe2+-rich) to sulfidic...

Deep- sea hydrothermal systems provide ideal conditions for prebiotic reactions and an-cient metabolic pathways and, therefore, might have played a pivotal role in the emer-gence of life. To understand this role better, it is paramount to examine fundamental interactions between hydrothermal processes, non- living matter, and microbial life in deep...

Hydrothermal sulfide systems are among the most ancient habitats on Earth and are widely considered potential sites for the emergence of life. Deposits from such settings are thus of great evolutionary significance, but the geobiology of our planet’s most ancient hydrothermal sulfide systems remains largely unexplored. This is mainly due to a limit...

Dynamic sedimentary processes are a key parameter for establishing the habitability of planetary surface environments on Earth and beyond and thus critical for reconstructing the early evolution of life on our planet. This paper presents a sedimentary section from the ca 3.48 Ga Dresser Formation (Pilbara Craton, Western Australia) that contains hi...

Well preserved early Archean sedimentary successions are rare and usually consist of chemical sediments (e.g. cherts) and few volcanoclastic rocks. Furthermore, reworked Archean material is extremely scarce due to only small continental islands and weakly developed shelf areas. However, a 5 – 6 m thick and c. 100 m long channel fill within the 3.5...

This thesis aims to characterize the mechanisms of sediment supply and the evolution of the depositional environment in Lake Kuhai on the north-eastern Tibetan Plateau. Based on radiocarbon dating and grain-size analysis of a core from the centre of the lake, three relevant process groups could be identified that can be characterized related to the...

In aktuellen LiDAR-Daten Brandenburgs finden sich mancherorts gebogene, linienhafte Formen, deren Genese in der Literatur bisher nur unzureichend belegt ist. Exemplarisch an den Formen nordöstlich von Groß Schönebeck (Schorfheide) werden verschiedene Erklärungsansätze diskutiert. Die laufenden Arbeiten wurden studentisch initiiert und sind zunächst...