GEOMAR  Sander, Sylvia

Prof. Dr. Sylvia G. Sander

Professor (Topic 8)
RD4 Dynamics of the Ocean Floor
RU Magmatic and Hydrothermal Systems –
Marine Mineral Resources (MMR)

Office:
Room: 8/A-114
Fon: +49 431 600-1420
E-Mail: ssander(at)geomar.de

Address:
Wischhofstrasse 1-3
D-24148 Kiel

Education and Career

  • since September 2021 Helmholtz Distinguished Professor for Marine Mineral Resources GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
  • August 2017-2021 Section Head/Laboratory Head Marine Environmental Studies Laboratory IAEA/Monaco
  • since February 2018 Honorary Research Associate Professor University Otago/New Zealand
  • 2014-2017 Research Associate Professor University Otago/New Zealand
  • 2013-2017 Director of the National Institute of Water and Atmosphere (NIWA)/University of Otago Research Centre for Oceanography
  • 2001-2014 Research Fellow University Otago/New Zealand
  • 1999-2001 Metrohm Autolab formerly EcoChemie BV, Netherlands (Management team, R&D, project management, global marketing)
  • 1997-1999 Research Fellow Technical University Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany
  • 1995-1997 Research Fellow University Trier, Germany
  • 1995 PhD Technical University Kaiserslautern, Germany
  • 1992 Diploma Chemistry Technical University Kaiserslautern, Germany

Interest/Research Expertise

Hydrothermal biogeochemistry, Trace metal speciation, Marine biogeochemical cycle of iron, Anthropogenic contamination of coastal and estuarine areas.

Professional distinctions and memberships

  • 2025 - present Editor-in-Chief Science of the Springer-Nature BMC (BioMed Central) open access journal "Clean Oceans"
  • 2023 - present Chair European Marine Board Working Group Deep Sea and Ocean Health
  • 2023 - present Topic 8 Deputy-Speaker POF IV
  • 2022 - present Chair Marine Science Section Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU)
  • 2022 - present Chair Integrative Research Focus on Metals in the Ocean
  • 2021 - present Member GESAMP WG 45 Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Related Impacts on Contaminants in the Ocean
  • 2023-2024 Member Joint Committee on the Properties of Seawater (JCS) Taskgroup on Chemical Speciation of Seawater
  • 2021 Joint appointment as Helmholtz Distinguished Professor by GEOMAR and CAU Kiel
  • 2019 Appointed member of GEOTRACES review panel
  • 2018 Co-chair: 2018 Gordon Research Conference on Ocean Biogeochemistry in Hong-Kong
  • 2017 Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry (FNZIC)
  • 2016 Fellow Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Institute for Advanced Study, Germany
  • 2016 Keynote Goldschmidt conference 2016, Yokohama, Japan
  • 2016 Co-vice chair: 2016 Gordon Research Conference on Ocean Biogeochemistry in Hong-Kong
  • 2015 Appointment  as guest editor of Frontiers in Marine Science Research Topic
  • 2014-2020 Vice-chair SCOR WG 145 ‘MARCHEMSPEC : Chemical Speciation Modelling in Seawater to Meet 21st Century Needs’
  • 2013 Keynote ASLO conference New Orleans, USA
  • 2012 Joint recipient of the inaugural University of Otago Research Team Award
  • 2012-2015 Co-chair SCOR working group 139 ‘Organic Ligands – A Key control on Trace Metal Biogeochemistry in the Ocean’
  • 2011 Member SCOR WG 135 ‘Hydrothermal Energy Transfer and its Impact on the Ocean Carbon Cycles’
  • 2011 Joint recipient of The New Zealand Prime Minister’s Science Prize
  • 1996 Award of the “Fond der Chemische Industrie” for excellence during study
  • 1992-1995 PhD Scholarship E. Merck Foundation

Associate Editor Elsevier Journal: Marine Chemistry (2015-2018)

Guest Editor:

  • Marine Chemistry Special Issue on 'Organic Ligands’ (2014-2015).
  • Frontiers Marine Biogeochemistry Special Issue on 'Organic Ligands' (2015-2017)

Reviewer for journals including Nature Geoscience, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Environmental Science & Technology, Limnology & Oceanography, Marine Chemistry, Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta, Analytica Chimica Acta, Environmental Chemistry, usw.

Reviewer for funding agencies incl. German Research Foundation, The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, European Research Council, American National Science Funding,  Australian Research Council, New Zealand MBIE, Marsden, and the Czech Science Foundation.

Reviewer for IPCC reports.

Teaching Expertise

Since 2021 Kiel University

  • Metal Contaminants – Metals in the Ocean (mnf-bioc-385)
  • Marine Petroogy, Geodynamics and Ore Deposits (mageo MaCMP-01a)

2001-2016 University of Otago

  • CHEM461 Chemistry in Extreme Environments - incl. marine hydrothermal systems
  • CHEM364 Marine Biogeochemistry   
  • CHEM304 Environmental Chemistry
  • CHEM191 1st year Chemistry Laboratory

1997-1999 Technical University Clausthal-Zellerfeld

  • Analytical Chemistry Lectures and Laboratory

1995-1997 University Trier

  • Course Environmental Chemistry
  • Laboratory Analytical Chemistry

Primary/co-supervision of >20 PhD and MSc students to completion

Expeditions

  • HEXPLORES (2023) – RV Meteor, Red Sea
  • HYDROTHERMADEC (2016/2017) – RV Sonne Kermadec Arc, NZ
  • FE-CYCLE III (2012), RV Tangaroa, NZ
  • GEOTRACES GP13 (2011), RV Tangaroa, NZ
  • FE-CYCLE II (2008), RV Tangaroa, NZ
  • MAR-SUD III (2006), RV Sonne, Mid-Atlantic-Ridge
  • FE-CYCLE I (2003), RV Tangaroa, NZ
  • CARIBFLUX (2001), RV Meteor,  Lesser Antilles and
  • HIFIFLUX II (1999), RV Sonne, North Fiji Basin

Publications

In April 2024 >100 publications with an h-index of 39 und >4550 citations (Sylvia Sander on Google Scholar).

Publications (with GEOMAR affiliation)

Number of items: 18.

Brandl, P. A. , Sander, S. G. , Beier, C., Schmidt, M. , Falkenberg, J. J., Kihara, T., Meyn, K., Genske, F., Zitoun, R., McInnes, B. I. A., Hannington, M. D., Petersen, S. , Ranta, E. J., Jourdan, F., Gautreau, L. M. , Hansteen, T. H. , Heyde, I., Konabe, S., Espi, J. O., Acuña Avendaño, O., Baxter, A. T., Galerne, C. Y., Kaufmann, M., Klein, J., Lange, S., Maicher, D. , Panachi, E., Reeck, K. , Riemer, E., Ruth, W., Schenk, J. , Vahrenkamp, S., Waßmund, L., Wenske, J. and Zimmer, H. and The SO299 Shipboard Scientific Party (2025) Coupled hydrothermal venting and hydrocarbon seepage discovered at Conical Seamount, Papua New Guinea. Open Access Scientific Reports, 15 . Art.Nr. 32389. DOI 10.1038/s41598-025-17192-x.

[thumbnail of 1-s2.0-S0304420325000155-main (1).pdf] [thumbnail of 1-s2.0-S0304420325000155-mmc1 (1).pdf]

Benedict, B. G. B., Zitoun, R., Hunter, K. A. and Sander, S. G. (2025) Comparative study of dissolved copper speciation using DGT and CLE-AdSV in a contaminated urban river estuary and marina. Open Access Marine Chemistry, 270 . Art.Nr. 104500. DOI 10.1016/j.marchem.2025.104500.

Brandl, P. A. , Hannington, M. D., Krätschell, A., Petersen, S. , Baxter, A. T., Stewart, M. S., Galley, C., Emberley, J. and Sander, S. G. (2024) A New Geological Map of the Marginal Basins of Eastern Papua New Guinea: Implications for Crustal Accretion and Mineral Endowment at Arc-Continent Collisions. Open Access Lithosphere, 2024 (4). p. 145. DOI 10.2113/2024/lithosphere_2024_145.

[thumbnail of s43247-024-01679-y.pdf]

Zitoun, R., Marcinek, S., Hatje, V., Sander, S. G., Völker, C., Sarin, M. and Omanovic, D. (2024) Climate change driven effects on transport, fate and biogeochemistry of trace element contaminants in coastal marine ecosystems. Open Access Communications Earth & Environment, 5 . Art.Nr. 560. DOI 10.1038/s43247-024-01679-y.

[thumbnail of metabolites-13-00838.pdf]

Young, T., Gale, S. L., Ragg, N. L. C., Sander, S. G., Burritt, D. J., Benedict, B., Le, D. V., Villas-Bôas, S. G. and Alfaro, A. C. (2023) Metabolic Regulation of Copper Toxicity during Marine Mussel Embryogenesis. Open Access Metabolites, 13 (7). Art.Nr. 838. DOI 10.3390/metabo13070838.

Hansen, C. T., Kleint, C., Böhnke, S., Klose, L., Adam-Beyer, N., Sass, K., Zitoun, R., Sander, S. G., Indenbirken, D., Dittmar, T., Koschinsky, A. and Perner, M. (2022) Impact of high Fe-concentrations on microbial community structure and dissolved organics in hydrothermal plumes: an experimental study. Open Access Scientific Reports, 12 . Art.Nr. 20723 (2022). DOI 10.1038/s41598-022-25320-0.

[thumbnail of 1-s2.0-S0967063722001649-main.pdf] [thumbnail of Chiswell_DSR1-D-21-00077_accepted-1.pdf]

Chiswell, S. M., Boyd, P. W., Sander, S. G., Ellwood, M. J. and Milne, A. (2022) Mesoscale eddies and the impact of coastal iron supply on primary production in the South Pacific Subtropical Front. Open Access Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 188 . Art.Nr. 103852. DOI 10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103852.

[thumbnail of Emergent interactive effects of climate change and contaminants in coastal and ocean ecosystems 2022.pdf]

Hatje, V., Sarin, M., Sander, S. G., Omanović, D., Ramachandran, P., Völker, C., Barra, R. O. and Tagliabue, A. (2022) Emergent interactive effects of climate change and contaminants in coastal and ocean ecosystems. Open Access Frontiers in Marine Science, 9 . Art.Nr. 936109. DOI 10.3389/fmars.2022.936109.

[thumbnail of s11368-022-03282-0.pdf] [thumbnail of Supplementary information]

Vinkovic, A., Laptyev, G., Yaprak, G., Slavova, K., Joksimovic, D., Troskot-Corbic, T., Frontasyeva, M., Duliu, O. G., Bylyku, E., Shyti, M., Humbatov, F., Nuhanovic, M., Smjecanin, N., Nonova, T., Dobrev, L., Pashalidis, I., Melikadze, G., Ioannidou, A., Tsabaris, C., Aidarkhanova, A., David, D., Zinicovscaia, I., Kamnev, A., Horvat, M., Necemer, M., Jacimovic, R., Yucel, H., Kalayci, Y., Dirican, A., Sert, I., Plotsen, M., Korychenskyi, K., Khatir, S. M. A., Sander, S. G., Deufrains, K., Fajkovic, H., Klanjscek, T., Vdovic, N., Legovic, T. and Obhodas, J. (2022) Could atmospheric carbon be driving sedimentation?. Journal of Soils and Sediments, 22 . pp. 2912-2928. DOI 10.1007/s11368-022-03282-0.

Allen, D., Allen, S., Abbasi, S., Baker, A., Bergmann, M., Brahney, J., Butler, T., Duce, R. A., Eckhardt, S., Evangeliou, N., Jickells, T., Kanakidou, M., Kershaw, P., Laj, P., Levermore, J., Li, D., Liss, P., Liu, K., Mahowald, N., Masque, P., Materić, D., Mayes, A. G., McGinnity, P., Osvath, I., Prather, K. A., Prospero, J. M., Revell, L. E., Sander, S. G., Shim, W. J., Slade, J., Stein, A., Tarasova, O. and Wright, S. (2022) Microplastics and nanoplastics in the marine-atmosphere environment. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 3 . pp. 393-405. DOI 10.1038/s43017-022-00292-x.

[thumbnail of Barhoumi.pdf]

Barhoumi, B., Sander, S. G. and Tolosa, I. (2022) A review on per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) in microplastic and food-contact materials. Environmental Research Letters, 206 . Art.Nr. 112595. DOI 10.1016/j.envres.2021.112595.

[thumbnail of fmars-08-782734.pdf] [thumbnail of Data_Sheet_1_Trace Metal Dynamics in Shallow Hydrothermal Plumes at the Kermadec Arc.DOCX]

Kleint, C., Zitoun, R., Neuholz, R., Walter, M., Schnetger, B., Klose, L., Chiswell, S. M., Middag, R., Laan, P., Sander, S. G. and Koschinsky, A. (2022) Trace Metal Dynamics in Shallow Hydrothermal Plumes at the Kermadec Arc. Open Access Frontiers in Marine Science, 8 . Art.Nr. 782734. DOI 10.3389/fmars.2021.782734.

[thumbnail of Barhoumi.pdf]

Barhoumi, B., Sander, S. G., Driss, M. R. and Tolosa, I. (2022) Survey of legacy and emerging per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances in Mediterranean seafood from a North African ecosystem. Environmental Pollution, 292,Part B . Art.Nr. 118398. DOI 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118398.

[thumbnail of 1-s2.0-S0304420321001328-main.pdf] [thumbnail of 1-s2.0-S0304420321001328-mmc1.docx]

Zitoun, R., Achterberg, E. P. , Browning, T. J. , Hoffmann, L. J., Krisch, S. , Sander, S. G. and Koschinsky, A. (2021) The complex provenance of Cu-binding ligands in the South-East Atlantic. Open Access Marine Chemistry, 237 . Art.Nr. 104047. DOI 10.1016/j.marchem.2021.104047.

[thumbnail of fmicb-10-02296.pdf] [thumbnail of Data_Sheet_1_Parameters Governing the Community Structure and Element Turnover in Kermadec Volcanic Ash and Hydrothermal Fluids as Monitored by Inorga.pdf]

Böhnke, S., Sass, K., Gonnella, G., Diehl, A., Kleint, C., Bach, W., Zitoun, R., Koschinsky, A., Indenbirken, D., Sander, S. G., Kurtz, S. and Perner, M. (2019) Parameters Governing the Community Structure and Element Turnover in Kermadec Volcanic Ash and Hydrothermal Fluids as Monitored by Inorganic Electron Donor Consumption, Autotrophic CO2 Fixation and 16S Tags of the Transcriptome in Incubation Experiments. Open Access Frontiers in Microbiology, 10 (2296). DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2019.02296.

[thumbnail of fmars-03-00139.pdf]

Turner, D. R., Achterberg, E. P. , Chen, C. T. A., Clegg, S. L., Hatje, V., Maldonado, M. T., Sander, S. G., van den Berg, C. M. G. and Wells, M. (2016) Toward a Quality-Controlled and Accessible Pitzer Model for Seawater and Related Systems. Open Access Frontiers in Marine Science, 3 (139). DOI 10.3389/fmars.2016.00139.

[thumbnail of Pizeta et.al.pdf] [thumbnail of Pizeta et.al.pdf]

Pizeta, I., Sander, S. G., Hudson, R. J. M., Omanovic, D., Baars, O., Barbeau, K. A., Buck, K. N., Bundy, R. M., Carrasco, G., Croot, P., Garnier, C., Gerringa, L. J. A., Gledhill, M. , Hirose, K., Kondo, Y., Laglera, L. M., Nuester, J., Rijkenberg, M. J. A., Takeda, S., Twining, B. S. and Wells, M. (2015) Interpretation of complexometric titration data: An intercomparison of methods for estimating models of trace metal complexation by natural organic ligands. Open Access Marine Chemistry, 173 . pp. 3-24. DOI 10.1016/j.marchem.2015.03.006.


Klevenz, V., Sander, S. G., Perner, M. and Koschinsky, A. (2012) Amelioration of free copper by hydrothermal vent microbes as a response to high copper concentrations. Chemistry and Ecology, 28 (5). pp. 405-420. DOI 10.1080/02757540.2012.666531.

This list was generated on Mon Oct 20 22:36:28 2025 CEST.