PROfiles across MEditerranean Sedimentary Systems (PROMESS)

The PROMESS project (PROfiles across MEditerranian Sedimentary Systems), was successfully finished mid 2006. This project was sponsored within the 5th framework program by the European Union and involved 12 partners. It dealt with the investigation of sediments deposits in the Mediterranean Sea that are of alpine origin. The interaction between sediment supply, sea level changes, and climate change during the last 500.000 years was studied comprehensively along two transects in the Golf of Lyon and the Adriatic Sea. Special focus was put on how climate changes affected the stratigraphy of the Mediterranean sediments (Milankovitch cycles, Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles).

The studies done by the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics concentrated on the analysis of log data (geophysical downhole logging, core-scanner, and XRF-scanner). Supervised learning algorithms (e.g. discriminant analysis, neuronal network, logistic regression, or support vector machine) were applied to identify and classify sequencestratigraphic units but also deposits with similar petrophysical parameters. Cyclicality of 19 log parameters was calculated and the 41.000 Milankowitch cycle could be identified. A sliding window processing enabled the estimation of a sedimentation rate in the order of 100 cm in the Golf of Lyon.