About Sven

Sven was born in Germany, and raised in Germany, Iran, and Argentina. He studied at the Universities of Clausthal and Heidelberg, Germany, where he finished his Diploma (equivalent to a Masters' degree) on the internal buildup of a fossil atoll in the Italian Dolomites. He received his PhD from Technische Universität Berlin, Germany, in 2000 for a basin analytical study of the Ordovician succession in southern Bolivia. After a five year lecturer position at Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg in south-eastern Germany he was appointed Assistant Professor at Colorado State University in 2006, promoted to Associate Professor in 2010, and to Full Professor in 2016. Sven's areas of expertise are understanding sedimentary processes in carbonates and shales, and using them to reconstruct fossil depositional environments. His projects apply these models to characterize oil and gas reservoirs and to recognize fossil habitats of long extinct animal groups such as graptolites.

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Interests

  • Shale/mudstone depositional environments, Siliciclastic and Carbonate Sedimentology, Hydrocarbon Reservoir Characterization, Sequence Stratigrapghy, Basin Analysis, Graptolite Ecology Currently my research is focusing on three topics: (1) understanding shale/mudstone depositional systems, (2) depositional architecture and sedimentary processes in low-inclined carbonate environments (ramps, epeiric ramps), and (3) lake sedimentation in tectonically active basins. My main study areas are the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Montana (USA), the Lower Paleozoic carbonates and shales in Scandinavia (Sweden and Norway), and the Tertiary succession of Nevada (USA).

Education

Dr. rer. nat. (PhD), Geology and Paleontology - Technische Universitaet Berlin
Berlin, Germany, 2000

Diploma, Geology and Paleontology - Ruprecht-Karls Universitaet Heidelberg
Heidelberg, Germany, 1996

Awards, Honors, Grants

  • Best Teacher Award, Colorado State University Alumni Association, 2012

Memberships

  • AAPG (American Association of Petroleum Geologists), GSA (Geological Society of America), GV (Geologische Vereinigung), IAS (International Association of Sedimentologists), RMAG (Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists), SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology)

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