The SFB 1313 workshop team, constisting of Anna Mareike Kostelecky (AX-5), Rebecca Kohlhaas (D03), Jun Chen (D02), and Yann Rivas (B02), organized this year's SFB 1313 Girls' Day workshop "Climate Change: Droughts and Salinization". It took place on 3 April 2025. The workshop was a lot of fun and a great success; 21 girls from different schools and grades participated in the workshop.
About the Workshop
One of the consequences of climate change is increasing global warming. Warmer temperatures on the earth's surface lead to changed weather conditions. Storms, heavy rain and droughts are no longer rare. What happens when rainfall decreases? Soils dry out, form deep cracks and require irrigation for agriculture. In certain areas, this can lead to the formation of large salt crusts that make the soil infertile for agriculture. For example, in very dry regions in Tunisia or Israel.
The causes of soil salinization are quite diverse. For example, the use of saline water for irrigation can be one of the causes. However, there are also salts in the soils themselves, which are brought to the surface by irrigation and evaporation. Salt crusts make the soil infertile and plant growth impossible.
In our workshop, our team showed the girls what "salinization" is and how salt crusts can form on soils or salt lakes in very dry areas. They explained them, which physical forces play a major role in dry soils and how soil salinization can be prevented.
Therefore, the girls experimented themselves. They saturated a tube full of sand with a salt water solution. They could take their samples at home to let it dry and to see how long it takes for the salt crust to build.
They also got a tour through the experimental hall of the Institute for Modelling Hydraulic and Environmental Systems (IWS) of the University of Stuttgart and got the chance to use the SFB 1313 exhibit "Below the Surface".
