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Research Interests

Thematic:

• Quaternary landscape evolution of (hyper)arid coastal deserts
• Interaction between fluvial, aeolian, and marine processes and analysis of complex geo-archives
• Texture and spectral signatures of surfaces, weathering intensity and pedogenesis for morphostratigraphy in deserts

Methodic:

• Remote sensing & GIS
  - geomorphologic mapping
  - UAS ("drone") surveys and photogrammetric processing
  - geomorphometry
  - multispectral and multitemporal satellite imagery processing
• Cosmogenic nuclide dating
  - Be-10 exposure dating
• Sedimentologic-pedological analyses

Regional:

• Atacama Desert, North Chile
• Skeleton Coast, Northwest Namibia
• Central Mongolia
• Meuse-Rhine Euroregion

Academic Vita

• Research associate as PostDoc: since 07/2020
• Research associate & PhD student: 02/2017-06/2020
  Dissertation: "Alluvial fans along the coastal Atacama Desert – landforms, processes, and evolution"
• Student assistant: Chair of Physical Geography and Geoecology, RWTH Aachen University, 10/2012-01/2017
• M.Sc. Applied Geography, minor in geology, RWTH Aachen University, 10/2015-01/2017.
  Master's thesis: "Geoecological studies on arsenic contamination in the small-scale mining area Nalaikh (Mongolia)"
• B.Sc. Georesources Management, focus on environmental geology, RWTH Aachen University, 10/2013-11/2016. Bachlor's thesis: "GIS-supported assessment of tsunami-endangered coastal areas on the basis of digital elevation models (DEM) – a comparison of methods using the example of Crete"
• B.Sc. Applied Geography, minor in geology, RWTH Aachen University, 10/2011-09/2014.
  Bachelor's thesis: "Recent dust transport in Central Asia – survey of interregional transport pathways"

Field studies

• Atacama Desert, Chile, 03-04/2017, 03-04/2018, 08-09/2018
• Nalaikh Basin, Mongolia, 10-11/2016

Academic Teaching

• IRTG Research Training Days: "Playing with spatial gradients" – but how?, SS 2021
• Regional module: North and Central Chile, SS 2018
• Practical course: Field Climatology (South Tyrol - Martell Valley), SS 2015
• Tutorial: Soil- and Biogeography, SS 2013 - SS 2016
• Tutorial: Cartography, WS 2012/13 - WS 2015/16

Supervision of undergraduates

• 8 Bachelor's theses (B.Sc.)
• 3 Master's theses (M.Sc.)

Reviewer of peer-reviewed journals

• Journal of Arid Land (JAL)
• Jordan of Earth and Environmental Sciences (JJEES)
• Journal of South American Earth Sciences (SAMES)

Reviewer for funding agencies

• National Research and Development Agency (ANID), Chile

Memberships and special functions

• Advisory board of the Young Geomorphologists of the German Society for Geomorphology, since 05/2019
• European Geosciences Union, since 2019
• German Society for Geomorphology, since 2018

Awards

• Borchers Badge of the RWTH Aachen University, 09/2021
• Dissertation Award of the German Working Group for Geomorphology (by now German Society for Geomorpholgy), 09/2020
• Friedrich-Wilhelm Award of the RWTH Aachen University, 11/2018
• Poster Award of the German Working Group for Geomorphology (by now German Society for Geomorpholgy), 09/2018
• Springorium Commemorative Coin of the RWTH Aachen University, 09/2017
• Scholarship from the RWTH Aachen education fund (sponsor: proRWTH), 2013-2016

 

Current Projects

• CRC 1211 "Earth – Evolution at the dry limit", Project C2: Transport and deposition – Phase 2
• 115 years of sedimentation in the Urft Reservoir
• Dunes as indicators of climate change in Central Asia (DUNE)

 

Concluded Projects

• CRC 1211 "Earth – Evolution at the dry limit", Project C2: Transport and deposition – Phase 1
• Environmental impacts of small-scale coal mining in Nalaikh, Mongolia

 

Journal Articles

Source	Author(s)
[Journal Article] Pedogenesis at the coastal arid-hyperarid transition deduced from a Late Quaternary chronosequence at Paposo, Atacama Desert In: Catena, 228, 107171, 2023 [DOI: 10.1016/j.catena.2023.107171]	Walk, Janek (Corresponding author) Schulte, Philipp Bartz, Melanie Binnie, Ariane Kehl, Martin Mörchen, Ramona Sun, Xiaolei Stauch, Georg Tittmann, Christopher Bol, Roland Brückner, Helmut Lehmkuhl, Frank
[Journal Article] Weathering under coastal hyperaridity - Late Quaternary development of spectral, textural, and gravelometric alluvial fan surface characteristics In: Quaternary science reviews, 277, 107339, 2022 [DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107339]	Walk, Janek (Corresponding author) Bartz, Melanie Stauch, Georg Binnie, Ariane Brückner, Helmut Lehmkuhl, Frank
[Contribution to a book, Journal Article] Testing the potential of K-feldspar pIR-IRSL and quartz ESR for dating coastal alluvial fan complexes in arid environments In: Quaternary international, 556, 124-143, 2020 [DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2020.03.037]	Bartz, Melanie (Corresponding author) Duval, Mathieu Brill, Dominik Zander, Anja King, Georgina E. Rhein, Alexander Walk, Janek Stauch, Georg Lehmkuhl, Frank Brückner, Helmut
[Journal Article] Late Pleistocene alluvial fan evolution along the coastal Atacama Desert (N Chile) In: Global and planetary change, 190, 103091, 2019 [DOI: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2019.103091]	Bartz, Melanie (Corresponding author) Walk, Janek Binnie, Steven A. Brill, Dominik Stauch, Georg Lehmkuhl, Frank Hoffmeister, Dirk Brückner, Helmut
[Contribution to a book, Journal Article] Arsenic distribution and pathway scenarios for sediments and water in a peri-urban Mongolian small-scale coal mining area (Nalaikh District, Ulaanbaatar) In: Environmental science and pollution research, 27 (6), 5845-5863, 2019 [DOI: 10.1007/s11356-019-07271-8]	Nottebaum, Veit Christian (Corresponding author) Walk, Janek Knippertz, Martin Karthe, Daniel Batbayar, Gunsmaa Pötter, Stephan Lehmkuhl, Frank
[Journal Article] Gradients in climate, geology, and topography affecting coastal alluvial fan morphodynamics in hyperarid regions : The Atacama perspective In: Global and planetary change, 185, 102994, 2019 [DOI: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2019.102994]	Walk, Janek (Corresponding author) Stauch, Georg Reyers, Mark Vásquez, Paulina Sepúlveda, Fernando A. Bartz, Melanie Hoffmeister, Dirk Brückner, Helmut Lehmkuhl, Frank
[Journal Article] Geomorphology of the coastal alluvial fan complex Guanillos, northern Chile In: Journal of maps, 15 (2), 436-447, 2019 [DOI: 10.1080/17445647.2019.1611499]	Walk, Janek (Corresponding author) Stauch, Georg Bartz, Melanie Brückner, Helmut Lehmkuhl, Frank

 

Abstracts

Source	Author(s)
[Abstract, Contribution to a conference proceedings] A century of sedimentation in a reservoir in central Europe - sedimentation rate and characteristics In: Abstracts & presentations / EGU General Assembly 2022, EGU22-5480, 2022 [DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5480]	Stauch, Georg (Corresponding author) Esch, Alexander Dörwald, Lukas Esser, Verena Lechthaler, Simone Elisabeth Lehmkuhl, Frank Schulte, Philipp Walk, Janek
[Abstract, Contribution to a conference proceedings] Assessing soil formation under coastal hyperaridity since the Mid-Pleistocene using a chronosequence dated by in situ cosmogenic 10Be at Paposo, Atacama Desert (N Chile) In: Abstracts & presentations / EGU General Assembly 2022, EGU22-7889, 2 Seiten, 2022 [DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7889]	Walk, Janek (Corresponding author) Tittmann, Christopher Schulte, Philipp Mörchen, Ramona Sun, Xiaolei Bartz, Melanie Binnie, Steven Stauch, Georg Bol, Roland Brückner, Helmut Lehmkuhl, Frank
[Abstract, Contribution to a conference proceedings] Remotely sensed dune movement rates in desert margins of Central Asia over five decades using satellite imagery In: Abstracts & presentations / EGU General Assembly 2022, EGU22-4460, 1 Seite, 2022 [DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4460]	Dörwald, Lukas (Corresponding author) Walk, Janek Lehmkuhl, Frank Stauch, Georg
[Abstract, Contribution to a conference proceedings] 115 years of sediment deposition in the Urft reservoir (Eifel Mountains, western Germany) In: Abstracts & presentations / EGU General Assembly 2021, EGU21-148, 1 Seite, 2021 [DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-egu21-148]	Stauch, Georg (Corresponding author) Esch, Alexander Dörwald, Lukas Esser, Verena Lechthaler, Simone Elisabeth Lehmkuhl, Frank Schulte, Philipp Walk, Janek
[Abstract, Contribution to a conference proceedings] Meso- to macro-scale landscape modelling with SfM-MVS photogrammetry : a case study from the Urft Lake water reservoir (Eifel Mountains, western Germany) In: Abstracts & presentations / EGU General Assembly 2021, EGU21-3248, 1 Seite, 2021 [DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-egu21-3248]	Dörwald, Lukas Esch, Alexander Stauch, Georg Walk, Janek
[Abstract, Contribution to a conference proceedings] Quaternary paleoenvironmental change preserved in alluvial fans systems in semiarid to arid mountain areas: Examples from western Mongolia, western USA, and the Chilean Andes In: Abstracts & presentations / EGU General Assembly 2020, EGU2020-3893, 2 Seiten, 2020 [DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-3893]	Lehmkuhl, Frank (Corresponding author) Nottebaum, Veit Christian Walk, Janek Stauch, Georg
[Abstract, Contribution to a conference proceedings] Coupled controls of climate, geology, and biota on late Pleistocene alluvial fan morphodynamics along the coast of the hyperarid Atacama Desert In: Abstracts & presentations / EGU General Assembly 2020, EGU2020-7461, 2 Seiten, 2020 [DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-7461]	Walk, Janek (Corresponding author) Bartz, Melanie Stauch, Georg Reyers, Mark Binnie, Steven A. Brill, Dominik Vásquez, Paulina Sepúlveda, Fernando A. Hoffmeister, Dirk Brückner, Helmut Lehmkuhl, Frank
[Abstract] The timing of alluvial fan deposition along the northern coast of Chile constrained by luminescence and electron spin resonance dating In: 20. Congress of the International Union for Quaternary Research Dublin 2019-07-25 - 2019-07-31, 2019	Bartz, Melanie (Corresponding author) Duval, Mathieu Brill, Dominik Zander, Anja King, Georgina E. Walk, Janek Stauch, Georg Lehmkuhl, Frank Brückner, Helmut
[Abstract, Contribution to a conference proceedings, Journal Article] Late Quaternary alluvial fan evolution along the coast of the hyper-arid Atacama Desert - the interplay between climatic and tectonic control In: Geophysical research abstracts, 21, EGU2019-10788, 2019 [DOI: 10.18154/RWTH-2019-06563]	Bartz, Melanie Duval, Mathieu Walk, Janek Brill, Dominik Zander, Anja King, Georgina Stauch, Georg Lehmkuhl, Frank Brückner, Helmut
[Abstract, Contribution to a conference proceedings, Journal Article] Alluvial fan morphodynamics along the coastal Atacama Desert -geomorphometric, geologic, and climatic perspectives In: Geophysical research abstracts : GRA, 21, EGU2019-7543, 2019 [DOI: 10.18154/RWTH-2019-04521]	Walk, Janek (Corresponding author) Stauch, Georg Reyers, Mark Bartz, Melanie Hoffmeister, Dirk Brückner, Helmut Lehmkuhl, Frank
[Contribution to a conference proceedings, Poster] The Guanillos fan complex : implications for the morphogenesis of Atacama’s coastal alluvial fans In: [Central European Conference on Geomorphology and Quaternary Sciences, 2018-09-23 - 2018-09-27, Gießen, Germany], 2018	Walk, Janek Bartz, Melanie Stauch, Georg Brückner, Helmut Lehmkuhl, Frank

 

Others

Source	Author(s)
[Dissertation / PhD Thesis] Alluvial fans along the coastal Atacama Desert - landforms, processes, and evolution, 2020 [DOI: 10.18154/RWTH-2020-06003]	Walk, Janek
[Poster] Coastal alluvial fans as geoarchives in Northern Chile - Preliminary results on their geomorphology, architecture, and chronology In: Collaborative Research Center 1211 February Meeting Walberberg 2018-02-05 - 2018-02-07, 2018	Bartz, Melanie (Corresponding author) Walk, Janek (Corresponding author) Brückner, Helmut Lehmkuhl, Frank