Schmincke returned to Germany in late 1964, and was a research fellow at the
University of Tübingen in 1964–65 and at the
University of Heidelberg 1965–1969. He was involved in an Icelandic Research Drilling project, which drilled through the Icelandic crust near
Reyðarfjörður in 1978. He also worked with the International Crustal Drilling Research Group, on a related drilling project called the Cyprus Crustal Study Project, which drilled at a number of sites across the
Troodos ophiolite, Cyprus, between 1982 and 1985. For many years, Schmincke worked on the volcanology of the
Canary Islands, and was co-chief scientist of
Ocean Drilling Programme (ODP) leg 157, which cored parts of the Atlantic ocean sea-floor and
abyssal plain off the Canary Islands in 1994. In Germany, Schmincke carried out research on the pyroclastic sequences of the
Eifel volcanic district over many years, in particular the
Laacher See volcano. Further afield, he worked on volcanic deposits in
Central America, and in 1993, carried out fieldwork in China at
Paektusan volcano. Schmincke was one of the first European scientists to study this large caldera volcano. He published over 300 scientific articles in volcanology and petrology through his career. == Service ==