March 2026

Interview ECS GD Awardee 2026 – Sia Ghelichkhan

Sia Ghelichkhan and edited by Lorenzo Mantiloni March 25, 2026

Dr. Siavash Ghelichkhan is the 2026 EGU ECS Awardee for the Geodynamics divison. Congratulations, Sia! The image in the upper-right corner is the present-day thermal structure predicted from a global mantle convection simulation in G-ADOPT (see https://gadopt.org/).

The Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Awards highlight exceptional scientific contributions made by an Early Career Scientist in the fields of Earth Sciences associated with each division. This year, the prestigious recognition for the Geodynamics Division has been awarded to Dr. Sia Gelichkhan, from the Australian National University. Today we have the pleasure of interviewing him on hi ...[Read More]

Subduction interfaces are complicated – and that’s their beauty!

P. Io Ioannidi and edited by Nuno Rodrigues March 18, 2026

Summary schematic view of the subduction plate interface as inferred from the exhumed geologic record. From Behr and Bürgmann, 2021.

The dynamics of subduction zones are strongly influenced by the subduction interface. Understanding its rheology enables geodynamic modellers to better simulate these systems and unravel the fundamental processes that govern them. In today’s blog post, we explore subduction interface rheology and discuss effective approaches for modelling it. What is a subduction interface? I first met a subductio ...[Read More]

Under pressure: measuring stress within the crust

Constanza Rodriguez Piceda March 11, 2026

At the geodynamic scale, tectonic forces guide the distribution of stress. Stress in the Earth is not constant, but varies through space. Variations in gravitational energy caused by changes in mass distribution within the Earth, forces acting at plate boundaries, and basal mantle drag all cause stress to vary and act in different directions. Overall, stress plays a key role in tectonics. It allow ...[Read More]

What’s blobbing inside the Earth? – insights from numerical modelling

Poulami Roy and edited by Pauline Gayrin March 4, 2026

Figure 1: Snapshot from a mantle convection simulation showing sinking tectonic plates at subduction zones and rising mantle plumes originating from deep LLSVPs (large low-shear-velocity provinces). These BLOBs at the base of the mantle influence plume formation and seismic anisotropy. (taken from Roy et al., 2025)

Seismic waves tell us that something unusual is happening in the lowermost few hundred kilometers of Earth’s mantle. Beneath Africa and the Pacific lie two enormous thermochemical structures known as Large Low-Shear-Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs). These “large blobs” are slower to transmit shear waves, but beyond that, their physical nature remains one of the biggest open questions in deep Earth geod ...[Read More]