Geodynamics 101

Beyond ‘black and white’: rethinking continental drift and land bridges through plate tectonics and orogenic bridges

jbkoehl September 23, 2026

In this essay, Jean-Baptiste Koehl reflects on the origin of a 100-year-old divide within the geoscience community and explores how tectonics and paleontology may be brought closer together through the concept of orogenic bridges. Disclaimer: The reflections presented here reflect my perspective grounded in my own research and experience. One of the most iconic interdisciplinary achievement ...[Read More]

Bridging the Gap: How Virtual Reality is Helping the Next Generation of Geoscientists

Phillip Ruscica and edited by Andreia Hamid September 16, 2026

Deciphering Earth’s geological history is no easy feat. For undergraduate students beginning their journey in geology, identifying a rock and drawing connections with relevant geodynamic processes occurring over millions of years can be a challenge. In this week’s blog post, Phillip Ruscia explains how virtual reality (VR) and the High Immersion Virtual Experiences (HIVE) research lab at the Unive ...[Read More]

The Hidden Topography of the Deep Earth

Ankit Barik and edited by Amrik Mondal September 9, 2026

Travel across the globe and you will see landscapes change along the way. But what if the same were true inside Earth? What if the landscapes we see on the surface also exist deep within? In this week’s Geodynamics 101 post, Ankit Barik, Assistant Research Scientist at Johns Hopkins University, explores the hidden topography deep inside our planet and why do they matter. The only fluid part of the ...[Read More]

The truth about The Odyssey: Geodynamics, lies, cries and the hunt for Ithaca

Manel Ramos and illustrated by Lea Pennacchioni July 15, 2026

If you have ever tried to draw a geological cross-section under a fantasy map, Homer is surprisingly cooperative (and if you remember my Middle-earth geology post, you already know I live for this). The Odyssey is full of real places and real people—Troy, Mycenae, Sparta—stitched together with storms, monsters and divine interventions that would make any structural geologist reach for a stress ten ...[Read More]

Modeling the full spectrum of observed seismicity: Insights from friction laws, fault instability, and fault-zone mechanics

Navid Kheirdast and edited by Alexis Gauthier June 17, 2026

Introduction Despite advances in our understanding of rock mechanics, the frictional behavior of rocks, and the physics of instability in geological materials, the coexistence of slow and fast earthquakes, as well as various types of fault-zone seismic radiation such as tremor, remains enigmatic. Can fault mechanics and friction laws reproduce the full spectrum of observed seismicity? In this week ...[Read More]

Fluid injection-induced seismicity: the case of hydrofracking

Dimitrios Papadomarkakis May 6, 2026

$Fluid injection-induced seismicity: the case of hydrofracking$

Seismicity is undoubtedly an integral part of Geodynamics, since seismic data, from large-scale geophysical monitoring, can provide many valuable insights regarding the state of the Earth’s crust; seismicity, however, is not always natural, it can also be induced. In this week’s blog, we explored the subject of fluid injection-induced seismicity mainly through the lens of hydraulic fracturing (HF; ...[Read More]

At the Mountains of Madness: Lovecraft Applied for Geology (and Failed)

Manel Ramos April 15, 2026

“I am forced into speech because men of science have refused to follow my advice without knowing why. It is altogether against my will that I tell my reasons for opposing this contemplated invasion of the antarctic—with its vast fossil-hunt and its wholesale boring and melting of the ancient ice-cap —and I am the more reluctant because my warning may be in vain.” The opening lines from At the Moun ...[Read More]

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

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

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]

Understanding geodynamic modelling results through maps of neural networks

João Paulo de Souza Bueno and edited by Constanza Rodriguez Piceda January 21, 2026

The huge amount of data produced in Geosciences is increasing exponentially, and numerical modelling has become a key tool for understanding tectonic evolution over time, which also increases the volume of data produced. Here, I, João Bueno (PhD student at University of São Paulo, Brazil) will present how a machine learning technique known as Self-Organising Maps can be used to understand the int ...[Read More]