One hundred years back, Leopold Kober first introduced the term “Kratogen”. With time, the concept of kratogen has evolved, and they are now known as cratons. In this week’s news and views, Jyotirmoy (@GeophyJo), a PhD student from the Indian Institute of Science revisits the history of craton science: how the craton concept has evolved and …[Read More]
News & Views
Thinking inside the (sand)box
Ahhh analogue models… Those beautiful little (or not so little) worlds inside a box, captivatingly beautiful, impossibly detailed… (sorry, getting carried away, am I?). This week, Alex Hughes gives us the insider’s report on what actually goes on in analogue modelling labs when the “Experiment running, do not disturb!!” sign is on the door. Analogue …[Read More]
Across Borders and Sectors
Moving a country for a new job is a big step, but at the same time changing from an industry job to academics is definitely a leap in the unknown. This week Arushi Saxena, currently a post-doc at the University of Florida, writes about her experience taking these two steps at the same time. As …[Read More]
What can we learn from geodynamic failure?
In this week’s post, Mohamed Gouiza discusses the challenges of living under constant stress, paralysed by the possibility of failure and self-perceived inevitability of impending breakup. Continental rifting, of course! Oh… did you think I was talking about life as a researcher? Under tensile stress, the lithosphere stretches, the asthenosphere rises, the crust fails, and …[Read More]
Interactive and Collaborative Virtual Reality Visualization for Geodynamics
Nowadays geodynamics can involve a lot of 3D data which has to be analyzed. This week Oliver Kreylos, a researcher with the UC Davis W.M. Keck Center for Active Visualization in the Earth Sciences (KeckCAVES) and the UC Davis DataLab, shows us an alternative to looking at 3D data or models on a 2D screen: …[Read More]
Advanced geodynamic models of giant earthquakes
Though giant earthquakes are disastrous, they provide essential information to investigate earthquake physics. In this week’s news and views, Thyagarajulu Gollapalli, a PhD student jointly from the Monash University and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, discusses our present understanding of such big earthquakes and how advanced numerical models will help to get a more …[Read More]
Locking people up to program — or: “What is a hackathon?”
This week the seventh yearly hackathon of the geodynamics code ASPECT is taking place. But what actually is a hackathon, why is it useful and how did it get started in the first place? This week, Wolfgang Bangerth, one of the founders of ASPECT, explores all these questions for us. Due to the intensity of …[Read More]
Watch and learn!
Too envious to watch Netflix’s Selling Sunset? Gone through the top 5 geodynamic movies? Lock-down vacation too boring for words? In need of useful procrastination? Search no longer! We have compiled an extensive list of online webinars and speaker series that were already active pre-Corona or saw the daylight during the pandemic to stay in …[Read More]
What is FAIR for Geodynamics?
A very important part of science, which is getting more and more attention, is how to share and manage our data. This week, Adina E. Pusok, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, shares thoughts and tips on how to make our science fairer. So, what is FAIR for Geodynamics? This …[Read More]
What controls Victoria microplate rotation in the East African Rift?
This week in News & Views, Anne Glerum, postdoc at GFZ Potsdam, discusses how her numerical models support a lithosphere-driven mechanism for the rotation of large continental microplates, like Victoria in the East African Rift System. The East African Rift System (EARS) is a newly forming divergent boundary between the Nubian and Somalian plates (Fig. …[Read More]