Geodynamics

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

Figure 1: Outer core with topography, exaggerated 200 times. Data from Koelemeijer, 2021.

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 Geodynamics Awakens: Star Wars Planets and Earth’s Geological History

Arijit Chakraborty September 2, 2026

Credits: Lyman Hansel Gerona [Unsplash]

Star Wars is one of the most influential science-fiction worlds created in our time. The central theme revolves around the struggle between the tyrannical Galactic Empire and the rebels trying to bring it down. Star Wars has many reasons to pull you in: iconic lightsaber duels, technological advancements such as hyperspace travel, and perhaps most importantly for a geologist: a remarkable number o ...[Read More]

I’M BRINGING KERNELS BACK

Alina Valop and edited by Prachi Kar August 26, 2026

Computational geodynamic models are powerful tools for understanding Earth’s deep interior, but how do we know they are producing realistic results? In this week’s News & Views, Alina Valop, a PhD candidate from Virginia Tech, unpacks the world of geodynamic kernels and shows how these sensitivity functions provide a computationally efficient way to benchmark mantle flow models, te ...[Read More]