TS
Tectonics and Structural Geology

Minds over Methods

Exploring Earth’s interior with analogue models: The case of slow earthquakes

Analogue experimental setup of spherical hydrogel suspension.

Have you ever heard of “analogue modelling”? In solid Earth science, directly observing the Earth’s interior is challenging, and the analogue modelling approach often overcomes this limitation by using alternative systems analogous to natural phenomena. By identifying fundamental mechanisms in these tractable systems, we can apply physical scaling laws to understand processes deep within the …[Read More]

Why Strike and Dip Conversions Confuse Even Professional Geologists ?

Geologists taking structural measurements in the Congo River, with the overlay title: Why Strike and Dip Conversions Confuse Even Professional Geologists?

Whether you are a student, educator, or industry professional, you have likely encountered the myriad conventions used for recording geological orientations. For students, this landscape can be perplexing; for professionals, it may lead to the sinking feeling that a crucial undergraduate lecture was missed. Indeed, converting strike and dip measurements between different systems, such as …[Read More]

How Lava Domes Grow: Field Observations and Thermo-Mechanical Insights from the 1979 Soufrière Eruption

How Lava Domes Grow: Field Observations and Thermo-Mechanical Insights from the 1979 Soufrière Eruption

To kick off the New Year, we have invited a guest author, Takafumi Maruishi, a researcher in the Research Division for Volcanic Disasters / Center for Volcano Research Promotion, National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience, Japan. He explains the scaling law of lava dome growth and its physical insight. Effusive eruptions—when magma …[Read More]

Extensional tectonics at oceanic transform faults: a new perspective on plate tectonics

Extensional tectonics at oceanic transform faults: a new perspective on plate tectonics

Yu Ren is a PhD candidate at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany. He uses three primary tools to study marine tectonics: geomorphology, seismology, and numerical modelling. His PhD project is on the structural and tectonic characterization of oceanic transform faults.   Oceanic transform faults (OTFs), usually considered as first-order tectonic segmentation of …[Read More]

Analog models for teaching and more, even at home

Analog models for teaching and more, even at home

Ágnes Király is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre of Earth Evolution and Dynamics (CEED) at the University of Oslo, Norway. Ági has a background in geophysics, incorporating natural observations with numerical and analog models to study subduction zone processes. Ági has simulated subduction systems mostly in the Central Mediterranean. Working this spring will …[Read More]

Neutrons and X-rays: 3D and 4D imaging in geoscience

Neutrons and X-rays: 3D and 4D imaging in geoscience

Anne Pluymakers is an assistant professor at TU Delft, whose hobbies include experimental rock mechanics and fluid-rock interaction. She focuses on the effects of fluids on mechanical behaviour of rocks at representative in-situ temperature and pressure conditions, with a strong focus on hydrochemical fluid-rock interaction. Investigating the microstructure of the rock and how it is …[Read More]

Minds over Methods: Dating deformation with U-Pb carbonate geochronology

Minds over Methods: Dating deformation with U-Pb carbonate geochronology

For this edition of Minds over Methods, we have invited Nick Roberts, a research scientist at the British Geological Survey, working within the Geochronology and Tracers Facility (GTF) running a LA-ICP-MS laboratory. Nick has a background in ‘hard-rock’ geology, incorporating geochemistry, geochronology, and magmatic and metamorphic petrology across a wide range of tectonic settings, and …[Read More]

Minds over Methods: Virtual Microscopy for Geosciences

Minds over Methods: Virtual Microscopy for Geosciences

The next “Minds over Methods” blogpost is a group effort of Liene Spruženiece (left) – postdoctoral researcher at RWTH Aachen and her colleagues Joyce Schmatz, Simon Virgo and Janos L. Urai. The Virtual Microscope is a collaborative project between RWTH Aachen University and Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology (Schmatz et al., 2010; Virgo et …[Read More]

Minds over Methods: The faults of a rift

Minds over Methods: The faults of a rift

Do ancient structures control present earthquakes in the East African Rift?  Åke Fagereng, Reader in Structural Geology, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University For this edition of Minds over Methods, we have invited Åke Fagereng, reader in Structural Geology at the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University. Åke writes about faults …[Read More]