Tectonics and Structural Geology

Paris: From quarry to catacombs

Anouk Beniest February 2, 2018

The Notre Dame, almost entirely built from Parisian Limestone, from the Lutetian Age. Credit: Anouk Beniest

Paris, 2000 ya. Claude is sweating all over. It’s mid-July and the sun is burning on his skin. With his hammer and shovel he is digging up grey and white stones. The faults and fractures in the rock help him to get the rocks out easily. But still, it’s hot and humid and his shift isn’t over yet. Luckily he can’t complain about the view. Lutetia, one of the new Roman settlements lies right in front ...[Read More]

How Rome and its geology are strongly connected

Elenora van Rijsingen December 3, 2017

The typical sanpietrini - small cubed-shaped blocks made of volcanic rock - used as pavement in one of Trasteveres small streets. Credit: Elenora van Rijsingen

Walking through an ancient and fascinating city like Rome, there are signs of history everywhere. The whole city forms an open-air museum, full of remnants of many different times the city has known, from the Imperial to the Medieval times, the Renaissance, the Fascist period, and finally the present day version of Rome. For historians and archaeologists, unravelling the exact history of the city ...[Read More]

Cargèse Earthquake Summer School 2017

Elenora van Rijsingen October 13, 2017

Group photo of all course participants. Credits: David Marsan

Earthquakes: nucleation, triggering, rupture, and relationships to aseismic processes – 2-6 October 2017, Cargèse (Corsica) A summer school in October, isn’t that a bit late? Well, not if it is held in Cargèse, a small town at the coast of Corsica! After a successful first edition in 2014, scientists from all over the world gathered again last week at the beautifully located ‘Institut d̵ ...[Read More]

Minds over Methods: Making ultramylonites

Andrew Cross September 8, 2017

The Large Volume Torsion apparatus - Credits: Andrew Cross

“Summer break is over, which means we will continue with our Minds over Methods blogs! For this edition we invited Andrew Cross to write about his experiments with a new rock deformation device – the Large Volume Torsion (LVT) apparatus. Andrew is currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, USA. ...[Read More]

Minds over Methods: Block modeling of Anatolia

Mehmet Köküm July 12, 2017

Main tectonic features of Turkey (Anatolian Plate). Original source: Wikipedia

How can we use GPS velocities to learn more about present-day plate motions and regional deformation? In this edition of Minds over Methods, one of our own blogmasters Mehmet Köküm shares his former work with you! For his master thesis at Indiana University, he used block modeling to better understand the plate motion and slip rates of Anatolia and surrounding plates. Using block modeling t ...[Read More]

Features from the field: Folding

Mehmet Köküm June 19, 2017

The folds of the rocks (Apoplystra/Greece). Photo credit: © by G. Shuttleworth via geologyin

Folding is one of the most common geologic phenomena in the world. I should start with defining the term ‘deformation’ in order to understand the folding process better. In geology, deformation is an alteration of the size or shape of rocks. Deformation is caused by stress, the scientific term for force applied to a certain area. Stresses on rocks can stem from various sources, such as ...[Read More]

Teaching in the 21st century – a PICO session

Anne Pluymakers and Hans de Bresser May 31, 2017

Credit: Anne Pluymakers

With the progress in the digital world there are more and more e-tools available for research and teaching. What are smart ways to make use of new techniques in teaching? For inspiration and learning, Hans de Bresser, Janos Urai and Neil Mancktelow convened a PICO session at the EGU 2017 General Assembly to showcase present-day e-learning opportunities to improve the efficiency and quality of teac ...[Read More]

Folding and Fracturing of Rocks – 50 years of research since the seminal textbook of JG. Ramsay

Clare Bond May 9, 2017

Janos Urai from RWTH University of Aachen presenting geo-art to John Ramsay. Credit: Susanne Buiter

John G. Ramsay1 wrote his seminal textbook on the folding and fracturing of rocks in 1957, almost 20 years before I was born (and I don’t count myself as young!). So why did I co-convene a session at EGU in 2017 to celebrate the book? Because the book, in many ways, expresses the legacy that John has given to structural geology. He followed it with a series of books of the same ilk – Ramsay ...[Read More]

You’re an early career scientist and you want to go somewhere… but where?

Anne Pluymakers April 20, 2017

The Austria Vienna Centre. (Credit: Copernicus/EGU)

Only a few more days and the General Assembly of the EGU 2017 will start! Five exciting days with science and the opportunity to meet your colleagues and collaborators, both the old and the new. Earlier this week the outgoing TS President Susanne Buiter and the incoming TS President Claudio Rosenberg posted a blog with TS highlights, but what are the must-see for the Early Career Scientists? This ...[Read More]

Highlights at EGU 2017 from the division for Tectonics and Structural Geology

Susanne Buiter and Claudio Rosenberg April 18, 2017

Susanne Buiter (outgoing TS president, Geological Survey of Norway) and Claudio Rosenberg (incoming TS president, UPMC France) It is with great pleasure that we write this blog welcoming everyone to EGU’s upcoming General Assembly in Vienna, and especially to the many events organised by our division for Tectonics and Structural Geology! We are highlighting some of the week’s many events below, th ...[Read More]