European Geosciences Union
Division on Geodynamics
President: Paul Tackley (gd@egu.eu)
Deputy President: Jeroen van Hunen
(jeroen.van-hunen@durham.ac.uk)
Studies related to the Geodynamics Division include all aspects of geodynamic processes in the lithosphere, mantle, and core. They encompass different approaches, including observations, imaging, theory, modelling (numerical simulations and laboratory experiments), and interpretation. Examples include the dynamics of subduction, mid-ocean-ridge processes, vertical and horizontal plate movements driving mountain building and basin formation, lithosphere dynamics, mantle convection, and core dynamics.
The 2019 Augustus Love Medal is awarded to Anne Davaille for innovative experiments and analysis in fluid mechanics, which have created a new understanding of convective regimes within the mantles of the Earth and other planets and of their magmatic systems.
The 2018 Augustus Love Medal is awarded to Edgar M. Parmentier for outstanding research in the fundamental geodynamical processes of sea-floor spreading, melt extraction and crustal formation, and the application of geodynamical principles to flow in the mantle.
The 2018 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientists Award is awarded to Thibault Duretz for his fundamental contributions to understanding slab detachment, shear zones, passive-margin formation, obduction and development of new numerical algorithms.
The 2018 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award is awarded to Antoniette G. Grima Mid-Mantle Orphan Slabs
The 2018 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award is awarded to Roland Neofitu Analysis of hiatal surfaces and the stratigraphic framework for the plume mode in the East African Rift System (EARS): Progress and Limitations
It’s time for another proper introduction of the blog team! As you will probably know, things have been a bit silent on the blog front lately. This is because all the blog editors were very busy and also: it’s hard to upload 52 times a year. You come up with some great blog ideas! (if you do: e-mail us, please!). Luckily, we used the EGU General Assembly to find some fresh blood for the blog team. Together with the seasoned …
The earliest continents played a fundamental role on Earth’s habitability. However, their generation is still not understood, and it requires an integrated approach between petrology and geodynamic modelling. In a new study, Piccolo and co-workers developed a method to handle the effects of chemical evolution on the geodynamic processes. They show that the production of the earliest felsic crust triggers a self-feeding chain of events that leads to the generation of the first proto-continents. The Archean Eon (4.0-2.5) is the …
A little over a year ago, I was lucky enough to join a field trip to the Kenya rift organized by Potsdam University and Roma III. This rift is part of the active East African Rift System, which I introduced in a previous blog post. With a group of 25 enthusiastic participants from Roma Tre, Potsdam University, Nairobi University and GFZ Potsdam (we somehow always managed to make the 20-person bus work), we set out to study the interaction between …
With this year’s EGU General Assembly (GA; #EGU19) looming in less than a week, it’s time for all attendees to finish (or start) their own scientific contributions, create their own personal programs as well as plan other activities during the conference. In this blog Nico Schliffke (GD ECS Rep) would like to share some useful advice how to successfully navigate through the conference and highlight relevant activities, both scientific and social, for Geodynamics Early Career Scientists (ECS). The huge variety …
Earlier this month, we hosted a record-breaking number of participants (over 16,000) at our annual EGU General Assembly in Vienna. The meeting included over 16,000 poster, oral and PICO presentations in over 650 sessions, as well as a number of popular short courses and side events. We are grateful to all participants, including conveners, the EGU Programme Committee, Copernicus Meetings, conference assistants, exhibitors, and ACV and EGU office staff, for making the meeting a success. If you participated in the meeting, we especially welcome your suggestions and feedback (deadline: 9 June), which will be instrumental in ensuring an even more successful General Assembly next year (3–8 May 2020, Vienna).
Of special highlight at the meeting was a session on ‘Science, Politics and European (dis)integration: A Conversation of Geoscientists with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti’, which motivated the EGU to issue a declaration supporting a united Europe for the benefit of global scientific research.
In other news this month, the EGU launched a new journal, Geochronology, as well as a science-policy competition for early career scientists (deadline: 15 May). We also ran an extraordinary election, which saw Claudio Zaccone elected as SSS Division President.
Finally, we would like to remind you that we are currently accepting nominations for the 2020 EGU awards and medals, including for the new Angela Croome Award and Katia and Maurice Krafft Award. To promote the best deserving geoscientists from around the world and increase diversity in the group of EGU awardees and medallists, we encourage the EGU membership to consider gender, geographical, and cultural balance when nominating outstanding Earth, planetary and space scientists at various career stages. Please consider submitting a nomination by 15 June.