Rock Deformation Laboratory (GFZ German Research Centre for
Geosciences, Germany)
The central research topic of our group is towards understanding the
physical and physicochemical processes that control dynamics and
mechanical properties in the Earth's crust and mantle lithosphere. This
covers the entire spectrum of topics ranging from geomechanics and rock
physics to the rheology of crust and uppermost mantle, ranging over the
entire spatial bandwidth from the laboratory through mine and reservoir
scale to the deformation of tectonic plate boundaries. The goal is a
quantitative scale-invariant understanding of the mechanics of
deformation and mass transport processes in the lithosphere (extremely
brittle to fully ductile) and includes the analysis of their
spatio-temporal changes and scale dependence from the atomic structure
to the regional field scale (reservoir, plate margin). In our
laboratories we conduct experiments on deformation and transport
processes in reservoir and crustal rocks, for example on granites or
porous storage rocks such as sandstone. In experiments in which we heat
and pressurize rocks, we investigate seismic and aseismic deformation
processes under controlled conditions and with optimal monitoring. We
have at our disposal a laboratory equipped with many sensitive equipment
for rock physics experiments. We can put rock samples under high load in
different, hydraulically or gas-operated presses. With other devices, we
examine the pore space, that is, the voids between the rock particles.
We produce brittle fractures in rock samples. This is the same process
that is responsible for earthquakes in nature.
