Department 2: Physics of the Earth

Director: Prof. Dr. Michael Weber

The Earth sciences mainly receive public attention during natural disasters, especially when people have died in an earthquake, a volcanic eruption or a tsunami. Why, the question is raised, are researchers not able to predict large earthquakes, or at least give some advanced warning. This, the evaluation of geologic risk, is one of the research fields investigated by Department 2. However, other fundamental geophysical research topics are just as important, because only when we know, what moves within the Earth, and in which form it moves, can we derive the laws which will provide the basis for predictions and warnings. A further theme is the exploration of resources such as geothermal exploitation. We investigate all these aspects of the Earth, studying both internal processes as well as its magnetic field.    

The research of Department 2 is organised in six sections:  

• Section 2.1: "Earthquake Risk and Early Warning"
• Section 2.2: "Geophysical Deep Sounding"
• Section 2.3: "Earth's Magnetic Field"
• Section 2.4: "Seismology"
• Section 2.5: "Geodynamic Modelling"
• Section 2.6: "Seismic Hazard and Stress Field"