Welcome to Helmholtz Centre PotsdamGFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences

The GFZ is the national research centre for Earth Sciences in Germany. We investigate “System Earth“ at locations all over the world with all the geological, physical, chemical and biological processes which occur at its surface and in its interior.

The goal of our interdisciplinary research is to understand these processes on all scales of time and space, whether they occur at the level of atoms and molecules or galaxies, and independently of whether they take place faster than the blink of an eye in nanoseconds or if they happen infinitely slowly over billions of years. We not only investigate the processes within the planet itself, but also study the multitude of interactions between solid earth, the atmosphere, the hydrosphere and the inhabited world. We also analyse how man, living at the Earth's surface, affects our planet. In sum, our research deals with the entire "Earth System" including the influence of mankind.





Latest Press Releases

13.01.2012 | Drilling around the globe

New round of scientific drilling - Professor Horsfield is the new chairman

On 15 January the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program ICDP heads into a new year. About a dozen proposals for drilling projects to explore our planet have been filed for the year 2012. Professor Brian Horsfield of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences is the new Chairman of the Executive Committee. ...more

04.01.2012 | Flipped from head to toe: 100 years of continental drift theory

The modern plate tectonics and the image of the Earth

Exactly 100 years ago, on 6 January 1912, Alfred Wegener presented his theory of continental drift to the public for the first time. Modern plate tectonics confirmed his ideas by flipping them upside down. ...more