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.

News:

Dr. Helmut Schwarz (President of Humbodt Foundation), Joachim Gauck (Federal President) and Alexander-von-Humboldt-Fellow Waliur Rahaman (GFZ, Section 3.4 - Earth Surface Chemistry) [f.l.t.r.] at the Annual Meeting of the Alexander-von-Humboldt-Stiftung at Schloss Bellevue in Berlin.

Opening of the IUGG Office at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam
On 07 June 2013, the inauguration of the IUGG Secretariat at the German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam. The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) has been dedicated for nearly a hundred years to the promotion, coordination and communication of research of the Earth and near-Earth space.

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Expanding the cooperation with India

On 9 May, Dr. Shaylesh Nayak, State Secretary of the Indian Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) in Delhi, and his delegation visited the GFZ and the KTB deep laboratory of the GFZ in Windischeschenbach. The visit served the preparation of several cooperation projects between the MoES, the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) and the GFZ. ...more

11.06.2013 | Measuring the Earth's surface in the laboratory

From thousands of years to femtoseconds; from millions of square kilometers to micrometers

Joint information from the Ministry of Science, Research and Culture of Brandenburg and the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. On 11 June, the new "laboratory for the geochemistry of the Earth's surface" (HELGES) of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences was opened in the presence of Prof. Dr. Ing. Dr. Sabine Kunst, Minister of Science, Research and Culture of Brandenburg. In the laboratory, the geology and chemical composition of the Earth's surface will be investigated using the latest ultra-precise physical methods such as mass spectrometry and laser technology. The funding of € 4.9 million for this geochemical high-tech laboratory was made possible with funds from the Helmholtz Association. 10% of this is supplied by the state of Brandenburg, the remaining 90% by the federal government. ...more