In our research group, we develop computer models to simulate the processes responsible for the evolution of the Earth's surface, such as bedrock incision by rivers and glaciers in mountain ranges, or the slow weathering of rock in low relief continental interiors. In doing so, we provide a framework to integrate field observations and laboratory measurements, and make predictions about places where no data exists or concerning the future evolution of the Earth's surface.

Our group employs a range of researchers who all share a common interest in computer models, but who are from a variety of research backgrounds, including geology, geophysics and mathematics. We also work closely with colleagues in other sections of the GFZ as well as other German and international research institutions and universities.

From time to time we are able to offer projects/internships to students interested in our research topics.

News from Section 4.7 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GFZ_SurfMod

Welcome to Dr. Dingzhu Liu, OCPC Fellow

On March 1st, Dr. Dingzhu Liu joined our section as an OCPC-Helmholtz post-doctoral fellow. The OCPC-Helmholtz fellowship is co-funded by the Helmholtz Association and the Office of China Postdoc Council to support outstanding Chinese post-doctoral talents and to strengthen the cooperation between Helmholtz Research Centers and Chinese partner institutions.

Dr. Dingzhu Liu will work with Dr. Hui Tang, Prof. Dr. Jean Braun, and Dr. Jens Turowski from Section 4.6: Geomorphology. His work will focus on understanding how debris flows and landslides change landscapes. To do that, he will integrate extreme short-term processes, such as landslides and debris flows, into a long-term landscape evolution model to form a multi-scale landscape evolution model.

Dr. Dingzhu Liu recently finished his Ph.D. at the Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His Ph.D. work mainly focused on earthen dam breaches, outburst floods, and submarine debris flows through physical experiments and numerical modeling. He is also a member of the NSFC-GFZ joint project: Understanding the seismic response of large-scale landslide and debris flows for developing disaster risk early warning methods, headed by Dr. Jens Turowski. 

Dec. 2021: Workshop series: Sino-German Mobility project “Mountain Hazards under Climate Change" (MHCC)

As part of the Sino-German Mobility project “Mountain Hazards under Climate Change (MHCC)” between GFZ and IMHE (funded by DFG and NSFC), Dr. Hui Tang, Dr. Michael Dietze from section 4.6, Dr. Jens Turowski from section 4.6, and Dr. Gordon Zhou from IMHE organized the first hands-on workshop series from Wednesday 1st Dec to Friday 3rd Dec, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm (Berlin time; 4:00-7:00 pm Beijing Time). The topic of the first workshop was “Environmental seismology for mountain hazards”.

For the first part of the workshop, we  invited Dr. Fabian Walter from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) to a public lecture on Wednesday, 1st Dec. About 40 scientists from different institutes worldwide  joined the public lecture. For the second part of the workshop, Dr. Tang and Dr. Zhou gave two talks about the physics of debris flow and environmental seismology on day two.

About 15 students and postdocs  joined the hands-on section of the workshop to learn about seismic methods for mountain hazards. Dr. Dietze and Dr. Turowski  taught students how to install equipment, design sensor networks, process data, and locate events in hands-on sections. Ms. Sophie Lagarde and Dr. Ci-jian Yang supported us with setting up the workshop. During the final part of the workshop, students presented their research projects. We are looking forward to seeing them apply these methods in their research.

December 2021: Welcome to Dr. Hannah Davies!

On December 1st 2021, Dr Hannah Davies joined the section as a post-doctoral researcher. Her work will focus on understanding patterns of sediment production and transport on an Early Earth where subduction-driven tectonics as we know it today was not fully established. She will also investigates potential mechanisms for the role of the extensive glaciation that may have triggered erosion and sediment transport when our planet’s tectonics was still dominated by more diffuse flow in the mantle and thus longer wavelength and lower amplitude surface topography. For this she will develop a continental- to planetary-scale model of erosion and sediment transport that she will couple to various kinematic and dynamic models of plate motion on a convecting mantle and, later, to a simplified climatic model tuned for the conditions of the mid-Proterozoic.

Dr Hannah Davies recently completed her PhD at the University of Lisbon during which she focused on the relationship between tides and tectonics to understand how changes in the tides, induced by plate tectonic motion during supercontinent cycles, affect other components of the Earth system, such as climate and habitability. We welcome Hannah to our section. She is also a member of the ERC-Synergy MEET project headed by Professor Stefan Sobolev in Section 2.5 (Geodynamic modeling).

Welcome to Postdoctoral Researcher Dr. Esteban Acevedo-Trejos

We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Esteban Acevedo-Trejos in Section 4.7, who joined us from the Systems Ecology Group at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research, Bremen. The position in our section forms part of Project C7 entitled „Modelling the co-evolution of life and landform“ of the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1211 . The CRC is a project between several German universities, with the University of Cologne as a lead institution. We are delighted to have gained such an experienced researcher and look forward to an exciting exchange of ideas.

 The ESD (Earth Surface Dynamics) Seminar Series now has its own website:

https://events.gfz-potsdam.de/earth-surface-dynamics-seminars

Please check it out for details of past and future talks, including abstracts and information about the speakers.