GFZ German research centre for geo sciences

Prof. Dr. Magdalena Scheck-Wenderoth

Head
Prof. Dr. Magdalena Scheck-Wenderoth
Building C 4, Room 1.19 (Büro)
Telegrafenberg
14473 Potsdam

Function and Responsibilities:

Director of Department 4 Geosystems at GFZ Potsdam Head of section 4.5 Subsurface process modelling at GFZ Potsdam Professor for Basin Analysis at RWTH Aachen University, Faculty of Georesources and Materials Engineering

Research Interests:

  • Digital Twins of the subsurface in sedimentary basins, continetnal interiors and orogens
  • Geodynamics and deformation of sedimentary basins on various scales

  • Geoenergy and utilization of the subsurface
  • Integration of geoscientific observations into 3-D models of the subsurface
  • Simulation of coupled thermal-hydraulic-mechanical processes
  • Thermal field
  • Structure of subjacent crust and lithosphere
  • Gravity and isostasy
  • Interpretation of seismic data
  • Structural and subsidence analysis

  • Salt dynamics

Career:

2024                    Head of Section Subsurface Process Modelling

2019                     Director Department Geosystems

2016                     Director Department Geotechnologies

                             Head of Section  Basin Modelling

2014                     Director Department Chemistry of the Earth

2013:                    Professorship Sedimentary Basin Analysis at RWTH Aachen University

2008:                   Head of Section 4.4: Sedimentary Basin Analysis at GFZ Potsdam

2001 – 2008: Researcher at GFZ Potsdam in the sections "Organic Geochemistry" and "Modelling of Geoprocesses ". Research topic: intracontinental northern European basins, passive continental margins of the Atlantic Ocean in Norway and South Africa, salt dynamics

2000: Research assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, within the framework of the PACE TMR-network. Research topic: Basement structures in the Danish North Sea

1999 – 2000: Researcher at GFZ Potsdam, section "Modelling of Geoprocesses ", research: the intracontinental basins of North Central Europe. Preparation of the DFG priority programme Sedimentary Basin Dynamics 

1997 – 2000: Postdoc at GFZ Potsdam, geoprocess modelling group, within the framework of the German Research Foundation (DFG) joint project "Complementary studies to DEKORP BASIN96"

1994 – 1997: PhD student at the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) Potsdam, Germany / Freie Universität (FU) Berlin; worked on creating a 3-D structural model of the North German Basin

1993: Project leader at EXALYT Berlin: projects in the field of contamination clean-up of groundwater and soil

Education:

1986 -1993          Study of Geology, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen and Technische Universität Berlin. Diploma Thesis (in German): Structural analysis of the Gela-Nappe, Afro-European zone of convergence, Ramacca, Sicily. Förderung durch Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes

1994 -1997          Doctorate in Geosciences, Freie Universität Berlin and GFZ Potsdam: 3D Structural modelling of the Northeast German Basin considering crustal models

2008-2009 Helmholtz Management Academy (Malik Management Zentrum St. Gallen)

Projects:

Ongoing projects:

  • EU Marie Curie doctoral network INITIATE
  • SPP ICDP: Deformation mechanisms along the Main Marmara Fault DeMMaF
  • SPP 2017: 4D Mountainbuilding: DEFORM Deformation patterns in relation to the deep configuration of the lithosphere of the Alps and their forelands
  • SPP 2017: 4D Mountainbuilding: INTEGRATE: Integrated 3D modeling of the Alps and their forelands
  • Simulation of coupled processes in subsurface utilization as part of Helmholtz project Earth System Modelling
  • ITGR StRATEGY: Evolution of the Argentine Andean forland basin
  • Hessen 3D 2.0: Geothermal Potential of Hesse
  • 3D thermal models of the North German Basin at different scales
  • Helmholtz: Energy Systems 2050: 3D Structure and thermal field of Berlin
  • Helmhotz ESM: Earth System Modelling
  • 3D Marmara: lithosphere-scale model of the Marmara Sea
  • 3D Lithosphere scale mode of the North Atlantic and adjacent continental margins
  • Lithospere structre of the Caribbean
Completed projects:
  • 3D lithospheric model of the Barents -Kara Sea
  • EU-Project IMAGE: Thermal models of the Upper Rheingraben
  • 3D lithospheric model and thermal field of the German Molasse Basin
  • SPP 1375 SAMPLE – South Atlantic Margin Processes and Links with onshore Evolution: 3D lithosphere-scale modelling of the South Atlantic passive continental margins with focus on the South African and Argentine segments
  • GeoEn – BMBF-collaborative project: Geoenergy from unconventional resources (Program Spitzenforschung in den Neuen Ländern)
  • Helmholtz Portfolio-Project Geoenergy: Coupled thermo-hydraulic- mechanical simulations
  • Südafrikanischer Kontinentalrand  (INKABA ye'AFRICA)
  • European Science Foundation (ESF) EUROCORES EUROMARGINS – Norwegian continental margin
  • DFG Priority Programme 1135: Palaeostress analysis in the Central European Basin System (CEBS)
  • DFG Priority Programme 1135: 3-D structural modelling and basin analysis of the CEBS
  • DFG Priority Programme 1135: Mesozoic fault systems
  • MOM – Methane on the move
  • GASH: Gas Shale in Europe
  • German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) PROCOPE, The structural inheritance of the Boulonnais
  • PACE TMR network: Paleozoic Amalgamation of Central Europe
  • EUROPROBE projects TESZ and GEORIFT
  • DFG collaborative project Acompanying research to DEKORP NE Germany

Research Boards and Committees:

  • Member of Nationales Bgleitgremium since 2020
  • Member of Academia Europeana since 2018
  • Member of DFG Review Board 314-01 Geology, Paleontology 2016-2024
  • Member in working group of the German academies "Forschung für ein Endlager"
  • Deputy president DGGV since 2018
  • Member Advisory Board Geothermie-Allianz Bayern
  • Member Review Committee DeepNL of the Dutch Research Council (NWO) since 2021
  • Secretary General of the International Lithosphere Program, 2013-2021

  • Member of the International Peer Review Panel of the Danish Council for Independent Research | Natural Science 2013-2015

  • Deputy president division Tectonics and Structural Geology  of EGU, since 2015
  • Member of the Programme Committee division Geodynamics of EGU (2012-2015)

  • Member of the editorial board of Tectonophysics, 2006-2018
  • Member of the editorial board of Basin Research, 2009-2015
  • Member of American Geophysical Union (AGU), European Geosciences Union (EGU), German Geological Society (DGGV), German Geophysical Society (DGG)

  • Co-coordinator of the Task Force Sedimentary Basins, International Lithosphere Programme, (2005-2015)

Awards:

2022 Award for Excellence in Research of the Association of Women Geoscientists

2020 elected by the German Government as a member of the National Citizens’ Oversight Committee “Nationales Begleitgremium” assisting the Search for a High-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Site.

2018 Member Academia Europea
2012 Member AcademiaNet

1990-1992 Grant Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes

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