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The Taodonggou Group mudstone was deposited in a warm, humid, and hot paleoclimate with strong weathering. The parent rocks of the Taodonggou Group mudstone are felsic volcanic rocks and andesites, with weak sedimentary sorting and recycling and with well-preserved source information. The Taodonggou Group mudstone was deposited in dyoxic fresh water–brackish water in intermediate-depth or deep lakes with stable inputs of terrigenous debris but at slower deposition rates.

Here we test conceptual models of fracture development by investigating fractures across multiple scales. We find that most fractures increase in abundance towards the fold hinge, and we interpret these as being fold related. Other fractures at the site show inconsistent orientations and are unrelated to fold formation. Our results show that predicting fracture patterns requires the consideration of multiple geologic variables.

Hydration of rocks is a key process in the Earth’s crust and mantle that is accompanied by changes in physical traits and mechanical behaviour of rocks. This study assesses the influence of stress on hydration reaction kinetics and mechanics in experiments on anhydrite. We show that hydration occurs readily under stress and results in localized hydration along fractures and mechanic weakening. New gypsum growth is selective and depends on the stress field and host anhydrite crystal orientation.

The Barents Shear Margin defines the border between the relatively shallow Barents Sea that is situated on a continental plate and the deep ocean. This margin's evolution history was probably influenced by plate tectonic reorganizations. From scaled experiments, we deduced several types of structures (faults, folds, and sedimentary basins) that help us to improve the understanding of the history of the opening of the North Atlantic.

We use numerical models to study the stresses arising from gravitational potential energy (GPE) variations and shear tractions associated with mantle convection in the Zagros–Iran region. The joint models predicted consistent deviatoric stresses that can explain most of the deformation indicators. Stresses associated with mantle convection are found to be higher than those from GPE, thus indicating the deformation in this region may primarily be caused by the mantle, except in eastern Iran.

When a continent is pulled apart, it breaks and forms a series of depressions called rift basins. These basins lie above weakened crust that is then subject to intense deformation during subsequent tectonic compression. Our analogue experiments show that when a system of basins is squeezed in a direction perpendicular to the main trend of the basins, some basins rise up to form mountains while others do not.

Wind turbines that are located close to a seismometer produce ground tremors that can increase the noise level at the seismic station. Using numerical models, we analyse the effectivity of borehole installations to reduce this impact. We study effects of geophysical parameters on the borehole effectivity and validate our modelling approach with data from real boreholes. Boreholes are effective in reducing the impact of wind turbines; however, this depends on the wavelength of the seismic wave.

The geothermal carbonate reservoir below Munich, Germany, is extremely heterogeneous because it is controlled by many factors like lithology, diagenesis, karstification, and tectonic deformation. We used a 3D seismic single- and multi-attribute analysis combined with well data and a neural-net-based lithology classification to obtain an improved reservoir concept outlining its structural and diagenetic evolution and to identify high-quality reservoir zones in the Munich area.

This is the first time that the electrical conductivity of gabbroic melt was assessed at high temperature and high pressure. The dependence of electrical conductivity on the degree of depolymerization was also explored. Electrical conductivity of gabbroic melts can be employed to interpret high-conductivity anomalies in the Mohns Ridge of the Arctic Ocean. This is of widespread interest to potential readers in high-pressure rock physics, solid geophysics, and deep Earth science.

The East African Rift System (EARS) is a major plate tectonic feature splitting the African continent apart. Understanding the tectonic processes involved is of great importance for societal and economic reasons (natural hazards, resources). Laboratory experiments allow us to simulate these large-scale processes, highlighting the links between rotational plate motion and the overall development of the EARS. These insights are relevant when studying other rift systems around the globe as well.

Acoustic waves are suitable to analyse the physical properties of the subsurface. For this purpose, boreholes are quite useful to deploy a source and receivers in the target area to get a comprehensive high-resolution dataset. However, when conducting such experiments in a subsurface such as glaciers that continuously move, the boreholes get deformed. In our study, we therefore developed a method that allows an analysis of the ice while considering deformations.