We used sound waves to look beneath the surface in the Northern Cape of South Africa to search for hidden layers of rock that may contain valuable manganese deposits. Our study revealed nine distinct underground layers, including one likely to host manganese. This method helps locate buried resources without drilling, showing how advanced imaging can support mineral exploration in areas covered by thick sand.

We use analogue outcrops to predict orientations of the background fracture network in the subsurface. The novelty of our research is that we group different sets of fractures and stylolites into associations, based on the orientation of the stress field in which they formed. We apply this methodology to the Geneva Basin. Regional observations enable us to predict fracture orientations in the subsurface. 45 % of the fractures observed on image logs of two wells fit the prediction.

Transition zone between the Precambrian East European Craton and the Palaeozoic Platform, by integrating seismic interpretation with two-dimensional gravity and magnetic modelling. The combined data provide new insights into the complex tectonic evolution of the region.

Lava samples and seismic signals show that Earth's lower mantle is not well-mixed, but how this heterogeneity relates to the mantle's long-term history remains unclear. We study this with computer simulations of secular movements of masses in the mantle, with various materials to represent recycled and ancient rocks with different properties. We find that deep strong piles of recycled rock can help large ancient blobs survive, linking current deep-Earth observations to Earth's earliest infancy.

We investigated the Vocontian Basin in the SE of France to understand its tectonic evolution at the intersection between the Alps and Pyrenees. By combining calcite U–Pb dating, burial modeling, and Raman thermometry, we identified three major deformation phases from the Late Cretaceous to the Miocene. Our results highlight how brittle deformation, fluid circulation, and thermal gradients record the interplay of multiple mountain-building and rifting events.

This research introduces a semi-structured conformal hexahedral mesh for three-dimensional magnetotelluric modeling. This enhances accuracy, efficiency, and flexibility, especially with local mesh refinement. Numerical tests confirm good accuracy and better results than standard meshes, validated against benchmark models. The codes effectively handle topography and complex zones, utilizing fewer nodes and elements to enhance modeling accuracy.

We present SK[K]S splitting measurements from 18 new seismic stations in the Zagros foreland, primarily in Iraq, offering novel insights into mantle flow and lithospheric deformation related to both ongoing and past tectonic processes. Results show two distinct anisotropic patterns: NE-SW orientation in northern Iraq, aligning with large-scale mantle flow, and NW-SE orientation in the Mesopotamian Plain and Persian Gulf, likely reflecting lithospheric remnants of past rifting. 

The study investigates a glacially overdeepened basin near the town of Schäftlarn, Germany, to provide the datasets for the methodological developmonet of combining high-resolution seismic reflection (HRSR) and full-waveform inversion (FWI). Seismic data with different source and receiver configurations reveal detailed basin structures, including previously unknown internal reflectors. HRSR with S-waves show more details than P-waves. First FWI delivers consistent velocity models.

Trenches were excavated along the Fiandaca Fault providing data for relocating buildings damaged by the 2018 Mt. Etna earthquake. The paleoseismological results revealed 3 surface faulting events occurred in: 2018, 1894 and an unknown one in the Early Middle Ages. To verify a possible increase in seismicity, fault scarps were analysed conceptualizing a kinematic model and obtaining throw rate growth in the last 2 kyrs.

We combined petrophysical data and travel-time tomography to inform the stacking velocity model for post-stack time migration of a seismic profile from the Limerick Syncline, a geologically complex area of the Irish Zn-Pb Orefield. The improved imaging enhanced subsurface characterisation, revealed previously unmapped structures, and provided new geological insights to support future mineral exploration.