Our study focuses on the correlation of two geophysical parameters (electrical resistivity and density) with geological units. We use this computer-aided correlation to improve interpretation of the Earth’s formation history along the Namibian coast and the associated formation of the South Atlantic Ocean. It helps to distinguish different types of sediment cover and varieties of oceanic crust, as well as to identify typical features associated with the breakup of continents.

A THMC multi-field rock resistivity test system is developed, which has the functions of rock triaxial and resistivity testing under the conditions of high and low temperature, high pressure, and high salinity water seepage. A sealing method to prevent the formation of a water film on the side of the specimen is proposed based on the characteristics of the device. The device is suitable for studying the relationship between rock mechanical properties and resistivity in complex environments.

We analysed Zechstein salt with microscopes and observed specific microstructures that indicate much faster deformation in rock salt with fine halite grains when compared to salt with larger grains. This is important because people build large cavities in the subsurface salt for energy storage or want to deposit radioactive waste inside it. When engineers and scientists use grain-size data and equations that include this mechanism, it will help to make better predictions in geological models.

The physical processes leading to the kilometre-scale thermal anomaly in faulted tight sandstones are numerically investigated. The fluid-flow pathways, heat-transfer types and interactions among different convective and advective flow modes are systematically identified. The methodologies and results can be applied to interpret hydrothermal convection-related geological phenomena and to draw implications for future petroleum and geothermal exploration and exploitation in analogous settings.

Analogue models of tectonic processes rely on the reproduction of their geometry, kinematics and dynamics. An important property is fault behaviour, which is linked to the frictional characteristics of the fault gouge. This is represented by granular materials, such as quartz sand. In our study we investigate the time-dependent frictional properties of various analogue materials and highlight their impact on the suitability of these materials for analogue models focusing on fault reactivation.

We discuss collapse sinkholes occuring since 2004 on the sports field of Münsterdorf, a village north of Hamburg. The sinkholes, 2–5 m in size and about 3–5 m deep, develop in peri-glacial sand, with a likely origin in the Cretaceous chalk, present at about 20 m depth. The area has been analyzed with geophysical and direct-push-based methods, from which material properties of the subsurface have been derived. The properties have been used for mechanical models, predicting the subsidence.

Plume–ridge interaction is an intriguing geological process in plate tectonics. In this paper, we address the respective role of ridgeward vs. plate-drag plume flow in 2D thermomechanical models and compare the results with a compilation of observations on Earth. From a geophysical and geochemical analysis of Earth plumes and in combination with the model results, we propose that the absence of plumes interacting with ridges in the Pacific is largely caused by the presence of plate drag.