20.12.2023 AGW-SGT & AG xmas party

We thank our team for their continuous support and wish them a nice xmas party today. Many thanks also to our customers for fruitful cooperation. Merry xmas to all of you!

07.12.2023 Reaccreditation TU Berlin Study Program

Chris is happy to support TU Berlin as member of the reaccreditation team on their BSc and MSc study program Geotechnologies (in German)

30.11.2023 BMWK visit in Berlin

Chris discussed with staff of BMWK on raw materials and circular economy in Berlin.

28.11.2023 Talk by Prof. Ulrich Glasmacher at KIT

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Glasmacher from Heidelberg University gave an inspiring lecture on salt geology at KIT.

24.11.2023 DVGeo annual meeting in Berlin

As member of the DVGeo extended board, Chris attended today's annual meeting in Berlin. The DVGeo is an association of several geologist associations i.e. DGGV, DMG and Paleontology with DGG and FH-DGGV as guests.

22.11.2023 Fluid exhalation in region

Today Prof. Dr. Andreas Schreiber and Chris discussed with politicans about fluid seepage in the region.

15.11.2023 Chris' keynote @ Ressourceneffizienzkongress, Stuttgart

Chris gave a keynote in session "Strategische Rohstoffsicherung und resiliente Rohstoffversorgung für den deutschen Industriestandort" on "Geopolitische Rahmenbedingungen und Rohstoffverfügbarkeit" at the Ressourceneffizienzkongress in Stuttgart.

08.11.2023 DGMK meeting in Hamburg

The annual meeting of the Board of Directors and Advisory Board of the scientific association DGMK took place in Hamburg. We discussed about the challenges of the energy transition and how to make it happen succcessfully.

07.11.2023 acatech's materials session, Munich

Chris joined acatech's Themenkonferenz „Werkstoffe – Wertstoffe – Rohstoffe. Beitrag kreislauffähiger Werkstoffsysteme für eine nachhaltige und resiliente Rohstoffversorgung" in Munich today.

28.10.2023 BDG's board meeting, Garbsen

Chris joined BDG's Board of Directors Meeting in Garbsen today. BDG e.V. represents the German Geologists.

19.10.2023 Handing over recycling-RawMaterials report to BMWK Berlin

Chris contributed to the report accessing raw materials, compiled over the last two years, which now was handed over at BMWK to the state secretary Michael Kellner (BMWK) and Dr. Bettina Hoffmann (BMUV).

27.10.2023 Chris' keynote at TU Munich

Today Chris gave a keynote at BVEG e.V. on "Climate, Raw Material Supply and Energy Transition", the talk Chris currently presents as DGGV's Distinguished Lecturer across Germany.

17.10.2023 Antrittsvorlesung Frank Schilling

Today Frank Schilling celebrated his 60th birthday with a nice in-house conference of alumni and as surprise guest speaker we had Prof. Dr. Gerd Ganteför.

10.-13.10.2023 Chris on panel in Shanghai

Chris joined the opening ceremony of Tongji University's new Sino-German Center of Environment and had fruitful discussions with local collegues, DAAD, BMBF and other attendees to deepen collaboration with KIT's Center of Climate and Environment. Climate and Environment Challenges are beyond borders. He was invited to join a panel discussion and later gave a short speech. Chris also visited Taizang industrial park and thanks the colleagues from Tongji, their guests and the representatives from Taizang for their hospitality.

29.09.-5.10.2023 Agnes & Chris Mapping Course with KIT-students

Agnes and Chris had 3./4.th semester mapping exercise around Heiligenbösch. Excellent students, great location, wounderful geology.

28.09.2023 Chris' podium discussion at DMV e.V. Alsdorf

Today Chris is invited for a podium discussion on the German Mining Law at the German Mine Surveyors Association DMV e.V. in Alsdorf.

22.09.2023 KIT Reservoir-Geology field trip with students

Today we went to Gaggenau to study the red-bed alluvial fan deposits. This one day of a week's field trip studying source rocks, reservoir rocks, cap rocks, depositional settings as well as fracture and faults of the Rhine Graben Rift.

19.09.2023 Tongji Vice-President at KIT

Today KIT's Vice-President Thomas Hirth and a KIT-team including Chris welcome the delegation of reserachers from Tongji University at KIT.

17.09.2023 a final visit

Today was Chris last visit of his father-in-law at the hospital in Langenfeld who died later that day. May his soul rest in peace. Although not related to professional life, I thought it is worth to note since being there when life is getting tough is more important than any sort of shiny professional life - at least from Chris' point of view.

12.-16.09.2023 OGV Conference, Freiburg

As new president of OGV e.V., Chris welcomed about 150 conference attendees to this year's annual meeting in Freiburg. OGV e.V., the Upper Rhine Geological Association e.V. founded in 1871, enjoys regional geology, offering 14 field trips over 4 days. We are also happy that Prof. Dr. Volker Lorenz was awarded with a honary membership.

02.-08.09.2023 DGGV Conference, Berlin

We from AGW-SGT participated in the annual conference at FU Berlin, contributing with talks and sessions by Benjamin, Chaojie and Jasemin. Chris and colleagues from DGGV's Section Energy & RawMaterials FUTURE also organized the plenary talk by Constanze Veeh from the European Commission, Belgium, on "The EU Critical Raw Materials Act - the role of research and knowledge in policy making" and the Plenary Discussion on „Nachhaltige Energie- & Rohstoffverfügbarkeit, sowie gesellschaftliche Herausforderungen“, moerated by Dr. Britta Bookhagen, BGR with Panel Members:Dr. Ludwig Möhring | Bundesverbands Erdgas, Erdöl und Geoenergie e.V. (BVEG) Dr. Uta Alisch | GLU Geologische Landesuntersuchung GmbH Freiberg/BGD ECOSAX GmbH Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Burchardt | Professur für Internationale und intergesellschaftliche Beziehungen and Constanze Veeh | European Commission, Belgium. The pre-conference field trip showcased the open pit mine of carbonate rocks near Rüdersdorf.

07.-12.08.2023 Review on CCS

Chris was somehow stuck at home and thus strated to write a review on CCS. Before making up a sort of opinion, he digs into numbers. Thus, why not writing up what he found and discuss with others. There must be solutions to limit anthropogenic emissions of CO2e, and CCS is one of it.

28.07.2023 Kraichgau TV on Geothermal

Today Chris and Stefan Kleck from Stadtwerke Bretten were interviewed in Kraichgau TV, a local broadcast station. I haven't seen it yet, however, the key point from Chris' point of view is that deep geothermal needs both (i) heat and (ii) large volume flow of water at depth. One does not work without the other. Thus, the deeper one drills the higher the risk that the targeted horizon and / or fractures are tight.

25.07.2023 Felix paper on leaking Leopoldshafen fault near KIT-CN online

Felix paper entitled "Fault leakage and reservoir charging in the Upper Rhine Graben, Germany – Assessment of the Leopoldshafen fault bend" on fluid migration along the Leopoldshafen-Fault near KIT-CN is now online. Utilizing old oil fields for geothermal applications may consider lower permeabilities, remnant oil and other research such as "Surface rupturing earthquakes along the eastern Rhine Graben Boundary Fault near Ettlingen-Oberweier (Germany)" by Pena-Castellnou et al.. Felix's abstract reads: "Faults control subsurface fluid flow in sedimentary basins worldwide, often affecting hydrocarbon migration as well as geothermal fluid circulation. Since the Upper Rhine Graben hosts geothermal, lithium brine, and hydrocarbon resources, the role of faults on fluid flow in the basin is of great interest. To better understand structurally controlled fluid flow in the central Upper Rhine Graben, this study investigates the hydrocarbon migration of the fault-related Leopoldshafen oil field. As fault geometry can change along-strike, fault conductivity might also vary spatially as it depends on, among others, the fault orientation relative to the active stress field. Therefore, slip and dilation tendencies are used as proxies for stress-controlled fault conductivity, computed for a strike-slip faulting regime with NW to NNW oriented σHmax. Fault Response Modelling is applied to derive subsurface strain distributions, associated with fault activity during the Miocene phase of basin development. The Leopoldshafen fault, as a fundamental element of the fault-related three-way dip closure trap structure, is characterized by a changing along-strike geometry with NNE-SSW trending fault segments linked by a NNW-SSE trending left-stepping fault bend. Slip and dilation tendencies are highest around the fault bend segment, with a range of considered σHmax orientations. As Expansion Index analysis indicates across-fault thickening and thus fault activity of the Leopoldshafen fault during the main phase of graben rifting (Late Eocene to Oligocene), subsurface strain distribution pattern associated with Miocene fault activity highlight strain concentrations around the fault bend segment, which has acted as a releasing bend. Thus, based on slip and dilation tendency analyses, as well as Fault Response Modelling, the fault bend segment is identified as the upfault fluid migration zone along the Leopoldshafen fault. This underscores the importance of comprehending the structural inventory of the Upper Rhine Graben for the prospect of future subsurface exploration and alternative post-oil utilization."

22.07.2023 Michael's paper on xtal growth out in WRR with AGU

Michael's paper on "Phase-Field Simulations of Epitaxial Crystal Growth in Open
Fractures With Reactive Lateral Flow" is out on Water Resources Research,
59, e2023WR034605. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR034605 by Michael Späth , Michael Selzer, Benjamin Busch, Daniel Schneider, Christoph Hilgers, Janos L. Urai, and Britta Nestler. Our abstract reads: "We use a multiphase-field modeling approach, where reactive fluid flow and crystal growth is computed and couple the chemical driving force for grain growth to the local saturation state of the fluid. The supersaturation of the fluid is characterized by a concentration field which is advected by fluid flow and in turn affects the crystal growth with anisotropic growth kinetics. The simulations exhibit good agreement with the experimental results, providing the basis for upscaling our results to larger scale computations of combined multi-physical processes in fractured porous media for applications as groundwater protection,
geothermal, and hydrocarbon reservoir prediction, water recovery, or storing H2 or CO2 in the subsurface."

14.07.2023 a final walk

Today Chris buried my father in the city where I was born. Having buried my neighbor earlier this year, and two more inspiring researchers earlier this summer, death becomes more and more part of life. Although not related to professional life, I thought it is worth to note since being born, living and dying is life and more important than professional life.

13.07.2023 Chris' keynote at ENZo KIT

Today Chris gave a keynote for KIT PhDs and Postdocs at ENZo graduate school on "Climate, raw materials and energy transitions", the talk Chris currently presents as DGGV's Distinguished Lecturer across Germany.

08.07.2023 Our BSc fieldtrip with 2nd semester students

This weekend field trip linked to BSc Earth History 2nd  semester crosses the southern part of Germany along a profile from KIT to the Bodensee. Today we are in dismantled quarry near Otzberg.

06.07.2023 KIT Umweltimpulse panel

In this week's KIT-ZKU Wissenswoche we organized the Karlsruher Umweltimpulse with a podium discussion on „Rohstoffe, Ethik und Kreislaufwirtschaft“ with Prof. Grunwald and Prof. Kolb (KIT), Dr. Graf (Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Arbeit und Wohnungsbau Baden-Württemberg) and Christian Masurenko (kollektive Rohstoff Intelligenz) and a keynote by Chris.

02.07.2023 Our BSc fieldtrip with 4th semester students

This weekend field trip linked to BSc Regional Geology 4th semester crosses the northern part of Germany along a profile from KIT to the Lower Rhine Embayment. Today we are visit the open pit coal mine Hambach.

30.06.2023 Chris' keynote in Bühl

Today Chris gave a keynote at the Stadtwerke Bühl annual Workshop "Climate, raw materials and energy transitions", the talk Chris currently presents as DGGV's Distinguished Lecturer across Germany.

26.06.2023 Chris' keynote at Uni Hannover

Today Chris gave a keynote organized by ZKU for Finanzamt Freiburg delegates at KIT, on "Climate, raw materials and energy transitions", the talk Chris currently presents as DGGV's Distinguished Lecturer across Germany.

17.06.2023 Chris' keynote at KIT

Today Chris gave a keynote at KIT's Day of Open Doors at CN on "Climate, raw materials and energy transitions", the talk Chris currently presents as DGGV's Distinguished Lecturer across Germany.

14.06.2023 Chris' keynote at EMC Düsseldorf

Today Chris gave a keynote at EMC (European Metallurgial Conference) Metal Fair at Messe Düsseldorf on "CO2-Speicherung im Untergrund – Globale Herausforderungen &  Szenarien für die Industrie".

06.06.2023 Chris in press on hydrogen

To make the hydrogen system happen, today Chris in media pointed to the possible gap of Iridium for PEM electrolyzers. This raw material, like all others, is not geological limited but its availabilty since there are not enough mines available and not enough ore deposits explored. Exploration and mining need to be boosted, taking on average 16 years until operation. More from Chris' interview with DPA in ZeitOnline, WirtschaftsWoche, Süddeutsche, Die Welt, and other newspapers.

05-09.06.2023 EAGE Vienna cancelled but buried inspiring teachers

Chris and Prof. Dr. Tobias Rudolph had a session at EAGE's annual conference, which Chris had to cancel. Instead, Chris buried with some of his classmates his inspiring Chemistry Teacher Dr. Falke Fichtner on 6th in Weeze. And on the 9th, Chris and his former PhD and Postdoc mates buried his inspiring Doktorvater and Geologist Prof. Dr. Janos Urai in Maastricht, who tragically died by a climbing accident in Belgium aged 69 and physically extremely fit.

25.05.2023 Chris' keynote on Geothermal at Bürgerhaus Neibsheim

Today Chris gave a talk for the public on "Geothermiebohrung Graben-Neudorf", followed by a talk by Stefan Kleck from Stadtwerke Bretten. Deep geothermal needs both (i) heat and (ii) large volume flow of water at depth. One does not work with the other. Compared to other energies, it is low risk but not no risk, thus measures have to be taken. Highest risk is, the deeper one drills the higher the risk that the targeted horizon and / or fractures are tight, which is a high economic loss. However, if quality controlled and investments from private buisness, risks for public can be constrained.

24.05.2023 Chris' keynote at BVEG Hannover

Today Chris gave a keynote at BVEG e.V. on "Energiewende und Rohstoffe – welche Optionen hat die Politik?", a talk aligned to the talk Chris currently presents as DGGV's Distinguished Lecturer across Germany.

10.05.2023 Chris' keynote at VKU, Mannheim

Today Chris gave a keynote at BVEG e.V. on "Klima, Rohstoffverfügbarkeit und Energiewende – Deutschland in der Krise?", a talk aligned to the talk Chris currently presents as DGGV's Distinguished Lecturer across Germany.

09.05.2023 KIT-division head visits AGW

Chris as spokesperson of the AGW Institute of his seven colleagues and our ILA representatives welcomed division head Prof. Dr. Johannes Orphal and his team at AGW. After a presentation by J. Orphal and Chris on the division and AGW, and their visions, J. Orphal went for informal discussons with each professor, followed by a lab tour across the AGW. The meeting ended with a sum up all AGW profs and our ILA board.

05.05.2023 Chris on Tagesschau-Faktenfinder

Chris was again questioned on fracking with the German broadcaster Tagesschau and hopes that now the discussion ends, this everything has been said. Chris sees the duty of science to inform and explain public and decision makers about what is known and unknown, about opportunities and risk. Chris does not see the role of science to tell descision makers what to do. That is what decision makers are elected for, who should overlook the social-technological-legal challenges, and who swear: "I swear that I will devote my strength to the welfare of the German people, increase its benefit, avert harm from it, uphold and defend the Basic Law and the laws of the Federation, conscientiously fulfill my duties and do justice to everyone. So help me God." (in German: „Ich schwöre, daß ich meine Kraft dem Wohle des deutschen Volkes widmen, seinen Nutzen mehren, Schaden von ihm wenden, das Grundgesetz und die Gesetze des Bundes wahren und verteidigen, meine Pflichten gewissenhaft erfüllen und Gerechtigkeit gegen jedermann üben werde. So wahr mir Gott helfe."). That I feel is the beauty of democracy i.e. the strength of a system over that of an individual.

22.-23.04.2023 BDG board meeting and rocks near Eibenstock

Chris attended BDG's board meeting in Falkesteinstein (Vogtland), the official announement of BDG's Rock of the Year "Greywacke" and later visited some outcrops and quarries around Eibenstock.

05.-06.04.2023 Board meeting in Hamburg

Chris joined DGMK's board meeing in Hamburg, discussing the future development of the German energy system and related funding. 

04.04.2023 Chris' keynote on Geothermal in Linkenheim-Hochstetten

Today Chris gave a keynote to public in the townhall of Linkenheim-Hochstetten on "Abhängigkeiten der Energiewende von Rohstoffen – welche Optionen hat die Politik angesichts der geopolitischen Situation?", a talk aligned to the talk Chris currently presents as DGGV's Distinguished Lecturer across Germany.

30.03.2023 Chris' keynote on Geothermal at Altes Rathaus Bretten

Today Chris gave a keynote organized by Daniel Kößler on "Geothermiebohrung Graben-Neudorf", followed by a talk by Stefan Kleck from Stadtwerke Bretten. Deep geothermal needs both (i) heat and (ii) large volume flow of water at depth. One does not work with the other. Compared to other energies, it is low risk but not no risk, thus measures have to be taken. Highest risk is, the deeper one drills the higher the risk that the targeted horizon and / or fractures are tight, which is a high economic loss. However, if quality controlled and investments from private buisness, risks for public can be constrained.

22.03.2023 Chris' keynote at Leibniz Sozietät Potsdam

Today Chris gave a keynote organized by Prof. Dr. Ulrich Riller, near Hamburg on "Klima, Rohstoffverfügbarkeit und Energiewende – Deutschland in der Krise?", a talk aligned to the talk Chris currently presents as DGGV's Distinguished Lecturer across Germany.

21.03.2023 Chris' keynote WPK at KIT

Today Chris gave a keynote on "Für eine lebenswerte Umwelt - Geothermie (Wärme, Elektrizität) und Lithium" upon the visit of WPK – Die Wissenschaftsjournalisten Wissenschaftspressekonferenz e.V. to KIT-ZKU, among the guests form press also Jean Pütz, a still well known, long retired, but still active journalist. Other presentations by Philipp Blum highlighted to potential of shallow geothermal energy and ATES systems, by Jochen Kolb on Lithium extraction he showed at Bruchsal pilot plant, Frank Schilling and Birgit Müller on the LFZG Geothermal Research Center and Thomas Leisner on how to make clouds. We as KIT-ZKU are happy to had WPK with us and were happy to pass the media representative on to the KIT president for further discussions.

10.03.2023 Chris' visited Aurubis copper smelter in Hamburg

Today Chris visited the copper smelter in Hamburg. He thanks Aurubuis for the opportunity the see the processes how an ore becomes high quality copper plus byproducts, some of them critical raw materials which only can be obtain from the black mass but not from an ore mine.

09.03.2023 Chris' keynote at Aumühle bei Hamburg

Today Chris gave a keynote organized by Prof. Dr. Ulrich Riller, near Hamburg on "Klima, Rohstoffverfügbarkeit und Energiewende", the talk Chris currently presents as DGGV's Distinguished Lecturer across Germany.

03.03.2023 Chris' keynote on geothermal at Linkenheim

Today Chris gave a keynote at KIT's Day of Open Doors at CN on "Abhängigkeiten der Energiewende von Rohstoffen – welche Optionen hat die Politik angesichts der geopolitischen Situation?", the talk aligned to the one Chris currently presents as DGGV's Distinguished Lecturer across Germany.

01.03.2023 Chris' keynote at EnergieCrossMedial, Berlin

Today Chris gave a keynote at KIT's Day of Open Doors at CN on "Abhängigkeiten der Energiewende von Rohstoffen – welche Optionen hat die Politik angesichts der geopolitischen Situation?", the talk aligned to the one Chris currently presents as DGGV's Distinguished Lecturer across Germany.

28.02.2023 Chris in Reichstag, Berlin

Chris today was invited for a meeting on shale gas to the Reichstag in Berlin. After a short presentation of different representatives, we answered several questions from the federal state politicans.

28.02.2023 Agnes editorial highlight in EOS

Agnes published in EOS an Editorial on "Rapid Evolution of Volcanic Systems Reflected in Magnetics". Link here

21.02.2023 Chris' visits WintershallDea

Today Chris visited Barnstorf, the research facility of WintershallDea GmbH, to get a first hand insight and he presented a keynote  on "Climate, raw materials and energy transitions", the talk Chris currently presents as DGGV's Distinguished Lecturer across Germany.

14.02.2023 Agnes editorial highlight in EOS

Agnes just published in EOS an Editorial on "Large Geomagnetic Field Changes Recorded by Archeomagnetism". Link here

19.01.2023 Chris at ice core shed in Bremen and later Hamburg

Today Chris visited Uni Bremen and Geomar and was impressed by the offshore instruments and the ice core shed. Later the business trip continued to Hamburg.

12.01.2023 Chris in Herne and Bochum

Today Chris and team visited RAG AG for an interim report on their floodrisk project. We thank RAG AG for their hospitality and the open discussion.

31.12.2022 Our special volume in ZdGG on Post-Mining published

Edited by Dennis Quandt, Tobias Rudolph & Christoph Hilgers, Volume 173(4). 2022
Post-Mining: Geomonitoring, process understanding, and utilisation of former mining areas with an intro on "Post-Mining: Geomonitoring, process understanding, and utilisation of former mining areas" by Dennis Quandt, Tobias Rudolph & Christoph Hilgers in Z. Dt. Ges. Geowiss. (J. Appl. Reg. Geol.), 173 (4), p. 507–511

31.12.2022 Felix paper out on fractures in ZdGG

Felix paper is out on "Fracture network characterisation of the naturally fractured Upper Carboniferous sandstones combining outcrop and wellbore data, Ruhr Basin, Germany" by Felix Allgaier, Benjamin Busch, Thomas Niederhuber, Dennis Quandt, Birgit Müller2 & Christoph Hilgers in Z. Dt. Ges. Geowiss. (J. Appl. Reg. Geol.), 173(4), p. 599–623. Our abstract reads: "Based on 600 m of oriented core material from the Upper Carboniferous strata (Bork 10 wellbore), the analysis of the in-situ fracture network revealed two dominant fracture orientations: N–S and W–E. Fracture intensity indicates a varying degree of fracturing of the drilled sandstone layers for both trends (N–S: 0 to 9.1 m-1, W–E: 0 to 8.8 m-1). Comparison of dipmeter log fracture interpretations with reliable core description data shows a poor match (11%) for depth location (± 6 m) and dip azimuth (± 25°). Slip tendency analysis highlighted near-vertical N–S and NW–SE striking fractures to be generally favourably oriented for reactivation within the active stress field. In total, 10 % of the detected fracture population (Bork 10 wellbore) are critically stressed under present-day stress conditions and may contribute to large scale fluid flow in the subsurface".

31.12.2022 Dennis paper out on diagenesis in ZdGG

Dennis paper is out on "Petrographical and petrophysical properties of tight siliciclastic rocks from the Ibbenbueren coal mine with regard to mine flooding" by Dennis Quandt, Benjamin Busch, Helena Fuchs, Aura Alvarado de la Barrera, Jonas Greve & Christoph Hilgers in Z. Dt. Ges. Geowiss. (J. Appl. Reg. Geol.), 173(4), p. 653–672. Our abstract reads: "we present and discuss petrographic and petrophysical data of Upper Carboniferous (Westphalian B–C), fluvial, tight (most porosities <10%, most permeabilities <1 mD) sandstones and siltstones from the former Ibbenbueren coal mine in NW Germany where mine flooding currently proceeds. Varying and comparatively high compressional (3,809–6,656 m/s) and shear wave velocities (2,126–3,723 m/s), and Young’s moduli (31.3–80.9 GPa) are associated with Cretaceous maximum burial by which the textural framework was predominantly mechanically compacted and subordinately cemented by syntaxial quartz overgrowths. Grain size (0.008–1.1 mm) as a function of the depositional environment controls wave velocities and Young’s moduli. In contrast, the range of Poisson’s ratios (0.09–0.31) is typical for sandstones and depends on stress history, depositional and diagenetic mineralogy. Consequently, the textural and mineralogical heterogeneities of the sample set result in variations in wave velocities, Young’s moduli, and Poisson’s ratios. These petrophysical properties are crucial for the poroelastic behaviour of the subsurface and need to be considered in case studies, which model post-mining ground movements as a result of mine flooding"-

31.12.2022 Jonas paper out on heat and diagenesis in ZdGG

Jonas paper on "Coupling heat conductivity and lithofacies of the coal-bearing Upper Carboniferous in the eastern Ruhr Basin, NW Germany" by Jonas Greve, Benjamin Busch, Dennis Quandt, Mathias Knaak, Christoph Hartkopf-Fröder & Christoph Hilgers is out in Z. Dt. Ges. Geowiss. (J. Appl. Reg. Geol.), 173(4), p. 673–695. The abstract reads: "Rock properties show low compressional velocities with a minimum of 2,886 m/s in sandstones of the delta front, which are negatively correlated with porosities of up to 15.6%. Likewise, porosity is a major control on thermal conductivity with a minimum of 2.3 W/(m×K) for high porosity sandstones. For less porous samples, thermal conductivity becomes less dependent on porosity but more strongly on mineralogy. Comparing our results with accessible thermal conductivity data from  North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the high values of up to 5.3 W/(m×K) seem promising for potential geothermal applications. Furthermore, the results of this study imply that the classification based on facies associations is less suitable than the classification based on grain sizes in order to assess the geothermal potential. Overall, the Upper Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) samples of this study show low porosity (mean 5.6%) and permeability (mean 0.1 mD). Thus fluid flow during mine flooding and potential future geothermal applications will primarily rely on permeable faults and fracture systems around the abandoned mine galleries as well as the galleries themselves"

23.12.2022 Petex Educational License Agreement

„We are happy to announce that we now work with MOVE, a standard industry software for geological 3D-modelling, structural analysis and reconstruction of the subsurface. Petroleum Experts Ltd. (Petex) donated 10 MOVE Software Licenses to the Institute of Applied Geosciences, Structural Geology and Tectonics, at KIT. The Educational License Agreement was recently concluded between Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Petroleum Experts Ltd. (Petex), the technical market leader in the area of software engineering tools for oil and gas companies. Researchers and students at Structural Geology and Tectonics will now be able to study complex geological structures and processes with the MOVE Suite, valued at £1,872,218.26 and donated by the Scotland-based Petroleum Experts Ltd. (Petex). https://www.petex.com/products/move-suite/“

22.12.2022 Ola's presentation

Today at 12h Ola will present his PhD research on the Dahumey Basin and the Niger Delta basin. Ola worked on diagenesis of outcrops and shallow wells, and build a 3D reservoir model of the onshore Niger delta.

15.12.2022 xmas party

Today we are going to have our annual xmas party at SGT! Merry xmas.

5.-10.12.2022 Chris in copper mine in Morocco

Chris visits his colleagues Moha Ikenne, Alaeddine Belfoul and Icame Nourissaid at Ibn Zhor University, Agadir. Alaeddine, Icame and Chris then travelled south to work in on a copper mine. We studied the veins hosting the copper, and the host rock being an Ediacarian limestone. Later we discussed jointly with Moha and follow up collaboration.

2.12.2022 Agnes editorial highlight in EOS

Agnes is Associated Editor in in the highly ranked Journal of Geophysical Research: Soid Earth and just published in EOS an Editorial Highlight on New Mechanism for “Giant” Greigite Growth in Deep-Sea Sediments -  understanding greigite formation pathways in sediments is a prerequisite for assessing the marine iron-sulfur-carbon cycle and yield reliable near-syn-sedimentary paleomagnetic records. Link here

30.11.2022 KIT-president visits Center Climate & Environment

Today we welcome our President Holger Hanselka at KIT's Center Climate & Environment ZKU, of which Chris is the current scientific spokesperson. Thanks to the ZKU management team for organizing the the academic topic spokesperson for the their input.

28.11.2022 Visit geothermal drilling project Graben-Neudorf

Chris visited the geothermal drilling project at Graben-Neudorf which currently reached 3400 m depth and more than 160°C. We wish the team of Deutsche Erdwärme GmbH all success to make the economic operation happen!

23.11.2022 Chris' public talk at the Alfried Krupp Kolleg, Greifswald

Chris gave a public talk entitled "Klima, Rohstoffverfügbarkeit und Energiewende" as Distinguished Lecturer of DGGV. 

Abstract (in German): Die deutsche Energiewende, die damit assoziierte Mobilitätswende und der resultierende Umbau des exportorientierten Industriestandorts Deutschland bedingen einen steigenden Rohstoffbedarf. Auch der Energie- und Rohstoffbedarf der Welt wird sich aufgrund steigender Weltbevölkerung und steigendem Pro-Kopf-Verbrauch weiter erhöhen. Die mangelnde Resilienz deutscher Lieferketten äußert sich in den gegenwärtigen und drohenden Engpässen einer bezahlbaren, verlässlichen und sauberen Energie- und Rohstoffversorgung der EU und Deutschlands. Was ist der Beitrag der Geologie, die die Prozesse der Erde erforscht und die Versorgungssicherheit von Grundwasser, Energie und Rohstoffen gewährleistet?

16.11.2022 Socar visiting KIT

Today researchers from Socar, Azerbaijan, visited us to discuss collaboration on negative emissions. We at KIT-AGW are happy to drive net-zero.

4.11.2022 Chris at DVGeo

Today Chris joined the DVGeo meeting in Potsdam. The DVGeo is the heading institution of geology, geophysics, mineralogy and paleontology. 

3.11.2022 Chris press conference with BDG in Berlin

Chris participated in the press conference of BDG e.V. at Republic Affairs, Berlin, on gas supply and fracking in Berlin. We hope that a factual approach may help public and politics to evaluate their options of energy and raw material supply. Note that natural gas is also a raw material providing hydrogen for ammonia and fertilizer, CO2 for the breweries (among others), and helium for high tech applications. We didn't plan to make video on what we said, but feel it may contribute to transparency. LINK

2.11.2022 Chris' talk at KIT-BrainBites  press conference with BDG in Berlin

Chris gives at talk at KIT's Triangle in the series "BRAIN BITES | Energieträger und Rohstoff Erdgas: Gewinnung, Verfügbarkeit und Geopolitik".

26.10.2022 Chris talk for metallurgists on hydrogen

Chris gave a keynote at the conference "Metallurgical Seminar Hydrogen in Metallurgy" by GDMB e.V. in Gelsenkirchen on "Energy transition with hydrogen".  

19.10.2022 Chris at parlamentary evening in Berlin

Chris was invited to a parlamentary evening at the Reichstag in Berlin entitled "Climate and Energy" to discuss challenges and opportunities with politicians. The tables labelled with topics covered different subjects including "Materials and Raw Materials". The evening with kindly organized by the German Physical Society (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft DPG) in collaboration with the German Mathematical Union (Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung DMV), the German Chemical Society (Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker GDCh), the Union of Biology, Bioscience and Biomedicine in Germany (Verband Biologie, Biowissenschaften und Biomedizin in Deutschland VBIO) and the Umbrella Organization Geosciences ( Dachverband der Geowissenschaften DVGeo). 

12.10.2022 Chris on fracking for Weltwoche

Chris published an article on Does Fracking safe Europe (Rettet Fracking Europa?) in the weekly newspaper Die Weltwoche. LINK

4.-18.10.2022 Agnes & Chris guiding  student field trip in Oman

We are happy to have organized the field trip to Oman, guided by Agnes and Chris, with the support of Dennis and Felix. We are happy that all had a good time and stayed healthy. Many thanks to Golden Highlands for organizing the field trip. We crossed the Jebel Akdhar mountains, crossed Whaiba desert, drove along the Indian ocean and finally returned to Muscat for a in-situ precipitation of carbonates in a reef.

26.9.-2.10.2022 Agnes & Chris guiding  student field mapping course

We happy to run our Bachelor mapping course around Hattgenstein, Pfalz. Groups of 2-3 students are trained to make a geological map of a given area of a few square kilometers. All stayed healty, only Chris catched the Corona virus and was out for a while.

20.9.-24.9.2022 Chris at OGV conference Nördlingen

This week OGV organized the annual conference in Nördlingen, Bavaria. The Geological Association of the Uppper Rhine OGV e.V. is a meeting on regional geology with a focus on excellent guided field trips.

23.9.2022 Chris at Environment Ministry Stuttgart

Chris was happy to present with Dr. Christian Kühne some results of the ThinkTakn Industrial Resources Strategies TTirs at the State's Environment Ministry in Stuttgart for the Danish delegation.

13.9.2022 Chris on Fracking in radio Deutschlandfunk

Chris contributes to radio by Werner Nording, Deutschlandfunk on the importance of fracking: "Unkonentionelles Fracking: Diskussionen um eine verbotene Födermethode" LINK

12.-13.9.2022 Chris at DGGV Annual Conference in Cologne

Chris is happy to participate in the annual conference of the German Geological Society DGGV.

14.8.2022 Chris on fracking in Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung

The article on fracking makes it to the front page of the weekly newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung LINK

4.7.2022 EAGE Conference "Geosciences in the Energy Transition" planned

Chris is part of the technical committee, which is planning the EAGE 2022 GET "Geosciences in the Energy Transition" conference in The Hague, Netherlands. 

01-04.7.2022 Peter & Paul in Bretten

We are happy to have some guests with us at this open street party with lots of local handicraft.

July/August 2022 Humboldt-Fellow Prof. Mamtani Research Guest welcomed

Agnes' and Chris' guest Prof. Dr. Manish Mamtani, Humboldt-Fellow and Humboldt-funded guest with us at AGW-SGT from some weeks. It is a pleasure to collaborate with Manish from IIT Kharagur, India.

02.7.2022 Visit of Janos in Karlsruhe

Today Chris' former Doktorvater Prof. Janos Urai visited us in Karlsruhe. Together with Agnes' and Chris' guest Prof. Dr. Manish Mamtami, Humboldt-Fellow and Humbold-funded guest with us at AGW-SGT from some weeks, Chris and Manish had lunch with Janos in sunny Karlsruhe and discussed about the future research in structural geology.

30.6.2022 Chris in salt mine, Heilbronn

Happy to be in shaft to 300 m depth in Heilbronn, the local Muschelkalk salt mine. Many thanks to Südwestdeutsche Salzwerke AG, Heilbronn (also Bad Reichenhaller Salz) guiding us and allowing DGGV to make a movie on the need of raw material extraction.

24.-26.6.2022 Field Trip 2 Kraichgau - Alb - Bodensee

Happy to have our Bachelor students on a field trip Regional Geology  crossing the Kraichgau, Black Forest and Swabian Alb to the Bodensee.

22.6.2022 Chris' Interview on fracking in DW

Chris gives an interview on fracking with Deutsche Welle on Energy Security "Fracking von Gas in Deutschland als Alternative?" LINK

14.6.2022 DGMK/ÖEGW Spring Conference Celle

The group of Structural Geology & Tectonics take part in the DGMK/ÖEGW Spring Conference in Celle. Beside four poster contributions, Dennis Quandt and Jonas Greve presented reservoir quality studies of the Buntsandstein and the Upper Carboniferous. Jasmin, Ola, Jonas, Felix, Dennis and Benni presented their work at the annual DGMK conference.

10.-12.6.2022 Field Trip 1 Stavelot Venn - Lower Rhine Embayment

Happy to have our Bachelor students on a field trip Regional Geology  crossing the Eifel on the Belgian border, called the Stavelot-Venn massif towards Aachen and further north. Hard coal tailings, lignite open pit mining and limestone quarries, among others were on a cross section we developed during the field trip.

8.6.2022 EAGE Anual Conference Madrid

Dennis Quandt, Jonas Greve and Felix Allgaier took part in the EAGE Anual Conference in Madrid and presented reservoir quality studies within the technical programs.

2.6.2022 Benni's presentation at Geotherm, Offenburg

Today Benni presented some reservoir quality data at the annual Geotherm conference in Offenburg. Key is that good reservoir qualities can be better constrained and high flow rates of geothermal brines can also be obtained at horzions by horizontal drilling. Benni and Chris were happy to meet many colleagues over there. 

12.05.2022 Dennis' paper out in MPG

Dennis et al. paper out on "Diagenesis and controls on reservoir quality of Lower Triassic red bed sandstones (Buntsandstein) from a marginal basin facies, southwest Germany". Our abstract reads: "After decades of hydrocarbon exploration and production in the Lower Triassic Buntsandstein from the Central European Basin center, the marginal southern German Buntsandstein has gained interest as a potential lithology for geothermal applications and lithium brine extractions. For this purpose and in order to better understand reservoir quality, porosity and permeability in combination with point-counted petrographic data of sandstones from SW Germany covering the Lower, Middle, and Upper Buntsandstein are studied. Textural, mineralogical, and petrophysical data show that the eolian and fluvial sandstones represent a heterogeneous reservoir system. Permeabilities vary over six orders of magnitude from 0.001 to 515 mD, while porosities are in the range of 7.9–21.5%. Different controls on reservoir quality exist. Large grain sizes ≥0.31 mm together with total quartz contents are the major controls on reservoir quality. Additional controls on reservoir quality are exerted by authigenic phases. Since porosity loss is dominated by compaction, the influence of authigenic clay phases on reservoir quality is minor. However, illite coatings on detrital quartz efficiently inhibited syntaxial quartz
overgrowth. Where illite coatings lack, syntaxial quartz overgrowths locally stabilized the granular framework and, thus, preserved primary porosity. These authigenic phases, however, represent a local control, which cannot be applied on a regional scale. Similarly, enhanced secondary porosity due to feldspar dissolution is locally
restricted and minor. The comparison with other studies on the Buntsandstein shows that its reservoir system is highly heterogeneous over small and large scales and within the same stratigraphic levels. In this study, quartzrich and authigenic clay-poor sandstones with relative large grain sizes interpreted as eolian deposits reveal the
best reservoir qualities."

11.5.2022 Chris' invited talk at MetSem

Chris gives a keynote on "climate transition - energy transition - raw material transition" (in German: Klimawende - Energiewende - Rohstoffwende) at the Metallurgical Seminar at CUTEC, the conference entitled Opportunities and Challenges of Electromobility (Chancen und Herausforderungen der Elektromobilität) , Clausthal Zellerfeld 11.-12.5.2022.

10.5.2022 Chris on Raw Material in radio Deutschlandfunk

Chris gives an interview with Karl Urban, Deutschlandfunk on the importance of raw material and raw material supply entitled Raw Materials for the Energy Transition: Geologist plead for more mining in Germany (Rohstoffe für die Energiewende: Geologen plädieren für mehr Bergbau in Deutschland). LINK

9.5.2022 Chris key note in Berlin, Natural History Museum

Chris gives a keynote at the German Geologists Day at the Natural History Museum on The Raw Material Supply for Germany - a forgotten probelm? (in German: Die Rohstoffversorgung Deutschlands – ein vergessenes Problem?) entitled "Rohstoffe für Deutschland – welche werden gebraucht und woher kommen sie?", followed by stimulating panel discussion of politicians.

16.5.-30.7.2022 Humboldt Fellow Mansih Mamtani with us

We are happy to welcome our colleague Professor Manish Mamtani from ITT Kharaghpur, India, here at KIT for a research stay on rock magnetics. 

12.3.2022 Chris' invited talk at TSK 19

Chris gives a keynote at TSK 19, the 19th Symposium on „Tectonics, Structural Geology and Crystalline Geology“, 07.-13.03.2022 at Martin-Luther-University in Halle/Saale on Global challenges, subsurface reservoirs and structural diagenesis by Christoph Hilgers, Benjamin Busch, Dennis Quandt, Jasemin Ölmez, Felix Allgaier. 

Many global challenges are geology challenges. For example, the energy- and mobility transition will result in an increase of raw material demand and the utilization of the subsurface. This includes the long-term storage using CCS to achieve negative emissions, the safe disposal of nuclear waste, the interim storage of large renewable energy volumes in reutilized salt caverns as well as fractured and porous storage sites, the storage of heat and the exploration of geothermal energy. Reservoir characterization and reservoir quality prediction considers porosity loss due to cementation in pores, and the formation, persistence and cementation of fractures. Reservoir-scale geometries and heterogeneities of geological bodies and faults and fractures affect permeability, which are governed by microstructural processes such as creep and cementation. We present case studies that combine results from subsurface exploration, from reservoir to microscale, which may enhance subsurface utilization and reduce risks.

1.2.2022 Chris' invited talk at DGMK/EAGE/SPE

Chris gives a keynote on "Solving global challenges needs subsuface knowledge" and joins the panel discussion with Steve Freeman, Head of Energy Transition / Schlumberger, Catherine Gras, Managing Director Storengy UK & Germany, Throsten Hinz, Manger P&GA ExxonMobil and Frank Strozyk, Head of Tansfer & Strategy Fraunhofer IEG, facilitated by Gesa Netzeband at the online DGMK/EAGE/GSSPE Joint Event ‘Digging deeper – getting ready for future subsurface use’. 

The energy transition is a raw material transition. Supply chains will be provided by fewer and different countries while global demand of energy will continue to rise. Recycling cannot fully cover demand of an increasing global population with increasing welfare, nor the volumes for raw material-intense renewable energy plants. The subsurface offers geothermal energy, storage space for fluctuating green energy, hydrogen from natural gas (and solid carbon) and eventually natural occurrences of hydrogen, which will or may play an important role to cover and manage energy demand. Considering volumes of future energy, storage and raw materials, innovative and eventually disruptive methods and technologies are required to ensure resilient supply. The energy transition can only become a success story with subsurface knowledge.

13.-17.12.2021 Agnes' invited talk at AGU

Agnes gives an invited talk on "Cooling Rates of Pyroclastic Deposits Inferred from Mineral Magnetism" with her co-authos Philipp Lied and Horst Kämpf at the American Geophysical Union AGW Fall Meeting 2021. The AGU is the world's lagest Geosciences conference, this year taking place in New Orleans, USA, from Dec. 13-17. Besides session GP24A: Paleomagnetic and Rock Magnetic Methods Applied to Volcanology I, she contributed to session GP25B: Paleomagnetic and Rock Magnetic Methods Applied to Volcanology II with a poster on "Emplacement Processes of Pyroclastic Rocks Derived from Thermomagnetic Measurements: a Case Study from Popocatépetl Volcano, Mexico" by Agnes Kontny, Katarzyna Dudzisz, Luis Alva-Valdivia.

29.11.2021 PodCast RawMaterials for the Energy Transition

Chris is interviewed by the EnergyAgency.NRW,  Mrs. Kira Crome on raw materials fro the energy transition, the PodCast (in German) ist listed here.

The energy transition is a raw material transition. Renewable energies such as wind and solar have a high raw material intensity, that means they need more material volume per generated energy. Additionally, the mobility transition towards batteries requires more raw materials per vehicle than before. If the hydrocarbons are replaced by renewables, currently 85% of the world's primary energy is fossil and 77% in Germany (in 2020), and the global engines are exchangeged, the demand of metals and contruction materials will significantly increase. From a geological perspective there is no shortcut on potentially critical raw materials. It may be questioned if they will be available to a industrial nation like Germany in the mid-term. Germany borders to one of the world's largest copper deposits, the socalled copper shale. Currently, no metals are mined in Germany, nor globally of any European company on the large scale. Due to rising global population and rising welfare however circular economy can only cover a limited amount of the raw material demand. Only innovation in mining and recycling can assure resilient supply chains in the mid-terms.  

23.-25.11.2021 EAGE 2nd GET conference on CO2 Storage

Chris was again part of the technical committee, which led to EAGE's second GET21 Geoscience & Engineering in the Energy Transition Conference. Additionally, Chris chairs the session "Exploration and Geographical Mapping of CO2 Storage Resources" 14.45h CET, Nov. 24th, together with JOSE-MARIA GONZALEZ-MUÑOZ from #Repsol.

19.09.-23.09.2021 Annual German Geo-DGGV conference @KIT

We are happy to run the DGGV annual conference at KIT entitled "Sustainable earth - from processes to resources"  with more than 600 participants from 36 countries, followed up by the European Geothermal Workshop on the 23rd and 24th. In six parallel sessions we host fundamental and applied research, covering the driven inner earth's processes to outer space. Different aspects of climate change, energy transition including hydrogen and CCS, big data and natural resources such as groundwater, construction materials, industrial minerals and metals are covered in talks, plenaries and panels with invited speakers across the world. KIT is happy to host the DGGV again, after the DGG conference in Karlsruhe in 1855 and the last GV in Karlsruhe in 1975. Although digital due to corona, we are happy to welcome you and wish you a good time.

15.09.2021 Keynote on future raw material needs

Chris presents an invited keynote at the Meggen RawMaterialsDays 15.-17.09.2021 on "Future Raw Material Needs". Growth of global population and welfare will demand more raw materials and more energy, accelarted by higher volumes of raw materials required for the energy transition such as renewable energy plants or precious metals for H2 elecrtrolyzers. Strategic options vary across different countries, and forecasts, as mentioned by Warren Buffet “may tell you a great deal about the forecaster; they tell you nothing about the future.”. Are the conditions in Germany sufficient to provide a secure and sustainable supply of raw materials? What geostrategic options do countries rich in raw materials use considering the European Green Deal and the German energy transition?

07.09.2021 Keynote at Tohoku summerschool, Japan on Energy Transition & Raw Materials

Chris gives a invited keynote at the Graduate School of Environmental Studies (GSES) Summer School 2021 "Environmental sustainability from energy, resource, and resilience perspectives", at Tohoku University, Japan, from September 6 – 8, 2021, entitled "Energy transition and natural resources - global picture and German context". The energy transition towards net-zero is pushed forward by many countries to reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions. This is expected to become a global transition from fossil energies, currently covering about 80% of the world’s energy, to renewable energies such as wind, solar and geothermal. Growing world population and increasing global wealth will further increase energy and raw material demand, amplified by the energy transition. The supply of raw materials is challenged by the required volumes, the necessary higher rates of extraction and the costs of raw materials, considering both natural resources and recycling. Thus, the energy transition is a geological and engineering challenge to be tackled by innovative solutions.

06.09.2021 Public talk on raw material supply

Chris gives a invited public evening talk in Bretten on raw materials, showing the global and local needs of raw materials from mines and recycling. Natural resources (the known yet unecononmical prospect), reserves (the known economical prospect) and the unknown geopotential are dynamic parameters are based on geology and affected by STEEPLE - social-cultural, economic, environmental, political, technological and ethical aspects. While global demand of energy, (fossil) organics, industrial minerals and metals will increase, the availability to the market however likely decreases due to more customers, more welfare and more competition. Low recycling rates may be further increased, however low recycling rates by far don't cover global demand, lacking in some instances required technology in Europe. Raw materials in some instances carry a carbon footprint larger than being mined, thus requiring a case-to-case study finding the most favorable way to cover demand in the most sustainable way. 

03.09.2021 Bennis Paper accepted - 1st hydrothermal cementation experiments

Our paper with our colleague and friend Atsushi Okamoto, Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, was accepted by the Journal of Structural Geology. Benni was successful to grow hydrothermal quartz cements in natural sandstones for the first time - we won't leak more until printed ;-) 

08.07.2021 Petex Educational License Agreement

We are happy to announce that we now work with MOVE, a standard industry software for geological 3D-modelling, structural analysis and reconstruction of the subsurface. Petroleum Experts Ltd. (Petex) donated 10 MOVE Software Licenses to the Institute of Applied Geosciences, Structural Geology and Tectonics, at KIT. The Educational License Agreement was recently concluded between Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Petroleum Experts Ltd. (Petex), the technical market leader in the area of software engineering tools for oil and gas companies. Researchers and students at Structural Geology and Tectonics will now be able to study complex geological structures and processes with the MOVE Suite, valued at £1,409,059.98 and donated by the Scotland based Petroleum Experts Ltd. (Petex). https://www.petex.com/products/move-suite/

30.3.2021 Alex paper on Rotliegend reservoir quality accepted

Today Alex paper with Benni and Chris on "Compaction control on diagenesis and reservoir quality development in red bed sandstones - a case study of Permian Rotliegend sandstones" was accepted for publication in the International Journal of Earth Sciences.

24.2.2021 Alex is now a doctor

Today Alex successfully defended his PhD on reservoir properties of the Rotliegend Sandstones from outcrops and wells from Germany and the UK. Alex will continue his career in the tunneling industry, and we wish him all the best and continued success.

23.2.2021 Robert is now a doctor

Today Robert Egert, PhD student of Thomas Kohl, successfully defended his PhD on numerical simulations of geothermal fluid flow on joints, with Chris a member of the examination committee. We wish him all the best and continued success.

1.2.2021 Dr. Amol Sawant with us

We welcome Amol as new member of our group. Amol will take care of the Egypt project and the structural analysis of the Rhine graben from 3D seismics of the subsurface. Amol did his PhD at IIT Kharagpur, India.

29.1.2021 ThinkTank booklet printed 

The 72-pager booklet "Is the German raw materials strategy sustainable?", in Gemran, by Christoph Hilgers with Jochen Kolb and Ivy Becker is now in its final version available at IRS-THINKTANK Industrielle Ressourcenstrategien as well as printed (doi 10.5445/IR/1000124406).

12.01.2021 EAGE Geoscience in the Energy Transition conference planned

The Technical Committee at EAGE, contributed by Chris, prepares the GET2021 conference Geoscience in the Energy Transition . We hope to have a physical conference in November 2021 in Strassburg, but otherwise will run a digital conference.

16.12.2020 Tina is now a doctor

Today Tina successfully defended her PhD on reservoir properties of the Buntsandstone of Southern Germany. Besides the reviewers Reinhard Gaupp and Chris the committee consisted of Thomas Kohl, Jochen Kolb, Agnes Kontny and Frank Schilling. Next to her research Tina managed a lage project of several companies, university hospitals and geological institutes from Germany, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. Tina will continue her career in the geothermal industry, and we wish her all the best and continued success.

11.12.2020 Chris' contribution to the German University of Technology Oman GUtech 10th anniversary

Chris describes "The early years of GUtech - from vision to reality" in the book "In honour of the vist of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said German University of Technology in Oman GUtech - the first ten years (2007-2017)", edited by M. Jansen, M. Modigell and B. Rauhut, on the occasion of GUtech's10th anniversary (ISBN 978-3-487-15946-1).

2.12.2020 Dennis presents the FloodRisk project at the BMBF Kick-off Seminar

At the BMBF kick-off online seminar of the Project Management Jülich on the topic "Early detection of earthquakes and their consequences" Dennis introduces FloodRisk and presents first results of the participating working groups. In the future, these multidisciplinary data will be combined into an interdisciplinary model.

GET2020 Geoscience & Engineering in the Energy Transition conference, 16-18.11.2020 in Strassbourg France

We are happy to announce EAGE 's first conference on Energy Transition, in Strassbourg, France. We are happy to receive you abstracts on Geothermal, Energy Storage, CO2 Storage and Cross Use & Synergies and Solutions, Society & Government, with Chris being a committee member. Abstract deadline is June 28th 2020. Further Information can be obtained here 

8.10.2020 Chris gives a talk and podium discussion at the Resources Effiziency Congress BW in Stuttgart on industrial resources strategies 

On the 9th Resources Efficiency Congress - frist time as hybrid conference - Chris talks at the fair Stuttgart with later live-podium discussion. The movie will be available online soon. Topics are industrial resources strategies on resiliient supply chains of raw materials. During the event we also had the opportunity to talks with the minister of economic affairs Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut.

5.10.2020 Marita Felder from PanTerra, Netherlands, gives Shortcourse on Diagenesis

We welcome Marita and Nek Molenaar to their all-year diagenesis course. Due corona the group was limited to KIT students, who learned hints and tricks on the analysis and evaluation of reservoir qualities based on petrographic microscopes. Such semi-quantitative analyses allow the prediction of reservoir qualities, which is required for geothermal, storage and hydrocarbon exploration.

1.10.2020 Welcome to our new scientist Katharina Steiger 

Katharina will work on industrial resources strategies and has a wide academic and industrial experience on recourses management. We kindly welcome Katharina and are happy to work together.

28.9.-4.10.2020 Mapping course in Kirn

Finally we can go to the field with our students since corona restrictions are released. We find magmatic, metamorpic and sedimentary rocks at the transition of the Northern Phyllite Zone of the Rhenohercynian and the Saar-Nahe basin. Further infos can be obtainer here.

21.-25.9.2020 Field seminar Reservoir-Geology in and around the Rhine Graben Rift

Due to Corona we were forced to shift our regular SW-England field trip to the Rhine graben. Benni and Chris spent some weeks to find exciting exposures. We have to admit that it was much better than expected. All quarry owners kindy offered access to their properties, and thus outcrop quality was as good as the cliffs along the Bristol- and English channel. Additionally, one can actually see the Rhine graben rift basin from the graben shoulder. The Rhine graben rift still is explored for oil and geothermal enerrgy. Furher infos here. 

11.-13.9.2020 Field seminar Rheingraben - Black forest

Part of the module Regional Geology BSc 4. Sem. is a 5-day field seminar. We travel from the Rinhe graben to the Balck Forest. We train our eyes to read the geology from rocks, and don't smash the rocks. We improve our skills to take date, and document data in our geological field book. Further information of trip part A can be obtained here.

4.-6.9.2020 Field seminar Ardennes - Voreifel

Part of the module Regional Geology BSc 4. Sem. is a 5-day field seminar. We stay at the youth hostel Simmerath near the Rur water reservoir and Eifel National Park. We work out a profile across the Lower Rhine Embayment, and from the Eifel to the foreland. We train our eyes to read the geology from rocks, and don't smash the rocks. We improve our skills to take date, and document data in our geological field book. Further information of trip part A can be obtained here.

27.8.2020 Tinas paper on reservoir heterogenities online

What is the real lateral heterogenitiy of a sandstone bed? How to infer from a core to the lateral heterogeneity? Based on a reservoir analog, Tina's paper on "Lateral variations of detritral, authigenic and petrophysical properties in an outcrop analog of the fluvial Plattensandstein, Lower Triassic, Central S-Germany" shows what is impossible to do from core material.

26.8.2020 DGGV annual conference 2021 in Karlsruhe at KIT

Chris invited the audience of DGGV 2020 conference in Utrecht to the DGGV e.V. annual 2021conference to KIT. We hope to have a physical conference and plan iit either way. With colleagues Jochen Kolb, Agnes Kontny, Frank Schilling and Armin Zeh, supported by colleagues Philipp Blum, Nico Goldscheider and Thomas Kohl we aim to have a facinating program developed jointly with our guests.

15.8.2020 Tinas paper on bleaching online

Why are there white spots and strikes in red sandstones, do they have an impacton reservoir quality? Tina's paper on "Compaction and cementation control on bleaching in Triassic fluvial red beds, S-Germany" has been published in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften and gives answers.

11.8.2020 Booklet in ThinkTank Series in press

Rare Earth Elements are not rare, recycling and a circular economy are impossible (since there is the needs of energy and the production of waste) and is not by definition more ecological, and increasing world population, global properity, energy transition and mobility transition require siginificant volumes of raw materials. Our analysis produced within the ThinkTank Innovative Resources Strategies by Christoph Hilgers together with Ivy Becker and Jochen Kolb on Mining, Smelting, Recycling – is the German demand and the supply of raw materials resilient? will be published in the ThinkTank Series soon.

 

11.8.2020 Paper in Cement International online

Did you ever hear about the sand war, or the lack of slag sand and gypsum caused by the retraction of German heavy industry? Our analysis produced within the ThinkTank Industrial Resources Strategies and RohstoffWissen e.V. on concrete will be published  by Cement International - Beton, Verlag Bau + Technik GmbH on the topic Resources. Christoph Hilgers, Ivy Becker and Frank Dehn outline the supply of raw materials for construction entitled Geological and STEEPLE-aspects on the interregional supply of raw mateirals for the production on concrete (in German).

 

11.8.2020 Paper in Energies online

Is it feasable to construct a pump storage plant (PSP) in a lignite mined planned to close down in the near future? Our paper on Economic Feasibility of Semi-Underground Pumped Storage Hydropower Plants in Open-Pit Mines by Michael Wessel, Reinhard Madlener and Christoph Hilgers is now online in the MDPI Journal Energies.

1.8.2020 Dennis Quandt at KIT

We are happy to welcome our new colleague Dr. Dennis Quandt at KIT. After his studies in Berlin and his PhD in Graz Dennis will now work on Upper Carboniferous rocks and manage the project FloodRisk.

29.7.2020 Nishant Prajapati successfully defended his PhD

Today Nishant Prajapati susseessfully defended his PhD on "Computational modeling of syntaxial overgrowth cementation and fracture propagation in sedimentary" at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, his main supervisor being Prof. Dr. Britta Nestler and co-supervisor Chris.

2.7.2020 VDI Talk on Resources Strategies

Industrial Resources Strategies facing the actual Crisis is Chris' today's talk at VDI forum Resources Efficiency.

30.6.2020 Salome successfully defended her PhD

Today Salomé Larmier from Le Mans Universität, France, supervised by Alain Zanella, successfully defended her PhD. Next to colleagues from French Universities and Total, Julia Gale and Chris participated as international committee members. Salomé worked on bedding parallel veins from wells and outcrops from black shales in South America.

15.6.2020 Benni's paper accepted in Sedimentary Geology

We are happy to see our research on sand dunes on their mineral heterogeneity being published in Sedimentology. The detritral components and their distribution in the sediment is of prime importance for future reservoir develpoment. Dune sediments can be excellent reservoirs for storage of hydrogene, CO2 and energy such as natural gas or geothermal.

14.5.2020 Chris' talk at GDMB on Germany's Natural Resources Supply

Chris gives a presentation on "Exploration und Bergbau - weltweiter Vergleich der Strategien zur Sicherung der Rohstoffversorgung" at GDMB - Society of Metallurgists and Miners in Goslar, rescheduled as online meeting due to Corona. Thanks to the ThinkTank Initative on Industriial Resources, as well as the RohstoffWissen! e.V., attention is given to the resilience of supply chains.

17.4.2020 Congratulations to Gubkin University 90th anniversary

It is with great pleasure to see Gukin University, Moscow, celebrating it'S 90th anniversary. It successfully addresses today's and future needs with its excellent and hands-on research being tied up with industrial partners. We, your partners at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, highly appreciate our partnership and friendship. We wish you ongoing success and look forward to further tie up our collaboration.

1.3.2020 PostDoc wanted

At the Institute of Applied Geosciences (AGW), Chair of Structural Geology, we seek a Researcher / Post-Doc (100%) TV-L E13 The position is funded for 3 years. Our research and teaching is on deformation of reservoirs, diagenesis and rock magnetics. This includes energy- and mineral resources and associated value chains. Job description: You and a PhD student work in an interdisciplinary team of geodesists, geomechanics, geophysicists, the Geological Survey NRW and industry partners on subsurface elevation of German coal districts due to groundwater rise. You use outcrops, maps and well data, and build reservoir models including our knowhow on fracture detection as well as our petrographic and petrophysical rock characterizations. Personal qualification: Successful candidates should have completed their master and PhD studies in the fields of geosciences, geophysics or in related fields. We are happy to receive your application! We offer an attractive and modern workplace with access to excellent facilities diverse and responsible tasks, a wide scope of advanced training options, and a salary according to TV-L E13. We prefer to balance the number of employees (f/m/d). Therefore, we kindly ask female applicants to apply for this job. If qualified, severely disabled persons will be preferred. Please send your complete professional CV including your educational background and experience as well as a brief statement of your research interests and two referees until March 31th, 2020 to Prof. Dr. Christoph Hilgers.

01.03.2020 PhD Student wanted

21.02.2020 Meetings canceled

Our plans to contribute to the Geological Society of India conference in Dehli, the Geotherm conference in Offenburg, the workshop in Sendai Japan, and the final workshop of BMBF GeoN MERID in Bonn were cancelled due to Corono. We hope, that our colleagues develop innovative methods to bring corona to a halt.

03.02.2020 DGMK short courses announced

We are happy to announce the new DGMK short courses:

DGMK/DGG Short Course: Machine Learning for Exploration Geophysics, 10 - 12 March, 2020 in Hamburg

DGMK/DMG/SGA Short Course: From Concept to Oil - The E&P Lifecycle, 26 - 28 May, 2020 in Würzburg

DGMK/DGGV Short Course: Indroduction to Well Logging for Earth Scientists, 9 - 11 June, 2020 Hamburg

For the course programs and further information please visit the DGMK website