The Zagros Mountain Front Flexure (MFF) makes a prominent topographic and structural step along the Zagros Fold-Thrust Belt that accommodates a significant amount of shortening between the Eurasian and Arabian plates. Here, the structural style below the MFF in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq was reconstructed using balanced cross-sections and forward modeling, and Late Pleistocene-Holocene fault-slip rates were calculated across several structures using luminescence dating of river terraces along the Greater Zab River. A balanced...

Melt inclusions in zircon (MIZ) directly reflect the physicochemical state of the magma during zircon growth. However, their potential as geothermometers and petrogenetic indicators is still poorly explored. Therefore, we investigated MIZ from well-characterized mafic and felsic rocks of the Bushveld Complex (South Africa) and acquired a novel dataset of major, trace and volatile element contents. Re-homogenized MIZ of all rock types display rhyolitic compositions (65-78 wt% SiO2) and similar H2O contents (1.6-4.0 wt%). Liquidus...

Geosciences only play a minor role in today’s German and Austrian school curricula, although being strongly related to important topics such as climate change and sustainability of resources. The Mineralogical Science Kit (Mineralogischer Lehrkoffer ‘mileko’) aims at bringing back geoscientific and mineralogical contents into STEAM-fields (science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics) by linking mineralogy to regular teaching subjects. In 5 different modules pupils can not only discover the world of rocks and minerals but also get...

During drilling of the Gotthard Base Tunnel through the Central Alps the exposed fractured rocks and the frequent water inflows provided a deep insight into regional hydrogeological processes in orogenic crystalline basements. Here we report data from the 10 km long central Sedrun section. 211 water samples were collected from frequent inflow points at 900 to 2350 m below the surface. The singular samples and data provide a comprehension of the deep hydrochemical cross-section through...

Storage of energy and carbon dioxide in subsurface geological formations has been identified as key for future systems relying on renewable, zero carbon power and heat generation. All subsurface storage systems rely on the properties and integrity of the reservoir and its confining units under thermal, mechanical, hydraulic and chemical stress. These similarities enable the transfer of know-how from one type of fluid storage to another, highlighting the need for research knowledge exchange. Besides the...

Geoscientific questions are increasingly relevant in our daily life. However, the public awareness of geoscientific topics is very limited. Therefore, it is important to inverse the visibility of geoscientific challenges and solutions in our society. Communicating geosciences to a broader audience implies the use of innovative strategies for public outreach. We have to encourage kids to become enthusiastic about geoscientific topics already in schools and leisure activities such as museums. Besides public outreach and school...

The panalpine project "DOVE" (Drilling Overdeepened Alpine Valleys), co-funded by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP), is drilling a series of overdeepened glacial troughs around the Alps that were formed by subglacial erosion during past glaciations. In the northeastern section of the DOVE project, we (re)investigate the inneralpine basin of Bad Aussee (Traun glacier area, Austria), the subalpine basin of the Salzach Foreland glacier (Neusillersdorf, Bavaria), and the tongue basin area of the Pleistocene...

The panalpine project "DOVE" (Drilling Overdeepened Alpine Valleys), co-funded by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP), is drilling a series of overdeepened glacial troughs around the Alps that were formed by subglacial erosion during past glaciations. The sedimentary fill of these troughs, consisting of multiple stacked and nested glacial sequences, provides the best archives of when and where glaciers reached the Alpine forelands. The combined data from all DOVE sites comprising synchronous or asynchronous...