Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics

Welcome to LIAG

The Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG) is an independent research institute that conducts research on the upper part of the Earth's crust. The focus of our work is to explore structures and processes in the subsurface by using geophysical methods. For this purpose, we develop and optimize measurement techniques as well as processing, modeling, and inversion methods. Our research is future-oriented and of public interest.

We are member of the Leibniz Association.

News

3rd to 19th September 2019: LIAG researchers get to the bottom of overdeepened valleys in the Swiss Alps

LIAG/H.Buness: Preparing seismic measurements in the Alps.

About 2.6 million years ago, the peaks and valleys of the Alps were much higher. However, the advancing glaciers first eroded deep into the bedrock during different ice ages. The overdeepened valleys were filled with different sediments at the same time. Within the framework of the DOVE project, researchers from the LIAG and other partners will to use these sediments to draw conclusions on the climate history of the Alps. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the researchers will try to understand the valleys using core drillings. In order to provide the best possible information about the various glacial events, researchers need to know exactly where they have to drill. At this moment, with the help of the seismic method, employees from LIAG are clarifying this question in Basadingen, Switzerland. Using various seismic measuring methods, they look as deep as possible into the underground of the valleys to find the best location for drilling next year.

Press Release

In a recently published Nature article, an international research team with LIAG participation unlocks the secrets of Lake Ohrid that is located between Northern Macedonia and Albania. With an age of 1.4 million years, Lake Ohrid is not only the oldest lake in Europe, but also an ideal witness of Mediterranean climate history. The drilling took place within the framework of the ICDP (International Continental Scientific Drilling Program). The research team discovered pronounced low-pressure areas with intensive rainfall during interglacial periods. Similar phenomena could occur again in the future, as a result of man-made climate change.

27th August 2019: Start of the new DESMEX II project

At the end of August, the partners of the DESMEX II project met to start the three-year project. The follow-up project to DESMEX I, is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), and intends to use electromagnetic methods in order to find deposits of ores and critical minerals at depths of more than 500 metres. So far, there are only limited methods to reliably explore deposits at greater depths. In the DESMEX project, the partners from science, public administration and industry developed sensors to measure the electromagnetic fields generated in the ground more accurately. In order to obtain the most comprehensive image possible, the sensors will be mounted on helicopters, including drones, and flown over areas several square kilometers in size. The LIAG researchers are developing algorithms to reconstruct a precise image of the subsurface from the measured data. In the new project phase, the focus will be on applying the developed sensors and algorithms, refining them and making them ready for practical use.

See more: https://www.leibniz-liag.de/forschung/projekte/drittmittelprojekte/desmex-teilvorhaben-iv-modellierung-und-inversion.html