LIAG / Press Releases 

Press Releases

Wechsel auf Führungsebene: Martin Sauter übernimmt die Leitung des LIAG

Hannover. Prof. Dr. Martin Sauter übernimmt im Dezember 2022 das Amt als Leiter des Leibniz-Instituts für Angewandte Geophysik. Er ist damit für die strategische Ausrichtung und den strukturellen Aufbau der Forschungseinrichtung verantwortlich. Den Amtsantritt führte der Staatssekretär des Niedersächsischen Ministeriums für Wirtschaft, Verkehr, Bauen und Digitalisierung Frank Doods am 6. Dezember feierlich am GEOZENTRUM Hannover ein.

Read more

Geoscientists discovered the climate history of the last 500,000 years of Central Mexico

Hanover/Mexico City. The effects of climate change on tropical regions are still poorly understood. However, they are among the most populated areas in the world. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG) have now created both an age-depth model and a moisture distribution for the last 500,000 years from one of the oldest lakes in Central Mexico, Lake Chalco. The results are clear: Central Mexico experienced recurrent dry periods related to the Earth's natural wobble. They published the results in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews.

Read more

EU funds research project for water and soil management in the North Sea region in times of climate change with over 4.5 Mio. EUR

Hanover, Germany. Groundwater and soil resources of the North Sea region are under pressure from climate change, human use and the resulting landscape changes. The availability of sufficient high-quality water requires immediate systemic strategies. The "Blue Transition" project, led and coordinated by geophysicist Prof. Dr Mike Müller-Petke of the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG), focuses on sustainable water and soil management to strengthen the resilience of the North Sea region. The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is funding "Blue Transition" in the Interreg North Sea Programme for three and a half years with over 4.5 million euros.

Read more

New approach determines neotectonic activity on concealed faults

Disaggregation bands can be easily detected in natural outcrops or artificial pits. (Christian Brandes, LUH)

Significance for earthquake hazard maps

Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG) and the Leibniz University of Hannover (LUH) have developed an approach to detect the connection between disaggregation bands - centimetre-thick zones of deformed sediments - and the neotectonic activity of hidden faults in the subsurface. Even creep activity can be detected. Hidden faults have a high seismic hazard potential. The approach meets the great need for a robust geological indicator and should support its designation in existing hazard maps. The journal Communications Earth & Environment from the Nature portfolio has published the study.

Read more

Completed research borehole will give insights into climate and landscape development in the Alpine region

Sediment core at the drilling site: taking samples.  (© Merlin Kamke / LIAG)

Winterstettenstadt/Southern Germany. The project "Drilling Overdeepened Alpine Valleys (DOVE)", part of the "International Continental Scientific Drilling Program" (ICDP), aims to reconstruct the spatial and temporal climate development during the ice ages up to 2.6 million years ago and show their influence on the landscape development in the entire Alpine region. To this end, the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG), in cooperation with the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg and the State Office for Geology, Raw Materials and Mining in the Freiburg Regional Council (LGRB), carried out three research boreholes in the German Alpine foothills near Winterstettenstadt, southern Germany. With the completion, the first findings are…

Read more

Anthropocene urges joining the expertise

Leibniz institutions and LIAG launch novel research initiative

Scientists from a wide range of disciplines from Leibniz Association institutions are launching an initiative for "Integrated Earth System Research". Together with partners from Germany, Europe and other countries, they will investigate the current epoch of the Earth’s history, which is strongly influenced by humans, in a coordinated and interdisciplinary way as never before. The findings will point out both high-risk and safe development paths for politics, business and civil society.

Read more

International research project starts with drillings in Germany to investigate the climate development in the alpine region

Research drillings should give information about the climate at that time (© H. Anger's Söhne)

How did the climate in the Alpine region change during the ice ages and shape glaciers, flora and fauna over the millennia?

Winterstettenstadt.  In April, the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG), in cooperation with the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg and the State Office for Geology, Raw Materials and Mining in the Freiburg Regional Council (LGRB), will start three research boreholes within the community of Ingoldingen southeast of Winterstettenstadt, Germany. The boreholes, which are up to 160 meters deep, mark the start of the international project "DOVE - Drilling Overdeepened Alpine Valleys". The aim of this project is to reconstruct the spatial and temporal climate development during the ice ages in the entire Alpine…

Read more

Manfred Frechen to be Acting Director of LIAG

 Prof. Dr. Manfred Frechen becomes acting director

The Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG) officially appoints Prof. Dr. Manfred Frechen as acting director by resolution of its Governing Board. Prof. Dr. Gerald Gabriel takes over his previous position as deputy director.

Both are currently in charge of the research areas "Geochronology" and "Seismics and Potential Methods" at the institute. In addition, the LIAG management was commissioned to define its research line in a framework concept with regard to the initial topics of “Groundwater Geophysics” and “Geohazards”. This is a first step towards an Institute for Environmental Geophysics.

Read more

Palaeoearthquakes in the eastern Alps – new dating methods allow age determination about the Periadriatic fault for the first time

LIAG and the University of Jena determine earliest age structures in important fault line.

Hanover/Jena. According to the current state of research, the eastern Periadriatic Fault System (PAF), on the border between the Eastern and Southern Alps, shows barely any historical and instrumental earthquakes - although it is one of the most important tectonic features of the Alps. In this new project, the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG) and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena are now using new dating methods, which for the first time will allow the most recent geological fault activities to be revealed.

Read more

Experts support the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics in defining its research direction

Dr. Berend Lindner, State Secretary of the Lower Saxony Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labour, Transport and Digitalisation and Prof. Dr. Manfred Frechen, Acting Director LIAG.

State Secretary Dr. Berend Lindner opened "Future for LIAG" workshop.

Hanover. On the 7th and 8th September, the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG) initiated a two-day workshop to discuss its future line of research with 11 external scientists who have a proven expertise in geoscientific topics and geophysics. The event was opened by Dr. Berend Lindner, State Secretary of the Lower Saxony Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labour, Transport and Digitalisation.

Read more