SFB 526:  Rheology of the Earth - From the Upper Crust into the Subduction Zone

• Subject Area: Geosciences ; Construction Engineering and Architecture ; Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
• Term: from 1999 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5483572

The collaborative research centre 526 focuses on the mechanical behaviour of Earth materials on all scales and at various conditions, from the Earth´s surface to its deep interior. Scientists from various branches of geophysics (seismology to rock physics), geology, crystallography, petrology, material science, mechanics, soil mechanics and foundation engineering cooperate within 16 individual projects, which deal with the following questions:
(A) Which parameters control the strength of the upper crust?
(B) Which processes and properties are relevant for the transition between brittle upper and ductile lower crust?
(C) What is the mechanical state of convergent plate boundaries?
(D) What is the specific behaviour of polyphase materials compared to single phase materials?
(E) How to derive principal rheological parameters for rock-forming minerals in innovative laboratory experiments?
Within each group of projects a combination of the following approaches is emphasized:
(1) Analysis of microfabrics and structures of natural rocks from submicroscopic to crustal scale,
(2) laboratory experiments that highlight the elementary processes of rock deformation,
(3) geophysical field studies to unravel actual processes and conditions at depth, and
(4) development of models and numerical simulation. The ultimate goal is an improved understanding of the mechanical behaviour of earth materials on all scales in space and time, the establishment of appropriate models, and the simulation of deformation processes based on the achieved experimental and analytical results.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres

Completed projects

• A01 - Physical modeling of shear band formation in granular and cohesive material (Project Heads König, Diethard ;  Triantafyllidis, Theodoros )
• A04 - Global material relations of jointed rock (Project Head Bruhns, Otto-Timme )
• A6 - Festigkeit und Spannungsregime in der Oberkruste (Project Head Rummel, Fritz )
• A07 - Fracture Energy of Propagating Cracks in Rock (Project Head Kalthoff, Jörg F. )
• A10 - Fluid transport and frictional strength of jointed or faulted rocks (Project Heads Mosler, Jörn ;  Renner, Jörg )
• A11 - Rheology of upper crustal rocks on different scales - from experiments in the lab to mining-induced seismicity (Project Heads Alber, Michael ;  Meier, Thomas )
• A12 - Lateral extent and microstructure of the damage zone along natural tensile cracks (Project Head Stöckhert, Bernhard )
• B1 - Ein in-situ Experiment zum Verständnis des spröd/duktil Übergangs in der kontinentalen Kruste (Project Heads Harjes, Hans-Peter ;  Rummel, Fritz )
• B2 - Ermittlung rheologischer Parameter mittels Modellierung zeitabhängiger Krustendeformationen (Project Head Roth, Frank )
• B3 - Mikrostrukturelle Kriterien für postseismisches Kriechen unterhalb der Sprödplastisch-Übergangszone (Project Head Stöckhert, Bernhard )
• B04 - High stress quartz plasticity and fabric development during stress relaxation and annealing - an experimental study (Project Heads Stöckhert, Bernhard ;  Trepmann, Claudia )
• B05 - Evolution of stress and pore fluid pressure through the plastic to brittle transition, southern Evia, Greece (Project Head Stöckhert, Bernhard )
• B06 - Fracture pattern and deformation of quartz veins in eclogite beneath a large low-angle normal fault, Rugsundoya, Norway (Project Heads Röller, Klaus ;  Stöckhert, Bernhard )
• B07 - Rheological response of continental crust to thermal pulses related to magmatism and volcanism (Project Heads Chakraborty, Ph.D., Sumit ;  Hackl, Klaus )
• B08 - Rheological information from forward modelling of mesoscopic structures (Project Head Hampel, Andrea )
• B09 - Microfabric development in peridotites during high stress deformation and subsequent annealing - experiment and nature (Project Heads Renner, Jörg ;  Stöckhert, Bernhard ;  Trepmann, Claudia )
• C01 - Rheology of eclogitic rocks (Project Heads Renner, Jörg ;  Stöckhert, Bernhard )
• C02 - Structural and rheological information of the Hellenic subduction zone from gravity data (Project Head Casten, Uwe )
• C3 - Rheologische Struktur in der Hellenischen Subduktionszone aus herdmechanischen Untersuchungen (Project Heads Harjes, Hans-Peter ;  Jost, Michael L. )
• C04 - Seismicity of the Hellenic Subduction zone (Project Heads Friederich, Wolfgang ;  Meier, Thomas )
• C05 - Time-Delayed Tectonic Effects and Interaction of Earthquakes (Project Head Roth, Frank )
• C06 - Elastic and anelastic properties of the Hellenic subduction zone - plate contact and mantle wedge (Project Heads Friederich, Wolfgang ;  Meier, Thomas )
• C07 - Numerical modelling of dynamic processes in the Hellenic subduction zone (Project Heads Casten, Uwe ;  Fischer, Kasper David )
• C08 - Relations betwenn tectonic models and distribution of physical properties in subduction zones (Project Heads Bruhns, Otto-Timme ;  Friederich, Wolfgang )
• C09 - Subduction channels - structure, mechanism, scales from the geological record (Project Heads Stöckhert, Bernhard ;  Trepmann, Claudia )
• D1 - Phaseneigenschaften durch Mikrowarmindentation (Project Heads Berns, Hans ;  Stöckhert, Bernhard )
• D02 - Elementary Mechanisms of Sissolution Precipitation Creep studied in Model Systems (Project Heads Jordan, Guntram ;  Röller, Klaus ;  Schmahl, Wolfgang W. )
• D3 - Lösungs-Fällungs-Kriechen in mehrphasigen Gesteinen: Schmelztopologie unter UHPM-Bedingungen (Project Heads Burchard, Michael ;  Duyster, Johannes ;  Maresch, Walter Viktor ;  Röller, Klaus ;  Stöckhert, Bernhard )
• D04 - Mikromechanismen des Kriechens in Materialien mit annähernd zylinderförmigen, spröden Hartphasen und uktiler Matrix (Project Heads Eggeler, Gunther ;  Skrotzki, Birgit ;  Stöckhert, Bernhard )
• D06 - Mass transport, densities, viscosities and kinetics of solution/reprecipitation in aqueous fluids coexisting with mineral assemblages (Project Heads Burchard, Michael ;  Fockenberg, Thomas ;  Maresch, Walter Viktor ;  Medenbach, Olaf )
• D7 - Die Abhängigkeit des Versetzungskriechens von Umgebungsvariablen (P, T, Chemie): Die Kontrolle durch Punktdefekte in Mineralen (Project Heads Becker, Hans Werner ;  Chakraborty, Ph.D., Sumit )
• D08 - Solution-precipitation creep - constitutive modelling and experimental confirmation (Project Heads Hackl, Klaus ;  Maresch, Walter Viktor )
• D09 - Fragmentation analysis of rocks under seismic loading conditions (Project Head Le, Khanh Chau )
• D10 - The grain-scale distribution of hydrous silicate melts and the viscous compaction of partially molten aggregates (Project Head Renner, Jörg )
• D11 - Diffusion and speciation of dissolved oxides in H2O at high pressures and temperatures (Project Heads Doltsinis, Nikos L. ;  Maresch, Walter Viktor )
• D12 - Rheology of crystalline target rocks during impact cratering (Project Head Trepmann, Claudia )
• D13 - The effect of stress on transport processes at interfaces (Project Heads Hackl, Klaus ;  Renner, Jörg )
• E01 - The dependece of dislocation creep rate of minerals on environmental variables (P,T and chemistry): II. Ther role of water (Project Heads Becker, Hans Werner ;  Chakraborty, Ph.D., Sumit )
• E01 - The dependence of the creep rate of minerals on environmental variables (P, T, and chemistry): Part IV Experiments and models (Project Heads Becker, Hans Werner ;  Chakraborty, Ph.D., Sumit )
• E03 - Elastic properties of selected subduction zone minerals (Project Head Schreuer, Jürgen )
• E04 - The evolution of microstructure in polycristalline aggregates deforming at high temperature: numerical modeling guided by experimental constraints (Project Heads Hackl, Klaus ;  Renner, Jörg )
• Z01 - Coordination and management (Project Heads Bruhns, Otto-Timme ;  Röller, Klaus ;  Stöckhert, Bernhard )
• Z01 - Central tasks of the Collaborative Research Centre (Project Heads Friederich, Wolfgang ;  Röller, Klaus ;  Stöckhert, Bernhard )

• Applicant Institution: Ruhr-Universität Bochum
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Wolfgang Friederich