The Institute of Geophysics is a public research institution whose mission is to conduct fundamental and applied research in the Earth sciences, to maintain a network of Earth observation facilities, and to engage in education and informing the public on scientific issues of high societal importance.
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Stress variations and non-shear earthquakes before the 2021 Iceland eruption trace magmatic fluids
Fluids play a fundamental role in driving seismic and volcanic activity. Unlike magma, which is molten rock, fluids are low-viscosity substances that can penetrate fractures in the Earth's crust, modifying its mechanical properties. Changes in fluid pressure can...
Boil, freeze, bubble, crack, repeat! Czech and British scientists simulate the Solar System’s ‘ice volcanoes’ in the lab
On Earth, water follows well-known physical rules: it freezes below 0 °C and boils above 100 °C. But on icy moons like Europa or Enceladus—worlds with extremely thin or even absent atmospheres—water behaves in fundamentally different and unstable ways. Under such...
Presentations on submission and evaluation of ERC projects
On Monday, 7 July 2025, Julie Oppenheimer from ERC Executive Agency (ERCEA) in Brussels delivered a presentation on the procedure of submission and evaluation of ERC proposals. The statistical data, such as submission/success rate, were presented across all research...
Hematite responds sensitively to deformation
Rocks containing iron oxides can preserve a magnetic record of the Earth's magnetic field history, the age of the rock, and the processes that have affected it. The magnetic properties of these rocks provide information about the composition, size, shape, and...