Latest news

Published on October 27, 2025

The sustainable reduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions is one of the major challenges of the energy transition. Among the strategies being explored, mineral carbonation involves converting CO₂ into stable minerals capable of trapping it over the long term.
At ISTerre, researchers are particularly interested in the formation of synthetic magnesite (MgCO₃) from magnesium-rich ultramafic rocks, such as peridotites. This process relies on indirect accelerated carbonation, which (…)

Read more

Published on October 20, 2025

Recent modeling work explores how Earth’s geological and climatic evolution has shaped the global distribution of biodiversity, the well-known gradient in which species richness increases from the poles toward the tropics. By combining paleogeographic reconstructions with an eco-evolutionary model simulating 125 million years of diversification, researchers modeled the evolution, dispersal, and adaptation of species across ever-changing landscapes.
The results show that plate tectonics (…)

Read more

Published on October 13, 2025

Using Sentinel-1 InSAR data, this study models present-day tectonic deformation across Pakistan’s Sulaiman Range, a major transpressional zone along the Indian–Eurasian plate boundary. Numerical simulations incorporating key faults—the Gwal–Bagh thrust, Harnaï fault, Kingri fault, and a basal décollement—reveal complex strain partitioning between thrusting and strike-slip motion.
In the eastern Sulaiman Range, left-lateral creep up to 12 mm/yr occurs along the Kingri fault, coupled with (…)

Read more

Published on October 06, 2025

In September 2024, the call for contributions for the 14th edition of the International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) took place. Updated every five years since 1965, the IGRF provides a global magnetic map along with five-year forecasts. It is essential for research on Earth’s core, space weather, and crustal magnetic anomalies, and it also supports practical applications such as navigation and guidance.
In this context, the ISTerre geodynamo team presented its candidate model, (…)

Read more

Published on September 29, 2025

Rock glaciers and other persistent mass-movement areas (PMAs) are key indicators of periglacial and gravitational processes. Monitoring them over large areas and across multiple decades remains challenging due to spatial variability and the lack of continuous data.
To overcome these challenges, researchers have developed a method that combines image correlation, temporal inversion, and automatic detection of PMAs using 24 years of Landsat 7/8 imagery, validated by high-resolution (…)

Read more

Published on September 26, 2025

Scientists from the Institute of Earth Sciences (ISTERRE – OSUG, UGA/CNRS/USMB/IRD/Université Gustave Eiffel) provide insights into the February 2025 Santorini–Kolumbo seismo-volcanic crisis in a study published in Nature.
A seismic swarm shook the Greek islands of Santorini and Amorgos in the Aegean Sea for an exceptional duration of 20 days in February 2025. Authorities urged the inhabitants of Santorini to remain vigilant in the face of this unusual situation (schools were closed, (…)

Read more

Published on September 22, 2025

Normal faults, often responsible for destructive earthquakes, leave characteristic scarps in the landscape. Measuring their height helps to better understand the past activity of faults, but this task remains time-consuming, subjective, and difficult to reproduce.
To simplify and make this task more reliable, researchers developed ScarpLearn, a method based on deep learning. The tool uses convolutional neural networks (CNNs) trained on simulated data to automatically estimate scarp (…)

Read more

Published on September 15, 2025

In the quest to understand the dynamics of complex systems, researchers explore surprising connections between living organisms and inanimate matter. This recent study proposes a unified framework in which both can be considered as multi-scale complex systems, evolving through interactions, fluctuations, and structural adaptations.
Granular materials, such as interacting particle assemblies like sand, provide an illustrative example. Despite their apparent simplicity, these systems (…)

Read more

Published on September 08, 2025

In the Belledonne Massif above Grenoble, the Chamrousse ophiolite was long considered a rare remnant of Cambro-Ordovician oceanic crust. However, new U–Pb zircon dating reveals a much more complex history.
At the base, the amphibolite unit (460–520 Ma) represents magmatism associated with continental rifting of the northern Gondwana margin, with inherited Proterozoic zircons reflecting Pan-African influence. Higher up, the gabbros, ultramafic rocks, and basaltic dikes (345–360 Ma) record (…)

Read more

Published on July 21, 2025

As part of the study of tectono-sedimentary processes in deep marine environments, researchers have developed a new underwater photogrammetry method.
This study introduces a new underwater photogrammetric method applied to video data from the Nautile submersible, enabling detailed 3D reconstructions of sedimentary structures on the eastern flank of the Buteur Ridge. By carefully controlling camera movement and image quality, the method produces highly accurate 3D models that surpass the (…)

Read more