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30.11.2010 - New projects on Klippen Geology

Tuesday 30. November 2010

New projects on Klippen Geology

Two new projects by Michael Wagreich and Clemens Pfersmann on the geology and stratigraphy of the Klippenzone and its continuation into the Carpathians have been approved recently: Project 1 " Paleogeographic and tectonic relationship between the Alpine and Carpathian klippen belts - a key to unravel Alpine mountain building in the transitional sector" was granted by the WTZ - Scientific and Technological Cooperation Austria-Slovakia. Project 2 was granted by the Hochschuljubiläumsstiftung Vienna: "Geochemistry and stratigraphy of the St. Veit Klippenzone". Both projects will further investigate samples from the Lainz Tunnel and correlations into the Pieniny Klippen Belt of Slovakia within the framework of the PhD work of Clemens Pfersmann and cooperation with Roman Aubrecht from the Comenius University, Bratislava.

There is also a recent article in the Forschungsnewsletter of the University of Vienna about this topic. 

Link to the article

Click on the picture to enlarge!

10.11.2010 - Von gestörten Steinen und schwarzem Gold

Wednesday 10. November 2010

Forschungsnewsletter Universität Wien
Von gestörten Steinen und schwarzem Gold

Ein Plastiksack gefüllt mit Sand, ein runder Bohrkern aus Kalkstein sowie grauer, kantiger Sandstein: Stolz zeigt die Geologin Ulrike Exner die verschiedenen Gesteinsproben auf ihrem Schreibtisch. Seit März 2010 untersucht die Elise-Richter-Stipendiatin sogenannte "Deformationsbänder". Was innerhalb dieser Bruchzonen passiert – die bei genauerem Hinsehen auch auf den präsentierten Gesteinsproben zu erkennen sind – und warum sich die Ölindustrie dafür interessiert, ist das Thema ihres dreijährigen FWF-Projekts.

Link to the article

10.11.2010 - Sedimentology Group at the GSA in Denver, USA

Wednesday 10. November 2010

Sedimentology Group at the GSA in Denver, USA

A group of sedimentologists of the department, Marie-Louise Grundtner, Geri Hofer, Stephanie Neuhuber, Benjamin Sames and Michael Wagreich was in the beginning of November at the Geological Society of America (GSA) Annual Meeting at Denver, Colorado. Michael Wagreich gave an invited talk at the Pardee Session on Rapid environmental/climate change in the Cretaceous. Also, a workshop on UNESCO-IGCP Project 555 was held. Outcrops of the Cretaceous Western Interior Basin were visited during a 2-days field trip, including the K/T boundary at Bijou Creek and the Turonian GSSP at Pueblo.

05.11.2010 - Guest Professor Giorgio Pennacchioni

Friday 05. November 2010

Guest Professor Giorgio Pennacchioni

Giorgio Pennacchioni, Professor at the University of Padova, Italy, visits the Structural Processes Group as a Guest Professor for three month.

We warmly welcome Giorgio to our group and hope that he enjoys a fruitful time in Vienna.

10.10.2010 - Von gestörten Steinen und schwarzem Gold

 

Forschungsnewsletter Universität Wien
Von gestörten Steinen und schwarzem Gold

Ein Plastiksack gefüllt mit Sand, ein runder Bohrkern aus Kalkstein sowie grauer, kantiger Sandstein: Stolz zeigt die Geologin Ulrike Exner die verschiedenen Gesteinsproben auf ihrem Schreibtisch. Seit März 2010 untersucht die Elise-Richter-Stipendiatin sogenannte "Deformationsbänder". Was innerhalb dieser Bruchzonen passiert – die bei genauerem Hinsehen auch auf den präsentierten Gesteinsproben zu erkennen sind – und warum sich die Ölindustrie dafür interessiert, ist das Thema ihres dreijährigen FWF-Projekts.

Link to the article

21.09.2010 - Starvation when everywhere else was plenty during Super-Greenhouse

Monday 21. September 2010

Starvation when everywhere else was plenty during Super-Greenhouse

A paper on Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 in the Super-Greenhouse time of the Cretaceous, 93 Million years ago, was recently published in Marine Micropaleontology.
It describes foraminiferal and new stable isotope evidence from the Ultrahelvetics of Upper Austria (Rehkogelgraben section). The semi-enclosed basin situation of the Penninic Ocean is thought to be responsible for differences between the high productivity in the world ocean leading to global anoxia during OAE 2, and the overall absence of high productivity indicators and high foraminiferal diversities at Rehkogelgraben. The authors interpret that the Penninic Ocean may have served as a refuge for plankton during the global environmental crisis.

GEBHARDT, H., FRIEDRICH, O., SCHENK, B., FOX, L., HART, M. & WAGREICH, M. (2010): Paleoceanographic changes at the northern Tethyan margin during the Cenomanian-Turonian Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE-2). Marine Micropaleontology (2010), doi:10.1016/j.marmicro.2010.07.002.

Link to the Article

Click on the pictures to enlarge!

16.09.2010 - Otto-Ampferer-Award for Ulrike Exner

Thursday 16. September 2010

Otto-Ampferer-Award for Ulrike Exner

Today at the Pangeo Conference, Ulrike Exner, member of our Department, and Cornelius Tschegg (Dept. for Lithospheric Research) received the highly renowned Otto-Ampferer-Award of the Austrian Geological Society (ÖGG). Ulrike received the Award for her outstanding research on deformation bands and flanking structures during the past few years.

The Laudatio was held by the President of the Austrian Geological Society, Christoph Spötl, who emphasized the high scientific level of the two Award-winners. With C. Tschegg being absent at the ceremony, U. Exner used the extend time to present her recent research and future plans.

Ulrike Exner puts herself in a long list of Award-winners in our Department, such as Erich Draganits, Bernhard Grasemann, Gerhard Wiesmayr and Kurt Decker.  

16.09.2010 - PANGEO Best Poster Award for Angelika Popotnig

Thursday 16. September 2010

PANGEO Best Poster Award for Angelika Popotnig

The Austrian Geological Society ÖGG awarded Angelika Popotnig for presenting the best poster at the conference PANGEO Austria 2010. Her contribution “Kinematics and tectonic geomorphology of the Lavantal Fault (Kinematik und tektonische Geomorphologie der Lavanttal-Störung)” outpaced some 150 competitive posters. The poster shows convincing geomorphological evidence for the continuous activity of the Lavantal Fault and surface uplift of the Koralm Range.

POPOPTNIG, A. & DECKER, K., 2010. Kinematik und tektonische Geomorphologie der Lavanttal-Störung, Kärnten. J Alpine Geology 52: 203.

Link to the Abstract
Link to the Poster

13.09.2010 - Geological excursion to the Cyclades

Monday 13. September 2010

Geological excursion to the Cyclades, Greece

During the last two weeks, 12 students from Bachelor to Ph.D. level attended a geological excursion to the Cyclades, Greece. The excursion was lead by Prof. Konstantin Petrakakis and Prof. Bernhard Grasemann, with the help of Dr. Hugh Rice and Dr. Marcel Frehner. We visited the most spectacular outcrops on the islands of Tinos, Syros and Serifos and were establishing the regional multi-phase deformation- and metamorphic history of the Cyclades.
This excursion also marked the official ending of the multi-year scientific project ACCEL (Aegean Core Complexes along an extended Lithosphere), which investigated the brittle-ductile low- and high-angle normal faults in the Cyclades during several Ph.D., Master and Bachelor subprojects.    

08.09.2010 - Glaciers at the Equator

Wednesday 08. September 2010

Glaciers at the Equator

Susanne Gier, a member of our department together with Peter Krois, a geologist from OMV, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the world’s highest freestanding mountain at an altitude of 5895 m. Enjoy the pictures of penitent ice and the small remaining equatorial glaciers from the top of the volcano!

 

31.08.2010 - Papers St. Marghareten

Tuesday 31. August 2010

Taking a close look at the St. Margarethen/Burgenland gravel pit

Two papers are in press about normal faults in the Miocene sediments at the margin of the Eisenstadt-Sopron Basin in the E of Austria. Balanced cross sections and GPR measurements re-assessed the fault geometry of a large normal fault with > 40 m of down dip displacement.

Darko Spahić, Ulrike Exner, Michael Behm, Bernhard Grasemann, Alexander Haring and Herbert Pretsch: Listric versus planar normal fault geometry: an example from the Eisenstadt-Sopron Basin (E Austria)

Link to the Article

Zooming into the details of associated smaller faults in the hanging wall of this major fault, a second paper investigates the spectacular deformation bands in uncemented gravel beds and proposes a mechanism for the formation of fault drag along faults with a high lenght/displacement ratio.

Ulrike Exner and Bernhard Grasemann: Deformation bands in gravels: displacement gradients and heterogeneous strain

Link to the Article

 

12.08.2010 - Tauern Exkursion

Thursday 12. August 2010

Excursion to the central Tauern Window with Prof. W. Frank

From 6. to 9. of August, 8 members of the Department joined an excursion to the Tauern Window, lead by Prof. Wolfgang Frank.

The group was completed by the mapping and GIS experts from the Austrian Geological Survey, as well as Prof. Stefan Schmid (Basel).

The foggy and rainy start was compensated by spectacular views and insights in the complex geological structures and lithological units. 

 

 

14.07.2010 - Bikepark Visit

Wednesday 14. July 2010

Bikepark Visit

Members of the Department of Geodynamics and Sedimentology
and Geophysicists of WesternGeco (Vienna) visited the bikepark
Zau[:ber:]g on the Semmering (www.bikeparksemmering.at), a
mountain about 70km S of Vienna.  

Downhill riding on several tracks including a freeride trail and a
northshore line inspired discussions of new collaborations. 

Click on the pictures to enlarge! 

22.06.2010 - Structrual Geology Fieldcourse

Tuesday 22. June 2010

Structrual Geology Fieldcourse
Spectacular field observations with 28 students on the Periadriatic Lineament in Bad Eisenkappel.

The Structural Processes Group spent 4 days on the annual Bachelor field course in Bad Eisenkappel. 28 highly motivated students, together with 2 tutors and 3 professors, observed and measured a number of geological structures, which they could finally fit into a large-scale tectonic picture. We confirmed the dextral strike-slip movement on the Periadriatic Line. Despite the bad weather forcast, we enjoyed some sunny days in Carinthia.
The picture on the right shows one of the many beatiful text-book-structures that we could observe during the field course. It is an inner-arc-compression structure in a Triassic limestone. The compression reveals itself in the form of a small-scale overthrust with approximately 15cm offset. On a smaller scale not visible on this picture, outer-arc-extension structurs in the form of calcite veins were also observable.

15.06.2010 - Planet Austria – das blaue Buch ist online!

Dienstag 15. Juni 2010

Planet Austria – das blaue Buch ist online!

Das Buch „Planet Austria“ der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, in dem auf unkonventionelle Art internationale Forschungsprojekte vorgestellt werden, herausgegeben von Günter Köck, Lois Lammerhuber (dem genialen Fotografen) und Werner Piller, ist online erschienen. Unter www.planet-austria.at stehen die Beiträge als Gratis-Download zur Verfügung, unter anderem auch der Beitrag über die rote Kreide von Michael Wagreich (p. 134).

Zielpublikum des Buches waren vor allem auch Schulen. Dazu ein Umfrageergebnis des BMUKK (7% Rücklaufquote):

• 62% der Schulen verwenden das Buch im Unterricht; das wären nahezu 140.000 angesprochene Schüler.
• 65% der Schulen bestätigen einen nunmehr höheren Bekanntheitsgrad der ÖAW.
• 34% der Schulen bestätigen, dass das Interesse der Schüler an der Forschung gestiegen ist.
• Immerhin 17% der Schulen bestätigen, dass sich der Kontakt zwischen der Schule und der Wissenschaft verstärkt hat.
• 66% der Schulen bestätigen, dass das dem Buch beiliegende Zusatzmaterial bei Schülern und Lehrpersonal Anklang gefunden hat.

Das Buch bzw. die Werbekampagne haben auch mehrere Preise gewonnen, etwa zuletzt bei einem der renommiertesten österreichischen Werbe-Wettbewerbe nach dem Silbernen Hahn nun auch den Goldenen Hahn in der Kategorie Public Relations "für beispielhafte Werbung“.

27.05.2010 - Neotectonic extrusion of the Eastern Alps: Constraints from U/Th dating of tectonically damaged speleothems

Donnerstag 27. Mai 2010

Neotectonic extrusion of the Eastern Alps: Constraints from U/Th dating of tectonically damaged speleothems

In their new paper published in Geology Lukas Plan, Bernhard Grasemann, Christoph Spötl, Kurt Decker, Ronny Boch und Jan Kramers suggests that the Salzachtal-Ennstal-Mariazell-Puchberg Fault is active accommodating lateral extrusion of the central part of the Eastern Alps towards the Pannonian Basin. The first direct field evidence of neotectonic activity comes from damaged speleothems from a cave in the Hochschwab karst massif (Styria, Austria). The youngest flowstone of the pre-damage generation is ca. 118 ka old (end of the Last Interglacial) and the oldest post-event layer is ca. 9 ka old (early Holocene). These new data are consistent with vectors of continuous GPS measurements as well as instrumental seismicity data and collectively suggest that the SEMP is an active fault and lateral extrusion of the Eastern Alps is ongoing.

Plan, L., Grasemann, B., Spötl, C., Decker, K., Boch, R., and Kramers, J., 2010, Neotectonic extrusion of the Eastern Alps: Constraints from U/Th dating of tectonically damaged speleothems: Geology, v. 38, p. 483-486.

Artikel in der Berliner Zeitung

Artikel im Standard

Artikel in dieUniversitaet online

26.05.2010 - Neuer Trench im Gebiet Maiersdorf/Neue Welt der OMV-Gosau-Projektgruppe

Mittwoch 26. Mai 2010

Neuer Trench im Gebiet Maiersdorf/Neue Welt der OMV-Gosau-Projektgruppe

Die OMV-Gosau-Projektgruppe (Erich Draganits, Michael Wagreich, Stephanie Neuhuber, Magda Bottig, Gerald Hofer, Marie-Louise Grundtner) arbeitet an einem Trench im Gebiet Maiersdorf/Neue Welt um Aufschlüsse über die kohleführenden Schichten (Grünbach-Formation) der Gosau-Gruppe von Grünbach zu erhalten und Proben zur Korrelation mit dem Untergrund des Wiener Beckens zu nehmen. Wie zu sehen ist, ist das angepeilte Ziel der Kohlelagen angetroffen worden. Die Probennahme dauert bis 28. Mai.

Trench Movie

14.05.2010 - EGU General Assembly

Freitag 14. Mai 2010

EGU General

Scientists and students of the Department for Geodynamics and Sedimentology participated actively at the EGU General Assembly in 2010, presenting 38 posters and 7 talks. The presentations covered a broad range of topics, including active tectonics, fault architecture, fault rock mechanics/deformation mechanisms/localization, numerical modeling, laser scanning, provenance studies, oceanic anoxic events, effects of climate on erosion/sedimentation, tectonic geomorphology, palaeoseismology, clay mineralogy and exhumation studies on (HP) metamorphic rocks. The mostly field based research covered areas in the Eastern Alps, the Vienna Basin, the Carpathians, Hungary, Greece, Egypt, Iraq and N. Norway.

For a summary of the presentations, click here!

12.03.2010 - Transpression Shear Zones in the Zagros Mountains (Iran)

Freitag 12. März 2010

Transpression Shear Zones in the Zagros Mountains (Iran)

Structural field work and quantitative investigations of mesoscopic and microscopic kinematic indicators revealed
dextral sense of shear with a strong shortening component perpendicular to the shear zone within the metamorphic rocks
of the Sanandaj-Sirjan metamorphic belt in the Zagros (Iran). These results suggest that the Zagros
Thrust System has been overprinted by a dextral transpressional shear zone accommodating oblique collision between the African–Arabian and the Iranian microcontinents. The finite strain patterns in the transpression zone of the study area are consistent with mathematical models that describe the finite strain patterns in inclined transpressional zones with bulk triclinic asymmetry.

Sarkarinejad, K., B. Samani, A. Faghih, B. Grasemann, and M. Moradipoor, 2010, Implications of strain and vorticity of flow analyses to interpret the kinematics of an oblique convergence event (Zagros Mountains, Iran): Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, v. 38, p. 34-43.

04.03.2010 - The effect of oscillations on seismic waves

Freitag 04. März 2010

The effect of oscillations on seismic waves

In two recently published book chapters, Marcel Frehner describes together with his two co-authors Holger Steeb (Ruhr-University Bochum) and Stefan M. Schmalholz (ETH Zurich) the influence of medium-internal oscillations on the propagation of seismic waves. Such oscillations can be of many origins, e.g. eigenresonance of heterogeneities, oscillation of fluid-patches in the pore space or trapped and guided waves.

The first chapter is a general description of a medium exhibiting internal oscillations. The second chapter is particularly focused on oscillations in a porous medium and describes how to include oscillatory behavior in the well-known Biot-equations for porous media. Both models result in a strong dispersion and frequency-dependent attenuation of a seismic wave. Especially the behavior of the wave close to the resonance frequency of the internal oscillations is quite interesting. There, the
frequency-dependent propagation behavior of the wave is most extreme.

Frehner M., Steeb H. and Schmalholz S.M., 2010: Wave velocity dispersion and attenuation in media exhibiting internal oscillations, Chapter 24 in Wave Propagation in Materials for Modern Applications (Ed: Petrin A.), In-Tech Education and Publishing, ISBN 978-953-7619-65-7

Steeb H., Frehner M. and Schmalholz S.M., 2010: Waves in residual-saturated porous media, Chapter 19 in Mechanics of Generalized Continua: One Hundred Years after the Cosserats (Eds: Maugin G.A. and Metrikine A.V.), Volume 21 of Springer series Advances in Mechanics and Mathematics, Springer Verlag, ISBN 978-1-4419-5694-1

18.01.2010 - Michael Wagreich spricht über die Kreidezeit auf Ö1

Freitag 22. Jänner 2010

Michael Wagreich spricht über die Kreidezeit auf Ö1

In der Ö1-Sendereihe „Vom Leben der Natur“ spricht Michael Wagreich über die Verhältnisse vor 100 Millionen Jahren, als die Erde vom Treibhausklima bestimmt war. Diese Woche ab dem 25.1.2010 von Montag bis Freitag jeweils um 8:55 im Programm Ö1.

Die mittlere Kreidezeit - im Zeitraum von 100 bis 80 Millionen Jahren vor heute - gilt als eine der wärmsten Perioden der Erdgeschichte. Gigantische Vulkanausbrüche setzten damals große Mengen an Kohlendioxid frei und führten zu einem lange anhaltenden, massiven Treibhausklima.

Forschungen im Rahmen eines internationalen UNESCO-Projekts untersuchten, welche Prozesse damals abliefen Die Erkenntnisse erwiesen sich als dramatisch: Das Treibhausklima der Kreidezeit war keineswegs so stabil wie bisher angenommen. Vielmehr gab es ein ständiges Auf und Ab der Temperaturen und große, sauerstofflose Todeszonen in den Ozeanen.

Besonders die errechneten natürlichen Abbauraten für das Kohlendioxid in der Atmosphäre lassen nichts Gutes für die Zukunft des globalen Klimas erwarten: Die Erde wird wahrscheinlich Hunderttausende oder sogar Millionen von Jahren benötigen, um das CO2 wieder abzubauen, das von unserer industriellen Zivilisation produziert wird.

Link zu Ö1 

05.01.2010 - 3rd article author Michael Wagreich

3^rd article author Michael Wagreich

Michael Wagreich is one of the authors of the 3rd article in the list of Elsevier’s Journal Cretaceous Research Top 10 articles cited (articles published in the last five years, January 2, 2010, extracted from SCOPUS) with 21 citations:

Hu, X., Jansa, L., Wang, C., Sarti, M., Bak, K., Wagreich, M., Michalik, J., Soták, J. (2005): Upper Cretaceous oceanic red beds (CORBs) in the Tethys: Occurrences, lithofacies, age, and environments. Cretaceous Research, volume 26, issue 1, 2005, pp. 3-20.

Link to Elsevier’s Journal of Cretaceous Research

05.01.2010 - Gastprofessor Bill Hay

Gastprofessor Bill Hay

William W. (Bill) Hay aus Estes Park, Colorado, USA, ist im Jänner 2010 als Gastprofessor am Department. Bill Hay war auf vielen Universitäten und Forschungseinrichtungen der Welt tätig, von Stanford über Miami, Washington und Boulder bis München und plante und unternahm Forschungsfahrten in Rahmen des Tiefseebohrprogrammes DDSP/ODP; zuletzt war er Professor für Paläozeanographie am GEOMAR in Kiel. Insbesondere beschäftigt er sich mit paläoklimatischen und paläozeanographischen Modellierungen und der Verifizierung von Paläoklimamodellen. Derzeit ist er Projektleiter (gemeinsam mit Michael Wagreich) des UNESCO IGCP Project 555 “Rapid Environmental/Climate Change in the Cretaceous Greenhouse World: Ocean-Land Interactions.”

Er wird am Department Vorlesungen über Paläozeanographie und Paläoklimatologie halten. Auf den Vortrag über “Quaternary and Recent Climate Change - a View from the Ocean” im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung zur Quartärforschung am Dienstag, 26.01.2010, 18:15, Geozentrum, HS 2, möchten wir besonders hinweisen.