Research

Seismology is the study of the composition, structure, and state of the Earth’s interior. It encompasses investigating the genesis of earthquakes and the processes of earthquake wave propagation within and along the surface of the Earth.

Outstanding seismological and geodynamic questions. What are the driving forces of plate tectonics? What is the role of hot upwellings in the thermal evolution of the Earth? Does the Earth's mantle convect globally, or layered? What is the mechanism of deep earthquakes? What constrains the largest depth of earthquakes? What can ground motions actually resolve in imaging the Earth's interior? How do we formulate a robust imaging technique for an ill-posed inverse problem?

We address a number of these questions by using seismic waves of all kinds and wavelengths to image, with the help of seismic tomography, the three dimensional structure of the inner parts of the Earth. This relatively young research method has already proved to be by far the most important geophysical method to image and understand the structure of the Earth’s interior. An important research focus is to improve and extend this method.

Planetary science uses a broad range of data from a variety of disciplines (geophysics, petrology, geochemistry, and geodynamics) to constrain the composition, origin, and evolution of the Earth and the terrestrial planets.

SEG activities at a glance

Enlarged view: alpine structure

Alpine structure

We investigate orogens, the "crunch zone" where two tectonic plates collide, and subduction zones. The three-dimensional depth structure of the larger Alpine area is, due in large part to decades of research conducted at ETH, by far the best known "root zone" of a mountain chain worldwide.

Enlarged view: global waves

Computational seismology

We address seismic forward (numerical wave propagation) and inverse problems (finite-frequency tomography, adjoint methods) with sophisticated numerical techniques to retrieve 3D models of the subsurface at scales from the crust to the core.

Computational Earthquake Physics

We develop multi-scale and multi-physics modeling techniques to simulate sequences of earthquakes and aseismic slip (SEAS) and investigate earthquake source physics, fault mechanics, seismic and aseismic slip, slow-slip events, solid-fluid interactions, and the interplay between tectonic space-time scales of crustal deformation and seismic space-time scales of rapid and localized earthquake source processes.

Enlarged view: lisa

Planetary Science

We use a broad range of data from a variety of disciplines (geophysics, petrology, geochemistry, and geodynamics) to constrain the composition, origin, and evolution of the Earth and the terrestrial planets.

Enlarged view: mediterranean tomography

Global tomography

We utilize seismic observations to map and interpret the internal structure of the Earth. A focus of research is the further development of surface wave tomography combined with body wave tomography.

Enlarged view: lisa

Aerospace electronics and instruments

We develop electronics and instruments for lightweight broadband seismometers in planetary seismology and aerospace missions.

 

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