Tectonics

Left: Examples of active tectonics: break up of continents in the Red Sea region and mountain building in the Alps. Right: Tectonic processes are investigated by numerical models, field studies, and analogue experiments.

Curious to know why tectonic plates break apart, how mountain ranges are formed, or why some parts of continents go up while other parts go down? Ever wondered why there are so many heavy earthquakes in Italy, and almost none in the Netherlands? Or how to explore for sustainable geothermal energy?

To answer these fundamental questions the Tectonics Group conducts innovative research to get a better understanding of the tectonic processes that control the mechanical deformation and thermal evolution of the Earth’s lithosphere and sedimentary basins.  

Research projects are driven by geological field studies in selected natural laboratories in Europe, and facilitated by the group’s laboratory for analogue and numerical tectonic modelling, the TecLab.

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Scientific profile
List of publications


Tectonic Modelling Laboratory (TecLab)

In our tectonic modelling laboratory (TecLab) we use "scaled analogue models" to better understand large scale tectonic deformation processes, such as the breakup of the Earth's crust or the formation of mountain ranges.

Visit the lab's website


Contact / secretariat

Academic staff

Postdoctoral researchers

PhD candidates

TecLab assistant

Former colleagues & visitors