News Archive
Doctoral Examination Mehrdad Ahkami
02.11.2020
On Monday, July 27th, Justin Ezekiel has successfully defended his PhD thesis, entitled: “Assessment and optimization of geological carbon storage and energy production from deep natural gas reservoirs”.
Doctoral Examination Marina Lima
09.09.2020
On Tuesday, September 8th, Marina Grimm Lima has successfully defended her PhD thesis, entitled: “Evolution of permeability of natural fractures due to THMC processes in the context of CO2-based reservoir applications”.
Airborne geomagnetic survey over the lavafields near Þorbjörn volcano in Iceland
20.08.2020
Franco Aubert and Friedemann Samrock just completed 137km of airborne geomagnetic survey over the lavafields near Þorbjörn volcano in Iceland. The study is part of project MAGIC – Multidisciplinary imaging and characterization of the magma/fluid reservoir beneath Svartsengi – in collaboration with GFZ Potsdam, ISOR and the University of Iceland. The photo shows our drone during a mission and the 74.4MWe Svartsengi power plant in the background. (click on picture to enlarge)
Read more – link to project website
Tenure for Dr. Xiang-Zhao Kong
09.08.2020
Dr. Xiang-Zhao Kong has achieved permanency status (tenure) in the Geothermal Energy and Geofluids (GEG) group of the Department of Earth Sciences at ETH Zurich. He has done an outstanding job, which includes research and publications, student supervision, raising grants, and setting up the GREAT Visualization lab of the GEG Group.
New project: studying geothermal resources in Ethiopia
01.08.2020
New project MIRIGE in Ethiopia to study magmatic rifting and the formation of geothermal resources funded by ETH grant.
Read more – link to project website
Doctoral Examination Justin Ezekiel
28.07.2020
On Monday, July 27th, Justin Ezekiel has successfully defended his PhD thesis, entitled: “Assessment and optimization of geological carbon storage and energy production from deep natural gas reservoirs”.
Top Ranking for ETH Zurich in the QS World University Ranking
17.06.2020
ETH Zurich has demonstrated continuous improvement in the QS World University Ranking, from 12th place in 2015 to 6th place in last year’s 2020 ranking.
Top 1 Ranking for ETH Zurich’s Earth Sciences in QS World University Rankings
17.06.2020
Earth and marine sciences at ETH Zurich was ranked the best in the world for the 5th time in a row.
Read more – link to QS TopUniversities Webpage
Doctoral Examination Jin Ma
29.03.2020
On Thursday, May 28th, Jin Ma has successfully defended her PhD thesis, entitled: “Investigation of mineral reactivity in CO2-bearing solutions: An application to CCUS in geothermal reservoirs”.
Doctoral Examination Mahmoud Hefny
27.03.2020
On Thursday, March 26th, Mahmoud Hefny has successfully defended his PhD thesis, entitled: “Rock physics and heterogeneities characterization controlling fluid flow in reservoir rocks”.
Doctoral Examination Philipp Schädle
25.03.2020
On Tuesday, March 24th, Philipp Schädle has successfully defended his PhD thesis, entitled: “Flow and transport through fractured rock – numerical approaches to account for fracture heterogeneity”.
Up-to date news from the CORONAVIRUS RESOURCE CENTER at Johns Hopkins University (USA)
11.03.2020
Corona Virus map from John Hopkins University
For information on ETH’s rules and recommendations concerning the Coronavirus situation
read here
New photo gallery of geothermal exploration for green energy in Mongolia.
03.02.2020
The burning of coal for heating is a major cause of harmful air pollution and massive greenhouse gas emissions in Mongolia’s cities. This photo gallery provides authentic insights into the progress of introducing a scientific framework for geothermal exploration.
read more
Doctoral Examination Edoardo Rossi
08.01.2020
On Tuesday, January 7th, Edoardo Rossi has successfully passed the Doctoral Examination. Edoardo’s PhD thesis title: “Combined Thermo-Mechanical Drilling technology to enhance access to deep geo-resources”.
Doctoral Examination Anniina Kittilä
09.09.2019
On Monday, September 9th, Anniina Kittilä has successfully passed the Doctoral Examination. Anniina’s PhD thesis title: “Tracer-based characterization of stimulation enhanced pore volume and application of novel DNA nanotracers in fractured crystalline rock”.
Prix d’Excellence by the Enovo Foundation
01.12.2019
Marthe Faber has been awarded the ‘Prix d’Excelence’ by the Enovo Fondation and its partners, the Association da Vinci and l’ANEIL (National Association of Luxembourg Engineering Students). The prize is awarded to students with the best thesis grade in engineering. Marthe conducted the research for her MSc thesis ‘Usage Of Inter-Site Electromagnetic Transfer Functions In Exploration For Geothermal Resources’ at GEG in 2018.
read more – link to the Foundation de Luxembourg
Top Ranking for ETH Zurich’s Earth Sciences in Nature Index 2018
20.12.2018
ETH is listed number one among the 200 best academic institutions in Earth & Environmental Sciences in the Nature Index 2018. This index is based on publications in the 82 journals selected as the most important journals by two panels of scientists, which are independent of the Nature Publishing Group.
read more
SNF Ambizione Grant
25.10.2018
Dr. Allan Leal has been awarded an SNF Ambizione grant to develop innovative computational methods for ultra-fast simulations of coupled physical and chemical processes using machine learning and GPU parallel computing, starting on January 1, 2019.
Link to personal homepage of Allan Leal
SNF R4D Grant
01.10.2018
Dr. Friedemann Samrock has been awarded an SNF R4D grant to develop a geoscientific framework for geothermal exploration and energy utilization in Mongolia, started on September 1, 2018.
Link to Project’s page of SNF

© ETH Zürich / Marco Carocari
Top Ranking for ETH Zurich’s Earth Sciences in QS World University Rankings
14.03.2018
Earth and marine sciences at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich was ranked the best in the world for the 4th time in a row. The results were published by the QS World University Rankings.
read more
9th European Geothermal PhD Days
March 14-16, 2018
In 2018, the PhD students from the Geothermal Energy and Geofluids (GEG) Group at ETH Zurich will be hosting the 9th European Geothermal PhD Days. The EGPD 2018 event will take place on March, 14th-16th at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH), Switzerland.
Safe geothermal energy
11.05.2017
Scientists are searching for safer drilling methods: geothermal energy can provide sustainable and clean energy right where we need it – however seismicity may be induced. Scientists at ETH Zurich investigate how to prevent these earthquakes.

© Daniel Winkler, ETH Globe
The rock crackers
12.03.2017
ETH Zurich researchers working at NAGRA’s Grimsel rock laboratory have retreated deep inside the mountain. By fracturing solid rock, they are hoping to re-examine the feasibility of geothermal power plants based on petrothermal technology. (ETH Globe, 01/2017)
read more

© ETH Zurich / Alessandro Della Bella
New Course Geofluids
14.03.2017
This semester the new course ‘Geofluids’, offered by the GEG Group, within the Earth Science Masters Program counts 32 registered students.
read more
MOOSE workshop at ETH Zurich
March 19-22, 2018
We are pleased to announce a workshop on the Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE, http://mooseframework.org) to be given by the MOOSE development team at ETH Zurich and organized by the GEG Group, from March 19-22, 2018.
Inauguration of commemorative plaque for the Werner Siemens Foundation
12.09.2017
Werner Siemens Foundation visits the Geothermal Energy & Geofluids Group and has a guided tour at the GEG Laboratories.
read more on ETH Foundation webpage