11th International Workshop on Modeling of Mantle Convection
and Lithospheric Dynamics

June 28 - July 3, 2009, Braunwald, Switzerland

Front page

Scope & program

Poster sessions

Pre-registered participants

Support & credits

Practical informations



IASPEI

Swiss National Science Foundation

Swiss Academy of Sciences

Swiss Academy of Sciences


On this page you can find information about the 11th Worksop on "Modeling of Mantle Convection & Lithospheric Dynamics":


Download the program book here (updated 26/06/2009).




Workshop series: purpose & goals


This workshop is the next in a series of successful workshops held in various locations throughout Europe approximately every 2 years, since 1989 (the three previous ones have been held in Carry-le-Rouet (2007), Erice (2005), Hruba Skala (2003)), and it is generally regarded as the main European conference in geodynamics. The main goals of this workshop are:

  • to provide a forum for in-depth discussion on scientific and technical issues in geodynamic modelling, and integration with other related fields,
  • to introduce students and postdocs to the breadth of current geodynamic research, in an informal setting
  • to foster interdisciplinary and international collaboration.

The workshop has a five-day program with oral presentation provided solely by invited keynote speakers, and a possibility for poster presentations for all other participants. Two types of lectures are planned:

  • talks on the state-of-the-art research in geodynamics and directly neighbouring research fields
  • educational, tutorial-type talks to give scientific and technical background information for a specific research area.

Apart from lectures and poster sessions, hands-on mini workshops on numerical modelling, and break-out or discussion sessions on, for example, modelling benchmarks will be organized.





Braunwald 2009: overview


Week overview

  • Sunday 28 June: Arrival, ice breaker, dinner
  • Monday 29 June: Full day
  • Tuesday 30 June: Full day
  • Wednesday 1 July: Half day, afternoon geological excursion
  • Thursday 2 July: Full day
  • Friday 3 July: Half day, afternoon departure

Typical daily schedule

  • 09:00 Keynote talk 1
  • 10:00 Keynote talk 2
  • 11:00 Break
  • 11:30 Keynote talk 3
  • 12:30 Lunch
  • 14:00 Short (1 min, 1 slide) presentations of posters
  • 14:45 Students' meeting with speakers
  • 16:00 Poster session
  • 18:30 Summary and discussion
  • 19:00 Dinner




Braunwald 2009: full program (updated 26/06/2009)


Sunday 28 June

  • Arrival
  • 18:00 Ice breaker reception and dinner

Monday 29 June

Oral Session - Lithospheric Dynamics & Tectonics

  • 09:00 Edi Kissling (ETH Zurich) - Tectonics and geodynamics of the Alps (download 13 MB pdf).
  • 10:00 Guy Simpson (University of Geneva) - Mechanisms and effects of coupling between tectonics, climate and surface processes (download 5 MB pdf).
  • 11:00 Break
  • 11:30 Stefan Sobolev (GFZ Potsdam) - Three dimensional numerical modeling of lithospheric dynamics and transform fault tectonics (download 10 MB pdf).

  • 12:30 Lunch

Poster Session 1 - Lithospheric Dynamics & Topography

  • 14:00 Short (1 min, 1 slide) presentations of posters
  • 14:45 Students' meeting with speakers
  • 18:30 Summary & discussion

  • 19:00 Dinner

Tuesday 30 June

Oral Session - Plate Processes & Mantle Heterogeneity

  • 09:00 Magali Billen (UC Davis) - Subduction zone and slab processes (download 17 MB pdf).
  • 10:00 Thorsten Becker (USC) - Past and present seafloor age distributions and the temporal evolution of plate tectonic heat transport (download 13 MB pdf).
  • 11:00 Break
  • 11:30 Lapo Boschi (ETH Zurich): The European upper mantle as seen from surface waves (download 15 MB pdf - movies available at website here).

  • 12:30 Lunch

Poster Session 2 - Plumes, Subduction, and Links to the Deep Mantle

  • 14:00 Short (1 min, 1 slide) presentations of posters
  • 14:45 Students' meeting with speakers
  • 18:30 Summary & discussion

  • 19:00 Dinner

Wednesday 1 July

Oral Session - Deep mantle / Numerical Advances

  • 09:00 Carolina Lithgow-Bertelloni (UC London): Dynamical origin and consequences of chemical heterogeneity in Earth's mantle (download 7 MB pdf).
  • 10.00 John Hernlund (UC Berkeley) - Deep mantle seismic structure and dynamics (download 10 MB pdf).
  • 11:00 Break
  • 11:30 Marcin Dabrowski (Oslo) - Development of efficient numerical tools for geodynamic modelling (download 29 MB pdf).

  • 12:30 Lunch

  • 14:00 Students' meeting with speakers
  • 15:00 Geological excursion or free time (see Practical informations for more details)

  • 19:00 Dinner

Thursday 2 July

Oral Session - Planetary Interiors / Magmas and Two-phase Flow

  • 09:00 Doris Breuer (DLR, Berlin) - What do we know about the interior structure, dynamics and thermal evolution of terrestrial planets? 3 MB pdf).
  • 10:00 Richard Katz (Oxford) - The dynamics of magma in a convecting mantle (download 17 MB pdf).
  • 11:00 Break
  • 11:30 Patrick Jenny (ETH Zurich) - Multi-scale modelling of multi-phase flow in porous media (download 11 MB pdf).

  • 12:30 Lunch

Poster Session 3 - Mantle Dynamics in Earth & Planets / Numerical Advances

  • 14:00 Short (1 min, 1 slide) presentations of posters
  • 14:45 Students' meeting with speakers
  • 18:30 Summary & discussion

  • 19:00 Dinner

Friday 3 July

Oral Session -Differentiation & Evolution / Numerical Advances

  • 09:00 Henri Samuel (University of Bayreuth) - The Dynamics and Consequences of Core Formation in Terrestrial Planets (download 18 MB pdf).
  • 10:00 Stephane Labrosse (ENS Lyon) - Evolution of the basal magma ocean through Earth history (download 60 MB pdf).
  • 11:00 Break
  • 11:30 David May (ETH Zurich) - Preconditioning variable viscosity Stokes flow problems associated with a stabilised finite element discretisation (download 6 MB pdf).

  • 12:30 Lunch

  • 14:00 Students' meeting with speakers

  • Departure

Spherical convection with ppv phase transition