Living with geo-resources and geo-hazards

Abstract

Two of the key strategic topics on the European Committee’s Horizon2020 Roadmap revolve around geo-resources and geo-hazards, and their impact on societal and economic development. On the way towards a better policy for sustainable geo-resources production, such as oil, gas, geothermal energy and groundwater, as well as for geo-hazard risk management, such as (induced) earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, Solid Earth scientists are ideally designated to provide the necessary scientific basis. In order to understand the mechanisms driving these geological processes, scientists at the High Pressure and Temperature (HPT) Laboratory at the Department of Earth Sciences at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, investigate these issues within the university’s Earth and Sustainability strategic area, and, for example, in the SEISMIC Project, funded by the European Research Council Starting Grant of Dr. André Niemeijer.