News

9 + 10 May 2022: Final meeting SpannEnD and kick-off meeting SpannEnD II

On 9 May 2022, the final meeting of the SpannEnD project took place as a hybrid event. Immediately afterwards, on 10 May 2022, the kick-off meeting of the follow-up project SpannEnD II took place. The working groups of the participating project partners (GFZ, TU Da, KIT) took part, as well as representatives of the Projektträger Karlsruhe (PTKA), who supported the SpannEnD project on behalf of the funding Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Representatives of the federal company for radioactive waste (BGE), which is funding the follow-up project SpannEnD II, were also present. In addition, the Bundesamt für die Sicherheit in der nuklearen Entsorgung (BASE), which has been supporting the project for years, was represented.

The results of the individual topics of SpannEnD were presented and discussed in detail. All participants agreed that the project was completed very successfully. On the second day, the planned work in the new project was presented at the start of the successor project SpannEnD II. The cooperation within the project team as well as the cooperation with the representatives of the BGE was discussed.

With SpannEnD trough the Corona time

In the last two years we had to change our working meetings from face-to-face to online meetings. However, due to the changed conditions, no business trips and shorter meetings, we were able to significantly increase the number of working meetings so that we could discuss the progress of the work in the project every four to six weeks.

First model results

The first results of the stress model of western Central Europe are available. The model, consisting of seven litho-stratigraphic units, covers an area of 1000*1250 km² and extends to a depth of 100 km. The model was calibrated on data of stress orientation as well as stress magnitudes. The publication is freely available.

Open-access stress magnitude database for Germany

The first open-access-database for stress magnitudes is published for the region of Germany and surroundings. The database consists of 568 data records. The paper explains the methods of the used stress magnitude data and the quality ranking scheme. The data publication allows free access to the database.

Teambesprechung des SpannEnD Projektes am 21. April 2020

Due to the Corona pandemic, our team meeting was held as a video conference for the second time. The options were discussed under which thematic focus we can continue the SpannEnD project in subsequent projects. The preparation and thematic focus of a planned overview publication was discussed. Various new model variants of the simplified stress model of Germany were calculated and their results discussed. The results can be seen as a great success, as they allow a better understanding of the factors involved in model calibration. Only a small change is to be made to the model. This model will then be used as a best-fit model for a publication.

Team meeting of the SpannEnD project on 2 April 2020

For the first time we held our extraordinary project meeting as a video conference. Nevertheless, we were able to discuss the progress of the project very effectively. This included the current status of the stress magnitude database; where the number of entries increased significantly. The results of the calibration of the 3-D model of Germany and its surroundings areas have been improved considerably. Thus, a best-fit for the model with the low lithological resolution can be expected within a few weeks. Furthermore, it was discussed how to implement the generic tests, to solve the the problem of combining stratigraphic units into one mechanical layer, or the stress transfer from broad-scale models to small-scale models. Discussed was the strategy for planning publications, and participation in conferences, which takes place now virtually.

Deep geological repository PhD days

The first international PhD day will be held in September 2020 focusing on the geological disposal of radioactive waste. PhD students on this topic are invited to present their work and get to know each other. The event will take place at the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ). Further information and registration are available on the website.

Tage der Standortauswahl 12-14 December 2019

The 3rd workshop of the Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung (BGE) took place between 12 and 14 December at the Haus der Wissenschaften in Braunschweig. The first two days were aimed at a specialist audience. The project SpannEnD contributed with two posters and one talk. The presentations on December 14th were primarily aimed at the interested public.

Team meeting of the SpannEnD project on 6 November 2019

At the team meeting in Darmstadt the current status of the model geometry and the magnitude database was discussed. The future development of the project was also discussed.

Two posters at GeoMünster2019, 22-25 September 2019

The annual conference is organized by the German Geological Society (DGGV) and the German Mineralogical Society (DMG). Two posters of the SpannEnD project were presented.

Team meeting of the SpannEnD project on 20 March 2019

At the meeting in Karlsruhe, the changes on the website, the guidelines for authorship in publications, the options for the representation of stress magnitudes on maps, the classification and selection of faults, the use of the material database, as well as the current state of model geometry were discussed.

Poster DGG Braunschweig 6 March 2019

At the annual conference of the German Geophysical Society (DGG) in Braunschweig on March 6, 2019, a poster was presented in the context of the main topic “Repository Geophysics”. Under the title “Es bleibt SpannEnD” a map showed the status of the compilation of stress magnitude data. The poster met with great interest and numerous discussions took place between the first author and colleagues from various institutions and universities (including the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics, University of Greifswald, BGR).

Team meeting of the SpannEnD project on 13 December 2018

The focus of the meeting held in Darmstadt was on the options to scale material properties, the presentation of the material properties database, as well as the options and tasks involved in setting up the model geometry.

Kick-off meeting of the SpannEnD project on 1 October 2018

In Darmstadt, the kick-off meeting took place, at which mainly organisational matters, but also the options of using existing databases or geological models were discussed.