Geo-Campus: innovative laboratories, new synergies

Everything is set for the groundbreaking ceremony on 24 September. The Geo-Campus on Schillerstrasse will unite under one roof LMU’s geoscientific work in five teaching and research units: geology; paleontology and geobiology; mineralogy and petrology; crystallography; and geophysics. Moreover, the Bavarian state collections for mineralogy and for paleontology and geology are moving into the new building.

From innovative laboratories to new synergies – the Geo-Campus will bring interdisciplinary research and teaching closer together and make science accessible to the public. In our interview, Professor Donald Dingwell, Director of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Professor Yan Lavallée, Chair of Magmatic Petrology and Volcanology, discuss the significance of the new building and the challenges facing geoscientific research going forward.

The new building will bring together various teaching and research units and the Bavarian state collections in the geosciences. What are the advantages of having everything under one roof?

Dingwell: Our holistic view of the Earth will be strengthened. Although we were always one unit and belonged to the same faculty and the same department, the circumstance of being housed in two, or actually three, different buildings engendered challenges that otherwise wouldn’t have existed.

Lavallée: The geosciences range over a broad domain of research topics and we need to collaborate to find better solutions. If we’re not together in one building, that’s more difficult. Now we’re gaining the opportunity to develop new synergies and get to know each other’s different approaches.

What’s also important, I feel, is that there’s more space for students in the new building, giving them a better sense of the research we do. Here in our old building, there’s no suitable spaces where they can spend time with us.

The subject areas being brought together are highly diverse. What is the common thread?

Dingwell: Researching the Earth. The Earth system is hugely complex – as everyone who lives on this planet can appreciate. In addition to the complexities we’ve always had to grapple with, we now have climate change as well. In other words, we’re chasing a moving target. We have to understand the Earth system, but it’s changing as we study it. This gives us a new dimension to contend with – and it also reveals what connects us. We’re a discipline built around solving problems that require various kinds of expertise. We have colleagues from biology, physics, chemistry, and mathematics working here – all inspired by the same goal.

With our synthetic view of issues today, one of the most important questions is always where the contribution of one domain ends and that of another begins? Volcanic systems, for example, are generated chemically through thermodynamic processes. But when an eruption happens, the chemistry ceases. There’s simply not enough time – it’s pure physics what happens then. You need to understand a bit of both disciplines to evaluate how the disciplines go hand in hand.

How important is the new building for geoscientific research?

Dingwell: Extremely. It will be a beacon for southern Germany. And that was our intention when designing it. With the synthetic thinking we’re trying to establish here, we also want to inspire other institutes. We want people to talk about Munich and say: I must go there. We want to be a magnet for scientists and students.

Lavallée: Our current building was planned over 50 years ago. The geosciences have evolved and so we need new capacities. In the new building, we’ll have labs that will allow us to better exploit the potential of our measuring equipment. That was also a challenge when planning and designing the new building.

Are there any special architectural features?

Dingwell: The façade will be made of sandstone from the Main river valley. This is a bright sandstone which is not just monotone, but has a certain texture. Even its external appearance suggests how it was deposited over geological epochs.

In addition, the façade facing the street will have a portion showing a cross-section through all the natural rocks of Bavaria. You won’t be able to miss it – the idea is that you turn the corner and from 150 meters away you think: “That’s the geologists’ den.” The atrium in the middle of the building is also special with all that glass – designed as a “Geoforum,” it will afford views of the laboratories. The building is created to stimulate curiosity and draw in the general public.

No doubt, the new building also offers new opportunities. Does it have particular facilities – such as new laboratories – which provide optimal support to researchers?

Lavallée: We’ve got many special conditions that have to be fulfilled. Sometimes this relates to statics – when we simulate earthquakes, for instance, there are oscillations that the building must withstand. Other measuring devices require a floor that is especially stable. But there are also requirements as regards air conditioning and air quality. And the dimensions of the rooms are important as well.

Dingwell: Of course we started the planning for the new building a decade ago. Back then we obviously didn’t know the names of all who were going to move in. But we planned a laboratory that spans three stories and another that is 10 to 15 meters long. I knew there would be questions that could only be answered with these dimensions. We already have a device here that’s four meters tall, and there are bigger ones to come.

What do you investigate in this laboratory?

Lavallée: The eruption of volcanoes. We investigate the ejection of rocks and ash into the air. This enables us to study the influence of ash on the climate.

And for the long room, we’re planning to install a new instrument – a magma cannon. We will use this to sling lava samples at building materials at speeds of 100 to 200 meters per second and study the effects. As of yet there are no special regulations for buildings in volcanic areas – just for earthquakes. Our studies could help build safer buildings. Another subject that interests us is the effects of meteor strikes on moons.

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What are the most pressing questions concerning the future of geoscientific research?

Lavallée: That’s a difficult question, as the list is so long. It begins with questions about the origin of life and continues all the way to: How do earthquakes work? How do plate tectonics work? How does convection in the Earth’s mantle work? And what about mass transfer phenomena? Or the formation of crystals or enrichment of lithium in the Earth?

Geothermal energy, for example, will become increasingly important. I was recently in Iceland and talked with representatives from the geothermal industry there. Hydrothermal water is used for heating and for power generation. Now the question is how and when geothermal energy can also be used for the food industry in Iceland. If geothermal energy was used in agriculture, this could free up land and reduce carbon emissions.

As magma contains much more energy than conventional geothermal energy sources, the direct use of magma instead of liquids to produce geothermal energy could also open up an important energy source for the future. To obtain secure access to magma, we need innovative new solutions in magma engineering. I’m involved in a project in Iceland called the Krafla Magma Testbed. In the course of this project, the world’s first magma observatory will be constructed in Iceland, where magma can be sampled and researched to advance our knowledge in this area. To be able to live better, we need to use the Earth better.

The applied aspects of the geosciences also involve the question of resources

Dingwell: We investigate resources and risks in the broadest sense. We know we need new technologies and resources and that global demand for new resources is growing. Lithium is a prime example, and geothermics can also play a role here. There are geothermal sources that are rich in lithium, and people are already trying to separate out the lithium.

But we’re not just interested in the applications – which are plentiful enough – but also in fundamental questions about the Earth’s history and the natural sciences in general.

Can you give examples?

Dingwell: Our discipline is now starting to investigate exoplanets, which were discovered only 30 years ago. We already know quite a bit about our moon, and with the exoplanets we now have thousands of new objects of comparison. We won’t be voyaging there, but we can pose very many fundamental questions. Every time the answers come back to Earth, they prompt us to reconsider whether we really understand how the Earth works. This worked wonderfully well with the moon program and it will happen again with the exoplanets.

Another important topic is pollution – such as fine-grained matter in the atmosphere. Turbines have major problems when dust gets into them. The classic example is the damage wrought by volcanic ash in airplane turbines. We’re working on this problem directly, even though we’re not turbine experts. As geologists, we know the source of the problem; we can say exactly what material has been ingested by the turbine and what has happened to it. We’re constantly being brought into new research areas as partners.

Are you planning new research directions or projects that perhaps are only possible with the new building?

Dingwell: As in every discipline, new appointments play a role in our department. We have some new staff at the W2 academic level. In sedimentology, we’ve filled a new professorship through the appointment of Aaron Bufe. Meanwhile, crystallographer Elena Sturm is an expert in transmission electron microscopy and can make interdisciplinary contributions to many interesting research questions and explain many things about which we can only conjecture.

In mineralogy, Daniel Weidendorfer investigates exotic chemistries of magmatic systems, such as carbonatite magmas. Currently, Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania is the only volcano in the world that spews out such a carbonate-rich lava, but we know that these magmas have occurred throughout the Earth’s history. They form part of the carbon cycle in the depths of the Earth, which has not yet been quantified at all. As such, our research in this area is contributing to the global calculation of carbon cycles.

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The building is also meant to be a forum that allows people to experience the geosciences close up. Why is it important for you to make geoscientific research accessible to a wider public?

Dingwell: We want to appeal to society at large and stimulate interest in the geosciences. We’d like people to be fascinated and drawn in. Our Geoforum – that is, the atrium in the middle and the adjacent collection rooms – forms the centerpiece. It’s designed to be as open as possible and will host exhibitions, workshops, guided tours, and presentations.

The idea was also to give people glimpses behind the scenes of research. That’s why the laboratories will all have glass windows facing the middle of the building, so that people can look in. The world is pretty complicated nowadays and we need to be more proactive in showing what we do.