DEEPDYNers @EGU26

The EGU General Assembly 2026 kicked off today in Vienna, one of the world’s most important conferences for the geosciences. Our Special Program (SPP) DeepDyn is represented this year with a wide range of research presentations. In the high-profile session “Mantle and Core of the Earth; structure, dynamics, and interactions,” numerous participants presented their latest findings today on the coupling between the Earth’s mantle and core, ranging from high-resolution seismology to paleomagnetic reconstructions and complex geodynamic modeling.

Highlights of today's presentations:

• Seismology and Structure: Tuo Zhang and Christopher Sens-Schönfelder provided insights into high-frequency seismic scattering at the core-mantle boundary. Christopher Sens-Schönfelder supplemented this with studies of small-scale structures in the deep mantle, which are made visible by scattered waves. Joachim Ritter and Fiona Dresler-Dorn also presented mantle flow patterns beneath Siberia and North America, derived from seismic anisotropy.
• Magnetism and Earth History: Stuart Gilder and his team discussed the identification of chemical remanent magnetization in marine sediments. Stephanie Scheidt presented evidence of geomagnetic excursions in lake sediments from the Atacama Desert, while Sunaina Shinu analyzed the dynamics of the Earth’s magnetic field during polarity reversals.
• Geodynamics and Evolution: Valentin Bonnet-Gibet and Nicola Tosi proposed a late onset of plate tectonics as a solution to the “New Core Paradox.” A. Schneider et al. demonstrated how the thermal evolution of the deep mantle can be better constrained by integrating geodynamics and seismology. In addition, I. L. Stotz et al. presented models for predicting current lithospheric stresses.
• Materials Science of the Earth’s Deep Interior: Eric Edmund presented on the thermal conductivity of iron alloys under core conditions, while Amrendra Kumar Tiwari and Sandro Jahn investigated the conductivity of minerals in the lower mantle at the atomic level. M. Schulze and G. Steinle-Neumann supplemented this with research on oxygen diffusion in the lower mantle.
• Core-mantle interaction: Illya Lohay and Johannes Wicht demonstrated how small-scale structures at the core-mantle boundary influence the dynamics of the Earth’s outer core.

Interdisciplinary collaboration within DeepDyn is essential to understanding the complex processes occurring in the deepest regions of our planet. We look forward to the rest of the conference and to engaging with the international scientific community.

For more details on the session program, click here: EGU 2026 Session 55701

List of presentations by all DeepDyners at EGU26:

• Gilder, S., Wack, M., Roud, S., Ostermeier, F., Jezek, J., and Finn, D.: Identifying chemical remanent magnetization in marine sediments via anhysteretic magnetization: Case study from the Bermuda Rise, North Atlantic Ocean, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, May 3–8, 2026, EGU26-12826, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-12826, 2026.
• Zhang, T. and Sens-Schönfelder, C.: High-Frequency Seismic Scattering at the Core-Mantle Boundary: Insights from Radiative Transfer Equation and Wave Equation Modeling, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, May 3–8, 2026, EGU26-7762, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-7762, 2026.
• Bonnet Gibet, V. and Tosi, N.: A late onset of plate tectonics as a solution to the New Core Paradox., EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, May 3–8, 2026, EGU26-13060, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-13060, 2026.
• Stotz, I. L., Hayek, J. N., Bunge, H.-P., and Carena, S.: Predicting present-day Earth’s lithospheric stress using analytical upper mantle flow models, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, May 3–8, 2026, EGU26-17485, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17485, 2026.
• Ritter, J. and Dresler-Dorn, F.: Mantle flow pattern from seismic anisotropy above the core-mantle boundary beneath Siberia and North America, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, May 3–8, 2026, EGU26-17168, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17168, 2026.
• Edmund, E.: Thermal Conductivity of Iron and Iron Alloys at Planetary Core Conditions, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, May 3–8, 2026, EGU26-3504, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-3504, 2026.
• Tiwari, A. K. and Jahn, S.: Atomic-Scale Investigation of Thermal Conductivity in Lower Mantle Minerals, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, May 3–8, 2026, EGU26-9833, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-9833, 2026.
• Shinu, S., Nasser Mahgoub Ahmed, A., and Korte, M.: Geomagnetic Field Dynamics During Excursions and Reversals, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, May 3–8, 2026, EGU26-17051, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17051, 2026.
• Lohay, I. and Wicht, J.: Influence of Small-Scale Core-Mantle Boundary Structures on the Dynamics of the Earth’s Outer Core, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, May 3–8, 2026, EGU26-20825, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-20825, 2026.
• Scheidt, S., Wennrich, V., Albert, R., Leicher, N., Hasberg, A., McLin, S. D., Diederich-Leicher, J. J., Zeeden, C., and Melles, M.: Interpretation of paleomagnetic signals from paleo-lake sediments of the Atacama (Chile) – evidence of geomagnetic excursions in C5Cn.1n?, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, May 3–8, 2026, EGU26-21857, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21857, 2026.
• Schneider, A., Schuberth, B., Koelemeijer, P., Myhill, A., and Al-Attar, D.: Constraining deep mantle thermal evolution by linking geodynamic modeling, absolute plate motions, and normal-mode seismology, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, May 3–8, 2026, EGU26-17109, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17109, 2026.
• Schulze, M. and Steinle-Neumann, G.: Oxygen Diffusion in the Perovskite-Dominated Lower Mantle, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, May 3–8, 2026, EGU26-19831, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-19831, 2026.
• Sens-Schönfelder, C.: Investigating small-scale deep-mantle structure: the stories told by high-frequency scattered waves, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, May 3–8, 2026, EGU26-14881, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-14881, 2026.