• Tectonic Collection, Hand Specimens, and Thin Sections: In addition to showcasing the collection, small experiments using everyday materials demonstrate how rocks deform.
• No two grains of sand are alike: Wind, water, ice, and gravity determine grain shape and composition. How do processes on the Earth’s surface distribute granular sediment? Feel free to bring your own vacation sand and examine it under the microscope.
• Crude oil and coal: We consume 100 million barrels of the former and 24 million metric tons of the latter—every day. We display these substances and describe differences in their occurrence and use. How can we move away from them?
• Nanoparticles: We’ll use modern measuring devices to test everyday substances for nanoparticles—for example, in tea, coffee, or beer—through demonstrations, puzzle-solving, and examining small objects you bring along.
• Microfluorescence: Where are which elements found in an ore, a meteorite, rock salt, a computer circuit board, or a wristwatch? Join us to experience the capabilities of microfluorescence.
• A Journey Through Earth’s History: We’ll display and explain: What is Tambia spiralis, and why does it occur alongside the Ursauer eggs in the Thuringian Forest?
• We’ll “play chess” with rock samples of sandstone and limestone to understand the movement of fluids underground: porosity versus permeability. Which reservoir wins?
•The Fossil Clinic: What did I find here? Feel free to bring your own fossils for identification.
• Iceland Field Trip, September 2026: Geologists among beaches, glaciers, and volcanoes
• Short presentations on rock deformation, e.g., “What do the Erlkönig and Barbarossa have to do with lasagna?” “On the geological and geotechnical significance of anhydrite swelling,” featuring small experiments using everyday materials.
• Lecture and discussion: “What does an underground laboratory look like, and what do people do there?”
• Guided tour, including a climb up the tower, on the architectural history and use of the institute’s historic building.
• Why do mountain ranges form in the middle of a continent? Lecture on the institute’s geoscientific research in the Pamir and Tien Shan ranges of Central Asia.
