Geo.X Grow Your Idea workshop on "The East African Rift System: geology, resources, paleoenvironment, and human evolution"
Date: 26 - 27 February 2026
Venue: Room BH-N 107, Ernst-Reuter-Platz, Technical University of Berlin, Berlin
Contact Person: Ameha Muluneh (GFZ)
Dear colleagues from the Geo.X Network,
we invite you to join us for the Geo.X "Grow Your Idea" workshop: The East African Rift System: geology, resources, paleoenvironment, and human evolution.
Date: 26 – 27 February 2026
Place: Technical University Berlin, Ernst-Reuter-Platz, Room BH-N 107
Summary
The East African Rift System (hereafter called EARS) is the longest continental rift system on planet Earth. In this GeoX network, we aim to provide a platform to discuss recent advances in the study of the rift and its surroundings and to foster collaboration among scientists from GFZ, TU Berlin, FU Berlin, the University of Potsdam and other GeoX institutes.
Meeting agendas
The meeting aims to discuss the following three broad agendas:
- Rift tectonics
- Geothermal Resource explorations and Geohazard
- Paleoenvironmental and human evolution studies in East Africa
Schedule of the meeting
Day 1 - 26.02.2026
09:00 - 09:30 – registration
09:30 - 09:40 – welcome
09:40 - 10:00 – getting to know each other
10:00 - 10:40 – Lydia Olaka - invited talk
10:40 - 11:00 – Geodynamic modeling of Rifts - Sascha Brune
11:00 – 11:30 – coffee
11:30 – 12:00 – GNSS & InSAR observations at the Olkaria geothermal site – Bodo Bookhagen
12:00 – 13:40 – Lunch
13:40 - 14:20 – Seismicity in East Africa – Joachim Saul
14:20 - 14:40 – Seismicity in Olkaria Geothermal site, Kenya – Junior Kimata
14:40 -15:00 – Inversion tectonics in Turkana depression, Kenya – Ameha Muluneh
15:00 -15:30 – coffee
15:30 – 15:50 – Automatic fault mapping in East Africa rift system – Pauline Gayrin
15:50 – 16:10- ICDP´s plan to drill in Chew Bahir – Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr
16:10 – 16:30 - CO2 degassing in the rift - Luisa Hirche
16:30 – 17:00 – concluding remarks
Day 2 - 27.02.2026
09:30 - 09:40 – welcome
09:40 - 10:00 – Derek Keir – invited talk - online
10:00 - 10:20 – Pleistocene alluvial sediments as indicators of Paleoclimate – Robert Bussert
10:20 - 11:00 – coffee
11:00 – 11:20 – River systems in the Kenya Rift during the African Humid Period: relevance for lake level fluctuations and biotic interchange - Rene Dommain
11:20 - 11:40 – Fauna, Lithics, and Paleoenvironments of the Pleistocene Nile Basin, Sudan: The PALEONILE Project – Faysal Bibi
11:40 - 12:00 – Climate human interaction – Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr
12:00 – 13:30 – Lunch
13:30 – 15:00 – round table discussion on tectonics, geothermal exploration and geohazard Paleoenvt and Human evolution.
15:00 -15:30 – coffee
15:30 – 17:00 round table discussion on tectonics, geothermal exploration and geohazard Paleoenvt and Human evolution.
17:30 – 20:00 Dinner
We invite participants to bring posters for discussion during the coffee break.
We expect a total of 30 attendees.
Please contact Ameha Muluneh (ameha@gfz.de) to register until 20 February 2026.
With kind regards
Ameha Muluneh
