Dr Patricia Martínez-Garzón, head of the working group ‘Seismomechanics and Transient Deformation’ in the GFZ section 4.2 ‘Geomechanics and Scientific Drilling’, has received the certificate of appointment as W2 professor for the field of ‘Applied Seismology’ at RWTH Aachen University. The appointment was made according to the so-called Jülich model, jointly by RWTH Aachen and GFZ. Within this framework, Martínez-Garzón will continue her research at the GFZ.

Her appointment as professor is accompanied by the acquisition of 1 million euros in research funding as part of the Helmholtz Association's highly competitive ‘W2 First-time Professorial Appointment Programme’, which supports only five projects per year across Germany and across disciplines. The research work for this will now begin at the GFZ at the same time as she takes up her teaching post in Aachen. The close links between the two institutions also provide the next generation of geoscientists with research-oriented training.

Research priorities and achievements

Patricia Martínez-Garzón studied geophysics and meteorology at the Universidad Complutense Madrid in Spain, having obtained a bachelor's degree in physics. She joined the GFZ in 2011 and completed her doctorate in 2014 at the Freie Universität Berlin with research on ‘Induced (man-made) seismicity in geo-reservoirs’. As part of the Helmholtz Postdoc Programme, she expanded her research focus to include seismo-mechanical analyses of earthquakes. During this time, she also spent a year conducting research at the renowned University of Southern California in the working group of the director of the Statewide California Earthquake Center (SCEC), Prof. Ben-Zion. During this time, Martínez-Garzón laid the foundations for her research concept on seismomechanics and transient deformation. This initially led to the successful acquisition of 2 million euros for the establishment of the Helmholtz Young Investigators Group SAIDAN (Seismic and Aseismic Deformation in the brittle Crust – Implications for Anthropogenic and Natural seismicity). In this context, she has carried out key work on the interaction between seismic and aseismic deformation. Crucial observations in the Sea of Marmara off Istanbul, for example, allowed the deciphering of the occurrence of classic earthquakes in connection with slow deformation processes – quasi ‘earthquakes in slow motion’.

European cutting-edge research with an ERC grant at the GFZ

Subsequently, Patricia Martínez-Garzón's research focus increasingly expanded to include the analysis of processes prior to major earthquakes. The work planned here led to the research concept ‘Quakehunter: real-time monitoring of earthquake generation at faults near urban areas’, which was awarded an ERC Starting Grant of 1,5 million euros by the European Research Council (ERC) in 2023. The project will run until 2028.

Since 2023, Martínez-Garzón has also been co-leading the borehole-based GONAF observatory off Istanbul, which plans to establish a forecast-based early earthquake detection system.