At this year's NAC conference, the national Dutch conference on geosciences, we manned a booth with outreach examples. And I wrote my favorite hashtag on the Scrabble board: #breakingrocks #rocks!

Linking Ultrasonic Velocity and Microseismic Monitoring During Laboratory Triaxial Deformation of Reservoir Sandstones from a North Sea CO2 Storage Site - Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering Subsurface fluid injections cause rapid thermal and stress changes near wells, potentially compromising reservoir integrity. Effective monitoring and mitigation strategies are essential to ensure safe operations. This study investigates highly porous North Sea sandstones under low confining pressures (1 and 3 MPa), replicating near-wellbore stress conditions for a saline aquifer during CO2 injection. Using triaxial deformation experiments, we analyze the evolution of ultrasonic velocities, amplitudes, and acoustic emission (AE) signals to track deformation processes. Our results demonstrate that combined ultrasonic and AE monitoring effectively captures and forecasts the transition from elastic to inelastic deformation. An empirical relationship is proposed demonstrating a proof-of-concept correlation between microseismic event counts and ultrasonic velocity during irreversible deformation, which, upon calibration can be used for site-specific stress state monitoring. Higher confinement leads to increased AE activity due to intensified grain crushing and interparticle locking. At constant confinement, more porous samples also show greater AE activity, indicating enhanced damage accumulation. Spectral analysis reveals increased attenuation at higher confining pressures and a shift toward lower frequencies near failure, suggesting dominant shear deformation. Notably, deformation patterns vary with confinement: low confinement induces frictional slip and distinct failure planes, while high confinement promotes distributed damage and porosity reduction through grain crushing. This results in a non-linear failure envelope shaped by the dominant deformation mechanisms. These findings enhance our understanding of pore fluid-induced changes in reservoir rocks and offer new strategies for monitoring CO2 storage and other subsurface injection operations, especially in heterogeneous, porous formations under varying stress regimes.

Final paper of Debanjans postdoc is out! Wanna know how a sandstone crackles? Check it out here link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Pretty proud of this one: former postdoc Kai Li, with Marc and Anne, devised a method to qualify the change in leakage rate on the wellbore-steel interface due to thermal shock. Out now: kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...

Postdocs Marco and Milad demonstrate that #breakingrocks #rocks

Porosity-permeability practical for the first years of Earth, Climate and Technology @tudelftceg.bsky.social what's the effect of grain size?

I feel there is a crossover between toddlers playing with blocks and lab work 🤔🫠

I have a joke about rock mechanics but the punch line keeps breaking

Yesterday PhD candidate Parvin Kolah Kaj became Dr. Parvin! She built an extensive experimental database (multi-method analysis on 2000+ samples! 🤓🤯), and investigated wellog-to-lab correlations. Congratulations Dr. Parvin!

Cute little basalts 🥰🥰🥰

Rocks or cheese? 10 mm diameter basalt cores from Iceland, being made into 20 mm length test samples for a collaboration with Norway

Today a brand-new doctor graduated! In the middle we have Dr. Shihao Fu who wrote an amazing thesis on rock salt..he is flanked by his paranimfs (Dutch system... Long story) Jop and Entela. Congratulations Dr. Fu!

Postdoc Experimental Thermo-Mechanics for Geothermal Energy Postdoc Experimental Thermo-Mechanics for Geothermal Energy

Wanna come work with us? We have a postdoctoral researcher position for 2 years to work on thermomechanics. See careers.tudelft.nl/job/Delft-Po...

Today is the day to celebrate all the awesome #womeninscience that you know ❤️🤓😎 ladies, you rock!

An important read. You usually don't know what is going on in the lives of your colleagues, but in the recent geopolitical turmoil, nationality gives an idea about someone's state of mind

Anyone around #Delft interested in how materials repair themselves? We are hosting a symposium to explore a range of self healing materials, from rocks to metals, asphalt and polymer! @tudelftceg.bsky.social @tudelfttnw.bsky.social when? 27 Feb, at TU Delft, for free!

Thoroughly enjoying the Euroconference on Rock Physics and Rock Mechanics organized by the Strasbourg and EPFL team..and it turns into an awesome reunion with Debanjan Chandra and Kai Li! Awesome science so far and a great landscape for recuperating hikes in the lunch break

A rare view here in Delft! Lots of snow these days, whilst 2026 is slowly firing up. We wish you all a smashing year! May it rock 🪨😁

Christmas came early this year ! A new saw for the more fragile rocks 😍😁

Thousands of students and teachers rally for higher education - Delta More than seven thousand students, lecturers and researchers gathered in Amsterdam on Tuesday to demonstrate against the budget cuts on higher education. The participants in the demonstration marched ...

More than seven thousand students, lecturers and researchers gathered in Amsterdam on Tuesday to demonstrate against the budget cuts on higher education.
‘Don't forget us,’ say representatives to the parties forming the new government. ‘Not everything is about immigration, defence or housing.’

Coupling Neutron and X‐Ray Imaging of Fluid Mixing and Precipitation in Rocks: Challenges and Opportunities We used coupled 4D neutron and X-ray imaging to study fluid mixing and calcite precipitation in basalt Neutron imaging can image the mixing of various aqueous solutions in porous basalt during fl...

So what can you do when shooting with neutrons at rocks, look at this cool publication by the Norwegian team at NJORD! Mixing and precipitation can be shown in real time agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

*MilaD...

The Effect of Pressurization Rate and Pattern on Injection‐Induced Seismicity in Highly Permeable Sandstone: An Experimental Study Laboratory investigation of the effect of pressurization rate and pattern on fault slip behavior A high pressurization rate may lead to a sudden decrease in effective normal stress, resulting in ...

Well done Milady! Another one of Milads PhD papers has been published. Curious how fluid pressure affects fault slip in permeable sandstone? Check it out here dx.doi.org/10.1029/2024...

Merry Sinterklaas! Our end-of-year lunch came early this year 🥰

Are you an #AssistantProfessor in the #Netherlands? Join APNet today to become part of our amazing network.

If you become a member between now and the end of the year, you can make use of our end-of-year promotion and become member for 20 € until the end of 2026.

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Yesss! Absolutely 🤓 I didn't realize you guys were hanging out in digital space. Hello! 👋👋👋

Going home. Thanks for all the inspiring science @epostcsah.bsky.social and @rocklabstrasbourg.bsky.social 🤓 #breaking rocks #rocks!

On my way to Strasbourg, to visit @rocklabstrasbourg.bsky.social and to connect with the @epostcsah.bsky.social community. I got to admit, traveling per train beats the plane by a mile! Better views, better seats, better WiFi. Now if there wouldn't be any strikes on the way... It would be perfect

Excited to be back at PSI with the crew from Njord to shoot with neutrons and X-rays at rocks to investigate flow and precipitation in basalts

Five CEG researchers receive Vidi grant No less than five researchers from our faculty will receive a Vidi grant this year. The Dutch Research Council NWO awards the grants to successful scientists to give them a helping hand in further dev...

Anne Pluymakers got a #Vidi grant from Dutch #NWO to investigate why different fluids make limestone break in a different way, and to see if we improve our acoustic and electromagnetic monitoring for #geothermal energy and #ccs... And so our team grows (a bit) 😁🤓 www.tudelft.nl/en/2025/citg...

*Krak!* In case you think salt always flows.....in Jops PhD project it is all about breaking salt. And it does so quite nicely, if you push it enough!