Susanne Buiter is NGU's employee nr. 1. Congratulations :). The comitee's comments were: "She has produced an impressive number of publications in reputable international journals. She has been active as a leader of scientific symposia and various sessions at international conferences, and she has been editor of central publications."

NGU's best paper award was won by Per Terje Osmundsen and Tim Redfield for their work on topography and continental shelf development. The comitee's comments were: "The background for this paper comes from several years of fieldwork with a gradual development of ideas and model testing. It is based on cooperation and discussion with several NGU employees and other institutions. The paper has recently been published and is an example of how the effects of geological processes on a large scale influence landscape and topography."

Osmundsen and Redfield, 2011. Crustal taper and topography at passive continental margins. Terra Nova, 23, 349-361.

As a part of the new reorganization of NGU, the management has decided to strengthen the Geodynamics team. Per Terje has for many years worked with the bedrock and crustal processes team but is now joining our group. Welcome Per Terje.

Juraj Cirbus has joined the group and will spend 6 months in Norway. Its a part of the European Erasmus student exchange programme. He will work with Robin Watson on the GPlates project. Welcome Juraj.

This summer, Zurab Chemia went to East-Greenland for fieldwork. According to Zurab, he has never slept in a tent before and the fieldwork was planned to last for 6 weeks. Fieldwork in Greenland can change a man, and judging from his beard, this is certainly true.

The reconstruction software GPlates v1.1.1 has recently been released. The new version has a suite of nice new tools. Version 1.1.1 is a bugfix of version 1.1.

Have a look at www.gplates.org.

Zurab Chemia has moved to Copenhagen and will do a post-doc there, congratulations. He is now in East-Greenland doing fieldwork. According to Zurab, he has never slept in a tent before and the fieldwork is planned to last for 6 weeks.

Geodynamics's team members Susanne Buiter and Carmen Gaina are part of the group "Mantle Dynamics: Linking Surface and Deep processes" currently working at the Center for Advanced Studies (Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters) in Oslo (Read more here) . The goal of the group lead by T. H. Torsvik that involves many national and international collaborators is to advance our understanding of how plate tectonics and mantle convection are connected in time and space.

After a stressful period with a lot of preparation, Katia defended her master thesis in Oslo. She had to give a 30 minutes lecture and the lecture was timed precisely at 30 minutes. Well done. According to the people present, she did very well and with a very good score. Congratulations Katia. The rest of the people here are looking forward to celebrate our new hero. When and where will the party be, Katia?

Delegates from Byåsen Videregående skole will visit the Geodynamic floor for 3 days. This is a project within their Science and technology class. They will be lectured about activities within the group and NGU, and how science is actually done. Welcome.

Anne Kathrine or Katia handed in her master thesis recently. The defence will be 31.mars in Oslo. The name of her thesis is "Avsetningsmiljø og tektonisk utvikling av den nordvestlige delen av Kvamshesten Devonbasseng. Good luck.

After spending 3.5 years in Norway, PhD student Matthieu Quinquis will leave us. Matthieu will move to Paris, France. His defence will be in September, so we'll meet in Prage. .

Mariann defended her MSc thesis successfully last Monday (14 feb) at NTNU. The title of her theis is 'Linking basin evolution to plate tectonic reconstructions in (nothern) Africa'. Supervisors has been Susanne Buiter and Stephan Lippard. And she did her project within our The African Plate project. .

Morgan Ganerød gave a presentation on the II International Scientific Practical Conference of Young Scientists and Specialists devoted to Academician A.P. Karpinsky's memory in St.Petersburg, Russia. He recieved a diploma of 3rd grade for his talk. .

The reconstruction software GPlates v1.0 has recently been released. The new version has a suite of nice new tools. What's new in version 1.0:-

Student Henrik Henriksen Stokke (University of Bergen). He has spent two days in Løkken Ophiolite Complex, drilling the Jasper nodules and learing about paleomagnetic sampling methods. Now he is spending his time demagnetizing rock specimens. Well done Henrik.

Some members of the geodynamics team did fieldwork in the heart of the Etendeka volcanic province in Namibia, late November 2009. Gudmund Løvø, a journalist at the Geological Survey of Norway, put together a nice story about the work and purpose. This was published at www.forskning.no. The full story can be found here.

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Morgan Ganerød defended his PhD. Rumors has it that he will celebrate his victory, skiing 8 days in the French Alps. The forecast indicate 50-70cm powder, and he is very happy.

Student Morgan Ganerød will defende his thesis entiteled "Geochronology and Paleomagnetism of Large Igneous Provinces, the North Atlantic Igneous Pronvince and the Seychelles-Deccan Traps" at NTNU, 21 January 2010. The opponents are Christian Tegner (Århus University) and Wout Krijgsman (Utrecht University).

Morgan Ganerød was invited to "Kveldsåpent" on NRK P2 to comment about the magnetic north pole position. Since last year, the position has moved 65km towards Siberia, which has worried inhabitants in the Kingdom of Norway.

Trishya Owen-Smith from the University of Witwatersrand will visit the group form mid-March. She will demagnetize the Namibian samples. Good luck.

The annual "Sykle to jobben (bike to work)" was won by the Geodynamic theme.