Einat
Aharonov
Professor
Research Interests
In my group, we study coupled physical and chemical processes that control deformation and evolution of rocks. Most of our research focuses on how relatively small-scale processes (on the pore, grain, or asperity scale) control large-scale geological phenomena such as soil liquefaction, the dynamics of landslides and earthquakes, the process of rock compaction/dissolution, or the physics of friction. My group also studies larger scale coupled deformation, such as coupled brittle - ductile deformation, the creation of pockmarks on the ocean floor, salt tectonics and the physics of subduction initiation. I work on the boundary between physics and geology, using mainly theoretical and numerical tools. However, our work is always constrained by observations: to understand the physics of a system of interest, I collaborate also with field geologists and experimentalists who provide an empirical foundation to the theoretical work.
In addition, recently I became interested in Energy issues, especially in oil & gas formation and extraction, and their environmental and climatic impact. I formed and headed the Petroleum Geology MSc direction at the Hebrew University.
Ongoing projects:
-
The physics of friction – can we predict friction, and dependence on velocity, temperature and pressure, from basic thermodynamic parameters?
-
Understanding how salt tectonics causes faulting of overlying sediments.
-
The physics of soil liquefaction during earthquakes.
-
Earthquake triggering by fluids.
-
Reactive flow in rocks and formation of hyopgenic karsts.
Past PhD Students and postdocs:
-
Dr Zvi Kul Karcz. VP for Exploration and Chief Geologist at Delek Drilling Company.
-
Prof Liran Goren, Associate Prof at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ben-Gurion University, Israel.
-
Dr Stanislav Parez, Researcher at the Inst of Chemical Process Fundamentals, The Czech Academy of Sciences.
-
Dr Regina Katsman, Scientist at the Dept of Marine Geosciences, Univ of Haifa.
-
Dr Shalev Siman-Tov, Researcher at the Geological Hazards Division, Geological survey of Israel
-
Dr. Nataliia Makedonska, Scientist at Computational Earth Science Group, Los Alamos National labs, USA.
-
Dr Anner Paldor, postdoc at the Univ. of Delaware, Dept. of Earth Sciences.
-
Dr Leehee Laronne Ben-Itzhak
Past MSc students: Inbar Vaknin, Einav Reuven, Hanna Rubin, Itzhak Hamdani, Maor Kaduri. Boriana Kalderon‐Asael, Yonatan Elfassi.
Present postdocs: Dr Maor Kaduri.
Present PhD students: Shahar Ben Zeev, Roi Roded, Pritom Sarma, Jimmy Moneron (main advisor Prof Z Gvirtzman).
Get in touch:einatah@mail.huji.ac.il