Christian Klimczak
Postdoctoral Fellow

Christian Klimczak

Research Interests

Tectonic and volcanic evolution of the rocky planets; Growth of faults and fractures and fluid flow through/across them; Brittle deformation of granular materials

Academics

Diplom (M.S. equivalent), 2007, Freie Universität Berlin Ph.D., Geomechanics, 2011, University of Nevada, Reno

Contact & Links

Overview

Christian Klimczak Research
Carnegie Rupes on Mercury, a ~250-km-long thrust-fault-related landform, crosscutting several large and small impact craters. This terrain model shows Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) images overlaid by color-coded Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) topography. These landforms build up substantial topographic relief and form as a response to global contraction caused by planetary interior cooling.

Christian graduated with a Diplom in geology at the Freie Universität Berlin in 2007 working on micro- and macroscopic tectonic rock fabrics from the Sudbury impact structure. For his dissertation, which he completed in 2011 at the University of Nevada, Reno, he explored geomechanical aspects of fracture geometry and brittle failure and their consequences for reservoir properties of the host rocks, such as changes in porosity/permeability and/or fluid flow.

At DTM, where he is a MESSENGER post-doctoral fellow, he applies this background to fracturing processes on the one-plate rocky worlds of our solar system.