The Innovative Exploration Drilling and Data Acquisition Research School (I-EDDA-RS) is aimed at educating emerging scientists and engineers in on-site drilling and geoscientific investigation technology for mining. I-EDDA-RS consists if a consortium of scientists and specialists from six universities and research institutes in Germany and Sweden. A central component of the research school is that the courses have hands-on components at drill sites, boreholes and repositories. In addition, a course on entrepreneurial skills required in the exploration industry is also included in I-EDDA-RS. The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in altered plans. Instead of offering ten courses with strong field work, practical, and entrepreneurial components during 2020, four courses via distant learning were offered. While this was disappointing in many aspects, two of the courses attracted a larger group of students from a wider part of the world than original envisioned. Outreach via on-line and open webinars is also a route to explore, as a complement to meetings and conferences in real life. The I-EDDA-RS courses in 2021 welcomes students at MSc & PhD level, as well as experienced professionals for lifelong learning (c.f. https://www.iedda.eu/rs). The form and type of teaching is to be determined. 

Innovation in the project-based construction industry is perceived as complex and poorly understood. Based on a study of a large collaborative R&D programme to develop knowledge and new engineering methods for Swedish underground construction, we discuss and analyse the innovation system in this area with a focus on dissemination and implementation of research-based knowledge in business projects. The result is primarily based on interviews performed with representatives of clients, contractors, consultants, researchers and funding bodies within the TRUST project. There are two main focus areas: the innovation system level and the TRUST project. The innovation system level describes drivers, organization and processes for engaging in R&D and implementing results within the Swedish Transport Administration (STA), contractor companies and consultancy firms, but also interviewee opinions about the innovation culture in Swedish rock engineering and construction more generally.

Innovationsklimatet i den projektbaserade byggindustrin är komplext och dåligt undersökt på en övergripande nivå. Denna rapport beskriver innovationssystemet inom svenskt undermarksbyggande med utgångspunkt i en studie av kunskapsspridning och nyttiggörande i det stora forskningsprogrammet TRUST, Transparent Underground Structures. Resultatet baseras huvudsakligen på intervjuer med representanter för beställare, entreprenörer, konsulter, forskare och finansieringsorgan inom TRUST-projektet. Två nivåer har studerats: det övergripande innovationssystemet inom undermarksbyggande och hur spridning och implementering av forskningsbaserade resultat har skett inom TRUST-projektet. Innovationssystemnivån beskriver drivkrafter, strategier, organisation och processer för att engagera sig i FoU och implementera FoU-baserad kunskap i affärsprojekt inom Trafikverket, entreprenadföretag och konsultföretag, men även åsikter om innovationskulturen inom svenskt undermarksbyggande mer generellt.

Geometric analysis was carried out on part of the Zagros Belt, along the border between Iraq andIran, within rocks of Cretaceous age, which are composed of alternative sequences of competentand incompetent layers, and it contains a number of minor structures. The minor folds identifiedwithin the study area have different shapes, orientations and sizes, and exhibit high intensityfolding. Their wave length and amplitude range from few centimeters up to tens of meters. They areranged from gentle to tight according to the Fleuty, 1964 classification. Class 1B is dominated andfollowed by class 1C according to the Ramsay, 1967. The orientation of the minor folds, theirrelation with the major structures, variance in their shapes and sizes and difference interlimb angle,all indicate that they were developed progressively and in harmony with the major structuredevelopment. It can be concluded that the congruous and subcongruous minor folds weredeveloped successively during a single phase of deformation with simulation of variouscompressive stress directions (generally, at NE-SW and E-W), and the reorientation of the stressfield from one direction to another is attributed to the oblique collision between the Arabian andEurasian plates and to the anticlockwise rotation of the Arabian plate relative to Eurasian plate.

Stress-induced borehole deformation analysis in the Collisional Orogeny in the Scandinavian Caledonide deep scientific borehole establishes in situ stress orientation in a poorly characterized region in central Sweden. Two acoustic televiewer logging campaigns, with more than 1 year between campaigns, provide detailed images along the full length of the 2.5 km deep borehole for breakout, drilling-induced tensile fracture (DITF), and natural occurring structural analysis. Borehole breakouts occur in 13 distinct zones along total length of 22 m, indicating an average maximum horizontal stress, SHmax, orientation of 127° ± 12°. Infrequent DITFs are constrained within one zone from 786 to 787 m depth (SHmax orientation: 121° ± 07°). These SHmax orientations are in agreement with the general trend in Scandinavia and are in accordance with many mechanisms that generate crustal stress (e.g., ridge push, topographic loading, and mantel driven stresses). The unique acquisition of image logs in two successions allows for analysis of time-dependent borehole deformation, indicating that six breakout zones have crept, both along the borehole axis and radially around the borehole. Strong dynamic moduli measured on core samples and an inferred weak in situ stress anisotropy inhibit the formation of breakouts and DITFs. Natural fracture orientation below 800 m is congruent to extensional or hybrid brittle shear failure along the same trend as the current SHmax. Analysis of foliation in the image logs reinforces the interpretation that the discontinuous seismic reflectors with fluctuating dip observed in seismic profiles are due to recumbent folding and boudinage.

Knowledge of the in situ stress state gives information on dynamic processes, for example, earthquakes within the Earth, and is also applied to various geotechnical drilling and excavation projects. This paper analyzes stress-induced deformation features in image logs that span the length of the 2.5 km deep borehole in Central Scandinavia, to address the subsurface stresses in the region. We identified a stress orientation in the borehole that is oriented parallel to the general trend in Scandinavia. This orientation is compatible with many drivers of stresses including pushing and pulling forces on the sides from the crust, gravitational loading from mountain ranges, and driving below due to flow of the mantle. A unique observation from this study is that some breakouts have grown both along and radially around the borehole wall. Such radial breakout growth around the borehole will affect how the magnitude of subsurface stresses is estimated.

Much of the seismic activity of northern Sweden consists of micro-earthquakes occurring near postglacial faults. However, larger magnitude earthquakes do occur in Sweden, and earthquake statistics indicate that a magnitude 5 event is likely to occur once every century. This paper presents dynamic analyses of the effects of larger earthquakes on an upstream tailings dam at the Aitik copper mine in northern Sweden. The analyses were performed to evaluate the potential for liquefaction and to assess stability of the dam under two specific earthquakes: a commonly occurring magnitude 3.6 event and a more extreme earthquake of magnitude 5.8. The dynamic analyses were carried out with the finite element program PLAXIS using a recently implemented constitutive model called UBCSAND. The results indicate that the magnitude 5.8 earthquake would likely induce liquefaction in a limited zone located below the ground surface near the embankment dikes. It is interpreted that stability of the dam may not be affected due to the limited extent of the liquefied zone. Both types of earthquakes are predicted to induce tolerable magnitudes of displacements. The results of the postseismic slope stability analysis, performed for a state after a seismic event, suggest that the dam is stable during both the earthquakes

The Zagros fold and thrust belt represents a tectonically significant area, and one of the richest areas in oil and gas reservoirs in the world. The Zagros fold and thrust belt is the deformational product of the Cretaceous-present day convergence of the Arabian and Iranian (Eurasian) plates (subduction and collision). The belt extends more than 2000 km from southern Turkey through the north and northeastern Iraq to the Strait of Hormuz in southwestern Iran. The Zagros fold and thrust belt is divided into two parts which are; Western part within Iraqi region and Eastern part within Iranian region. The western part of the Zagros fold and thrust belt has been traditionally subdivided into several structural zones that are generally striking parallel to the plate boundary. This is characterized by exposure of Late Ordovician to Pliocene - Pliestocene formations with different types of Quaternary Sediments. This research will concentrate on Western part of Zagros fold and thrust belt and the styles of structural classifications, which will aid to clarify and better understand the tectonic and structural history and evolution of the region. We have considered the last version of structural classification as the most relevant one to the reality, especially within outer platform (Unstable shelf). Where it divides the region into four structural zones, which are: Low Folded zone, High Folded Zone, Imbricate Zone, and Zagros Suture Zone and these zones were further divided to several subzones. This classification is based on the structural style and intensity of deformation, stratigraphy, mechanicalstratigraphy and tectono-stratigraphy of the deformed sequences, Age of deformation, surface physiography and morphology. The data used in the classification is more reliable, up to date and relevant.

The Zagros fold and thrust belt represents a tectonically significant area, and one of the richest areas in oil and gas reservoirs in the world. The Zagros fold and thrust belt is the deformational product of the Cretaceous-present day convergence of the Arabian and Iranian (Eurasian) plates (subduction and collision). The belt extends more than 2000 km from southern Turkey through the north and northeastern Iraq to the Strait of Hormuz in southwestern Iran. The Zagros fold and thrust belt is divided into two parts which are; Western part within Iraqi region and Eastern part within Iranian region. The western part of the Zagros fold and thrust belt has been traditionally subdivided into several structural zones that are generally striking parallel to the plate boundary. This is characterized by exposure of Late Ordovician to Pliocene - Pliestocene formations with different types of Quaternary Sediments. This research will concentrate on Western part of Zagros fold and thrust belt and the styles of structural classifications, which will aid to clarify and better understand the tectonic and structural history and evolution of the region. We have considered the last version of structural classification as the most relevant one to the reality, especially within outer platform (Unstable shelf). Where it divides the region into four structural zones, which are: Low Folded zone, High Folded Zone, Imbricate Zone, and Zagros Suture Zone and these zones were further divided to several subzones. This classification is based on the structural style and intensity of deformation, stratigraphy, mechanicalstratigraphy and tectono-stratigraphy of the deformed sequences, Age of deformation, surface physiography and morphology. The data used in the classification is more reliable, up to date and relevant.

The EGU General Assembly 2016 was held under the conference theme “Active Planet” from 16-22 April 2016 in Vienna, Austria. The program consisted of 619 unique scientific sessions and 321 side events. A total of 16,300 contributions were presented in the form of posters (64%), oral presentations (30%) and interactive content (PICO, 6%). The 13,650 participants originate from 109 countries, of which the majority were early career scientists (53%) and students (25%). Over the last decade, EGU has expanded in terms of number of scientific contributions (62% increase) and number of participants (57% increase).

The scientific program of the Division Energy, Resources & the Environment (ERE) was organized around six main groups of sessions: (1) integrated studies, (2) impact of energy and resource exploitation on the environment, (3) non-carbon based energy, (4) carbon based energy, (5) geo-storage for a sustainable future, and (6) geo-materials from natural resources. The division hosted 19 sessions and co-organized further 13 with others. In total, 458 presentations came from ERE, corresponding to almost 3% of all contributions of the EGU General Assembly 2016.

This special issue presents some of the current and coming applied research topics within the fields of energy, resources and the environment, and also documents the ERE activities at the recent EGU General Assembly. Below, a brief description of the scientific program [1] is given, sorted with respect to the six main groups of sessions. Comparable overview issues were published in Energy Procedia in previous years [2-4].