X-ray and neutron imaging are transforming experimental geosciences by allowing processes occurring inside opaque Earth materials to be directly observed in three dimensions and through time. Beyond increasingly detailed 3D characterization, advances in synchrotron and neutron imaging now make it possible to follow dynamic geological processes in situ, under controlled and increasingly realistic thermo-hydro-chemo-mechanical conditions.
This transition to 4D observation has opened a fundamentally different window on experiments. Many processes that are difficult or impossible to infer from conventional bulk measurements or before-and-after observations can now be observed as they occur: where deformation first localizes, how fractures nucleate and propagate, how fluids invade and redistribute through pore networks, and how dissolution, precipitation or phase transformations interact with transport and mechanics.
X-rays and neutrons offer particularly complementary information. Their different interaction mechanisms provide sensitivity to different phases and elements, opening opportunities for correlative, multimodal and increasingly simultaneous observations of complex geological systems.
This session aims to bring together the growing X-ray and neutron imaging communities in geosciences, from instrumentation and methodological developments to fundamental and applied discoveries. We welcome contributions on deformation and fracture, fluid flow and multiphase processes, reactive transport, mineral reactions, CO₂ storage and mineralisation, geothermal systems, volcanology, soils, ice and planetary materials, as well as new experimental, analytical and multimodal approaches.
By bringing together users of synchrotron and neutron facilities, Large-scale infrastructures or university benched scanners, we hope to encourage exchanges across techniques and applications and discuss the next generation of 4D experiments in geosciences.