The ITHERLAB project is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions – Individual fellowship awarded to S. Fuchs and investigates the influence of in-situ (present state in the geological subsurface) pressure and temperature on rock thermal properties (thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity) as the essential rock parameters in the evaluation of the Earth thermal field.

The ITHERLAB project will establish mathematical formulations for p/T dependence of both parameters and demonstrate whether micro-structural effects affect these relations for different rock types. For that purpose, an innovative laboratory device will be developed and pilot-tested allowing for dry and saturated rocks measurements of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity at pressures and temperatures that are simultaneously raised to values up to 200 MPa and 200°C, respectively. These are the conditions for depths (to approx. 7 km) that are of interest in the use of Earth resources, such as geothermal energy or hydrocarbons.