Function and Responsibilities:

Research Scientist Emeritus

Research Interests:

My interests center on the Earth's temperature field at lithospheric scale. Parameters of interest are the terrestrial heat flow, the generation of radiogenic heat in the crust and the thermal properties of rocks, such as thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity. This expertise also is implemented in the “exploration” of natural geo-energy resources for which the thermal field is characterized at regional as well as local scale. For this purpose geological data from boreholes and surface geophysical surveys as well as data from laboratory studies of rock chemistry and physics are implemented in numerical, geology-assisted subsurface models. Work performed in the past was concentrated on different geodynamic settings in the world, e.g. the North German Basin, the Erzgebirge and Luxembourg in Europe, the North American Midcontinent, the Andean subduction zone in Bolivia and Chile, the Arabian Shield in Israel and Jordan, as well as regions of the Indian continent.  

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andrea_Foerster

Projects:

• Assessment of global heat-flow data stored in the Global Heat Flow Database of the IHFC
• Exploration for the development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) in crystalline rocks
• Laboratory measurement of thermal properties of rocks using different methods

Research Boards and Committees:

Secretary of the International Heat Flow Commission (IHFC) (2019-2023)  (http://www.ihfc-iugg.org/)

Associate Editor of journal NRR  (http://www.springer.com/journal/11053)