Content: This course is designed for petrologists, geochemists, volcanologists, and planetary scientists interested in extracting timescale information from rocks. Such information might include the residence times of magmas in reservoirs, the cooling or exhumation rates of rocks, the durations of terrestrial and extraterrestrial metamorphism (e.g., meteorite parent bodies), the duration of fluid flow (e.g., metasomatism by fluids/melts in the crust or mantle), and the evaluation and application of closure temperatures. The focus will be on high-temperature processes, making it relevant for those interested in high-temperature thermochronometry, diffusion chronometry, and geospeedometry. The course will run from Monday (06 October) till Friday (10 October), with a combination of lectures to introduce the topic and accompanying hands-on practical exercises. A more detailed course schedule and program will follow soon on our webpage

Goals and expected profile of participants: Previous experience with numerical modelling or programming is not required, but an interest in learning the rudiments of these tools is. One of the objectives of the course, however, is to demonstrate how much it is possible to accomplish without any or with very little programming. The basic information on diffusion that is required for carrying out such calculations will be provided, but this is not a course designed to cover all aspects of diffusion in minerals and melts.

In addition to instruction via lectures, a major component of the course will be hands on training to enable participants to “do your own” modelling. Participants will be expected to bring their own laptop computers with Excel and MATLAB installed on those. Knowledge of MATLAB is not required – instructions will be provided during the course. All instruction and exercises will be in English.

The course material will be designed for graduate students or postdocs starting off in the fields mentioned above, but participants with all levels of experience and expertise are welcome.

Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Universitätsstraße 150

44780 Bochum

Building: IA

Room: 02/473

Campus Map with a marked location of the short course:

Bild 1 von 1

Airports: Bochum is conveniently located in the heart of Europe, making it easily accessible by road, train, and air. The nearest airports are Düsseldorf (DUS) and Dortmund (DTM), with Düsseldorf Airport offering extensive international connections. Trains to Bochum from Düsseldorf include ICE, IC, RE, and S-Bahn options (35–60 minutes). Dortmund-Wickede Airport is also an option, though it primarily serves European no-frills airlines and is harder to reach by public transport.

Train: Ruhr-Universität Bochum is well connected by public transport. Fast ICE/IC/EC trains serve major German cities (https://int.bahn.de/en). Consider purchasing the “Deutschland ticket” for 58€, offering unlimited travel on RE, S-Bahn, buses, and the Bochum subway for a month (not valid on fast trains like ICE, EC, IC without additional tickets). There are fast train connections (2-3 hours) from Frankfurt International Airport as well.

Car: Ruhr-Universität Bochum is accessible by car via Autobahn A 43 (Exit 19, Bochum-Querenburg/Ruhr-Universität). Use Universitätsstraße 150 for navigation. Note that parking is limited when classes are in session.

The U-35 Subway (U-Bahn) line connects Bochum’s main train station (Hauptbahnhof) to Ruhr-Universität Bochum every 5 minutes during the day, with a travel time of about 10 minutes (https://www.vrr.de/en/). Tickets can be purchased at the train station, U-Bahn stops, or via the DB-Navigator app. Single rides cost 3 Euros, and multi-ride, day, and week passes are available. The Deutschland ticket is also valid on this route.

Accommodation is available through platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com. While options near the university are limited, we recommend staying in Bochum’s city centre or near the U-35 subway line for easy access to Ruhr-Universität Bochum.

Useful links:

• Bochum Tourism
• Airbnb | Holiday rentals
• IBIS Hotels in Bochum
• Booking.com | Offizielle Seite | Die besten Hotels, Flüge, Mietwagen & Unterkünfte

Program for DMG-MSA Shortcourse / Workshop

Bochum, 6.-10. October 2025

Monday, 06. October

Fundamentals of Diffusion Chronometry

09:00 – 09:15   Welcome, Introduction and Technical / organizational aspects

09:15 – 10:45    Lecture 1 Physical aspects of diffusion in different media and definition of various diffusion coefficients

10:45 – 11:15   COFFEE BREAK

11:15 – 12:45   Lecture 2 Mathematical aspects of diffusion

12:45 – 14:00   LUNCH

14:00 – 15:30   Practical 1 Setting up a basic Excel Table for diffusion calculations

15:30 – 16:00   COFFEE BREAK

16:00 – 18:00    Practical 2 Fitting experimental diffusion profiles

Tuesday, 07. October

Measuring and modelling diffusion

09:00 – 10:00   Lecture 3 Factors controlling diffusion coefficients

10:00 – 10:30    Practical 2 continued Fitting experimental diffusion profiles and getting an Arrhenius relation

10:30 – 11:00    COFFEE BREAK

11:00 – 12:15    Lecture 4 Experimental approaches and the role of point defect thermodynamics

12:15 – 13:30    LUNCH

13:30 – 15:00   Lecture 5 Setting up a model

15:00 – 15.30    Lecture 6 Determining the crystallographic orientation of your crystal

15:30 – 16:00    COFFEE BREAK

16:00 – 17:30    Practical 3 Fitting natural diffusion profiles to get residence times

17:30 – 18:00    Case Study 1 Diffusion chronometry example

Wednesday, 08. October

Numerical methods and cooling systems (non-isothermal)

09:00 – 10:00    Lecture 7 Numerical methods 

10:00 – 12:30    Practical 4 Modelling diffusion profiles with Excel using the method of finite differences:

(a) isothermal model -> Practical 3

(b) cooling model to determine the cooling rate from fitting

(COFFEE BREAK in between)

12:30 – 14:00    LUNCH

14:00 – 14:30    Practical 5 Convolution in analytical measurements of diffusion profiles

14:30 – 15:30    Case study 2: Diffusion chronometry with garnet and aspects of multi-component diffusion

15:30 – 18:00    Poster Session/COFFEE BREAK

Thursday, 09. October

09:00 – 10:30    Practical 7 Solving the same problems as before now using Jupyter

10:30 – 11:00    COFFEE BREAK

Modelling Diffusion using Jupyter

11:00 – 12:30    Practical 7 continued

12:30 – 14:00    LUNCH

More advanced topics

14:00 – 15:30    Lecture 8 & Practical 8 Using BSE Images to get diffusion profiles – A Machine learning approach (Theory and Practical)

15:30 – 16:00   COFFEE BREAK

16:00 – 17:00    Using BSE Images to get diffusion profiles – A Machine learning approach (Theory and Practical)

18:30                DINNER

Friday, 10. October

09:00 – 10:00   Lecture 9 Moving Boundaries & Closure Temperature

10:00 – 11:00    Lecture 10 Phase field method – a sampling of what can be done

11:00 – 11:30    COFFEE BREAK

11:30 – 12:30    Lecture 11 Novel methods for measuring diffusion coefficients including isotopic effects

12:30 – 14:00    LUNCH

14:00 – 15:00   Lecture 12 Diffusion in polycrystalline materials

15:00 – 16:00    Practical 9 Modelling element exchange through grain boundaries and fluids

Closing comments and Discussion and Beer

Lecturers:

Institut für Geologie, Mineralogie und Geophysik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Sumit Chakraborty,  sumit.chakraborty(@)rub.de

Ralf Dohmen, ralf.dohmen@rub.de

Maren Kahl,  maren.kahl(@)rub.de

Icebreaker: An informal icebreaker will be held at a local restaurant / bar on Sunday evening (October 05) before the start of the workshop. The exact time and location will be announced soon. Participants will be expected to cover the bills for food and drink themselves.

Short Course Dinner: There will be a conference dinner on Thursday evening, October 09 at 6:30 PM. The location is Yamas Mezé, Massenbergstraße 1, 44787 Bochum, which is also close to the main train station (5-minute walk). The costs for the dinner are covered including 1 alcohol-free drink; additional alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks are at your own expense.