Lecture by Prof. Carsten Münker within the GEOPLANET Seminar during the 70th Anniversary of ING PAN
As part of the celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the Institute of Geological Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences (ING PAN), held on 12 May 2026 at the headquarters of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Kraków, the special guest of the event was Prof. Carsten Münker from the University of Cologne — a world-renowned expert in isotope geochemistry and the evolution of the Earth and the Solar System.
Prof. Münker delivered a lecture entitled “From the early solar system to Earth’s interior: new clues from new isotope tools” within the “GeoPlanet” seminar series. The presentation focused on the latest research concerning the formation of the Earth, the origin of the Moon, and the evolution of Earth’s interior, investigated using state-of-the-art isotope analytical methods. We invite readers to explore the presentation materials.
In his lecture, Prof. Münker presented a modern perspective on the earliest stages of Solar System history and the processes that led to the formation of the proto-Earth and its first magma reservoirs. Particular attention was devoted to short-lived isotope systems, such as the 182Hf–182W system, which make it possible to reconstruct events occurring within the first tens of millions of years after the birth of the Solar System.
The presented research results addressed, among others:
- the processes of Earth’s core formation and the origin of the Moon,
- the so-called “late veneer”, i.e. the late accretion of meteoritic material onto Earth,
- the evolution of the oldest fragments of Earth’s mantle,
- the interpretation of tungsten and neodymium isotope anomalies in Archean rocks from Greenland, Australia, and South Africa,
- the beginnings of plate tectonics and mantle mixing processes.
The lecture demonstrated how enormous advances in analytical techniques now allow scientists to investigate processes that occurred more than 4.5 billion years ago with unprecedented precision. Particular interest was drawn to results suggesting that the Earth–Moon system and the first proto-crust of the Earth may have formed within the first 60 million years of Solar System history.
About the speaker:
Prof. Carsten Münker is Professor of Geochemistry and Petrology at the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne (Universität zu Köln), Germany. He leads a modern isotope analysis laboratory specializing in radiogenic and stable isotope research applied to planetary geochemistry, cosmochemistry, and studies of Earth’s interior evolution.
His scientific achievements include pioneering studies on the origin of the material forming the Earth and terrestrial planets, the differentiation processes of Earth’s interior, the history of the Earth’s mantle, and the chronology of the Moon’s formation. He is the author of numerous publications in leading scientific journals such as Nature, Nature Geoscience, Science, and PNAS, and his work ranks among the most highly cited research in isotope geochemistry and planetary sciences.
