Department of Geophysics

Martin Kihoulou


Photo by Tomáš Rubín

Address:  Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Department of Geophysics
      V Holesovickach 2, 182 00 Praha 8, Czech Republic

E-mail:   martin.kihoulou@mff.cuni.cz

ORCID:  0000-0003-4935-4400

Scopus:  57221641389

Phone:   (+420) 95155 2533

Positions

Education

Participation in projects

Publications

  1. Lebec, L., Kihoulou, M. and Čadek, O. (2026). Cracking Europa: Formation of the dilational bands and material distribution on the surface. Submitted to JGR: Planets PREPRINT

  2. Aygün, B., Kihoulou, M. Čadek, O., Choblet, G., Tobie, G. (2026). Titan's heat budget indicates a rapidly emerging subsurface ocean. Submitted to Geophys. Res. Lett. PREPRINT

  3. Kihoulou, M. and Čadek, O. (2026). Unresolved circumstances of Europa’s dilation bands formation. Submitted to Geophys. Res. Lett. PREPRINT

  4. Kihoulou, M., Choblet, G., Tobie, G., Kalousová, K. and Čadek, O. (2025). Subduction-like process in Europa’s ice shell triggered by enhanced eccentricity periods.
    Science Advances 11, eadq8719. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adq8719

    Media coverage: How Europa "breathes" at Faculty of Mathematics and Physics News (Czech and English version)

  5. Patočka, V. and Kihoulou, M. (2023). Dynamic reorientation of tidally locked bodies: application to Pluto. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 617(1), 118270.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2023.118270

  6. Kihoulou, M., Čadek, O., Kvorka, J., Kalousová, K., Choblet, G. and Tobie, G. (2023). Topographic response to ocean heat flux anomaly on the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Icarus 391, 115337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2022.115337

  7. Kihoulou, M., Kalousová, K. and Souček, O. (2022). Evolution of Pluto's impact-deformed ice shell below Sputnik Planitia basin. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets 127, e2022JE007221. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JE007221

Software

MilleFEuiIle is a computational code built upon the open-source finite-element python library FEniCS, developed to solve thermo-mechanical evolution of ice shells of icy bodies. Combining finite element method and Lagrangian markers, MilleFEuiIle can be used to address a variety of problems in 2D Cartesian geometry, such as thermal and thermo-compositional convection, evolution of surface and ice-ocean interface, phase transition at the ice-ocean interface, long-term tectonic deformation with visco-elasto-plastic rheology or melt generation and transport inside the ice shell (using Rayleigh-Taylor approximation).
See for the latest published version, or the GitHub repository for the most recent development and documentation with demos.

Invited seminars

  1. Institut of Geosciences, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. February 2026 (Tectonic breathing of icy moon Europa: Could subduction- and rifting-like processes support habitability in the outer solar system?)

  2. Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado. August 2022 (Evolution of Pluto's impact-deformed ice shell below Sputnik Planitia basin)

  3. New Horizons Science Team meeting, Wallace, Idaho. September 2022 (Evolution of Pluto's impact-deformed ice shell below Sputnik Planitia basin)

Selected conference and workshop presentations