Paysages sismiques invites us to penetrate to the heart of matter, and more specifically to the earth's mantle, to discover what happens during an earthquake: fusion, dilation, fragmentation, explosion - under the effect of heat, rocks metamorphose and reveal their mysteries, invisible to the naked eye.

This project is the fruit of a collaboration between photographer Thomas Gizolme and geophysics researcher Alexandre Schubnel, Director of the Geology Laboratory at the École normale supérieure in Paris. Within this laboratory, the researchers have created two machines: one that reproduces earthquakes in an attempt to understand their mechanisms and anticipate their development, and a second that produces images of molten matter. The latter shows rocks liquefying, creating a fascinating geological geography. Thomas Gizolme has used this body of photographs to create a book in which the marvelous meets the scientific: readers can discover unsuspected landscapes hundreds of kilometers beneath our feet.