Research Areas

Kelly and Tara in Bahamas

Biogeochemistry and Paleontology

The Paleobiology Group seeks to unravel the record of life and environments throughout Earth's rich history, focusing on research in paleoclimatology and paleoceanography, stratigraphic paleoecology and biotic interactions, conservation paleobiology, the ecological revolution during the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition through to the Cambrian Explosion, taphonomy and biogeochemistry of exceptional fossil deposits, systematic paleontology, and applications of virtual paleontology across a range of topics. This research combines field-based approaches, museum collections, laboratory preparation, and advanced analytical tools including isotopic analyses and x-ray microbeam imaging techniques to purse these research avenues.

Mineralogy and petrology

Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology, and Volcanology

The GMPV group works on a variety of topics relating to igneous and hydrothermal systems and engineered fluid storage, including the generation and evolution of magmatic bodies, shallow magmatic processes and their impact on volcanic eruption style, physical processes on the Earth’s surface during volcanic eruptions, the reaction and flow of hydrothermal fluids, and CO2 and hydrogen sequestration. Some current research being conducted by this group includes geochemical and physical processes that influence explosive-effusive transitions in volcanic eruption style within a single eruptive period, controls on the formation of hydrothermal base metal and rare earth element deposits, the behavior of CO2 and hydrogen injected into sedimentary basins, geochemical evolution of silicic magma systems, and timing of volcanic eruptions. Our group utilizes field studies, numerical modeling, experimental petrology, geochronology, and geochemical analytical techniques (e.g., LA-ICP-MS, microthermometry, Raman spectroscopy, FTIR, SEM, and EPMA) to tackle these problems.

Geophysics

Geophysics, Tectonics and Solid Earth Processes

Our faculty uses a wide variety of techniques to study the structure and deformation of the Earth’s crust and mantle. Ongoing projects include seismotectonics that collects and analyzes seismic wave data to image crustal and mantle structure and the fabrics of their deformation in different continents; geodesy and neotectonics that combine space-based geodetic measurements of ground deformation with field survey to understand faulting, earthquakes, and landslides; thermochronology and tectonics that reconstruct the deformation history of mountain belts; and geodynamics that integrates geological and geophysical data with computer simulation to understand mountain building, subduction, basin formation, volcanism, and earthquakes. Our students work both in the field and in the computer lab on projects located all over the world.