RESEARCH AREAS

Biogeochemistry

This research focuses on quantifying modern and ancient biogeochemical processes in both terrestrial and marine environments. Study areas include the coastal zones of Panama, Saint Lucia, and Connecticut and soils, groundwaters, rivers, and lakes located in Michigan and Ontario, Canada. Ku, Greenwood

Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems

Systematics and biogeography of fresh water fishes of Latin America; morphological evolution; conservation of aquatic ecosystems. Chernoff

Geoscience Education

Strategies to expose all students to geoscience and geoscience careers at all levels.  O'Connell

Long Island Sound Studies

Focus on the coastal salt marshes of Long Island Sound, using the variation in geochemisty and fauna to reconstrcut the ecology, environment and sea level rise through time.  Inventory of marsh vegetaion using remote sensing. Varekamp, Thomas, Gilmore

Paleoclimatology and Paleoecology

Analyses of Ocean Drilling Program cores of the Atlantic and Pacific allow reconstruction of Cenozoic climatic history. Analysis of leaf shape and stomatal geometry to reconstruct temperature and atmospheric CO2. O'Connell, Royer, Thomas

Planetary Science

Fundamental geologic and mineralogical mapping of the planets, notably Venus and Mars.  Visible/Near Infrared spectroscopy of analogue materials.  Hydrogen, sulfur and oxygen isotope ratios of minerals constrain element reservoirs in meteorite parent bodies, Mars and the Moon.  Gilmore, Greenwood

Structural Mapping and Modeling

The Earth's crust deforms in a matter of seconds during an earthquake or over millions of years to build a mountain range. We seek to better understand the processes and patterns of this deformation by integrating field mapping, surveying, and remote sensing with mechanical modeling. Current projects explore syndepositional faulting in the Guadalupe Mountains, normal fault-related deformation in the Grand Canyon, and the physics of earthquakes by studying pseudotachylyte-bearing faults from Italy.  Resor

Volcanology 

We perform basic volcanological, petrological, and geochemical research on volcanoes in Argentina, the southwestern U.S. and Mexico, and Indonesia. Focus is on physical and chemical evolution of magmatic systems and crater lakes.  Varekamp