Geosciences Research Overview
Geosciences Department research strengths span a wide range of depths and scales, and include fieldwork and studies from the local Colorado Front Range to Antarctica. Broad topics of study include fluvial geomorphology; energy geosciences, economic geology, structural geology, petrology, geochemistry, geochronology, sedimentology, tectonics, mineralogy, hydrogeology, and geophysics.
Faculty and staff research involves research opportunities at all levels, from undergraduates to postdoctoral scholars. Present research interests of the faculty can be broadly characterized into the following categories.
Faculty Disciplines
Dynamics and processes of rivers, floods, and landslides; associated effects on ecosystem habitats.
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY, SEDIMENTOLOGY, STRATIGRAPHY, AND LOW TEMPERATURE GEOCHEMISTRY
Hydrocarbon geosystems; sedimentology; diagenesis and geochemistry of shales and carbonates; sedimentation.
Lisa Stright and Judy Hannah
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY
Hydrothermal ore deposits; hydrothermal fluid flow.
John Ridley
PETROLOGY, STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY, AND TECTONICS
Igneous and metamorphic petrology; core complexes and terranes; shear zones, faults and fault focus; extension and rifting of the lithosphere; structure and processes of the mantle.
Jerry Magloughlin, John Singleton, Dennis Harry, Derek Schutt, and Rick Aster
HYDROGEOLOGY AND HYDROGEOPHYSICS
Groundwater flow and transport modeling; isotope and tracer hydrogeology; flow and transport in fractured rock; groundwater recharge; groundwater/surface water interactions; geophysical characterization of aquifers.
GEOPHYSICS, GEODYNAMICS, AND SEISMOLOGY
Earthquake and volcano seismology; imaging the near surface; structure, evolution, and physical state of the lithosphere and asthenosphere; lithospheric deformation modeling; Antarctic and glacial geophysics; geophysical Inverse Methods.
Dennis Harry, Derek Schutt, Dan McGrath, and Rick Aster
Dennis Harry, Derek Schutt, Dan McGrath, and Rick Aster