Research groups within the Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno conduct a variety of field, laboratory and modeling studies related to geoscience questions about Nevada, other parts of Earth and space.
Work in this area encompasses a wide range of topics that involve water, glaciers, landscape, environment and climate, their interactions, and evolution. Examples of recent faculty projects include paleoclimate studies using sedimentary, geochemical and micropaleontologic proxies; hydrologic and seismologic monitoring at the earth’s surface with fiber-distributed temperature and distributed acoustic sensing; Mars exploration and polar/climate processes; abandoned mine land remediation and monitoring; monitoring the ice/ocean interactions and melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the influence of faulting and other tectonic processes on mountain geomorphology and sedimentary basins; natural hazards; sediment transport and landscape evolution. Many of our faculty are also part of the interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Hydrologic Sciences.
Faculty work on seismic hazards, neotectonics, and tomographic imaging of Earth’s plate boundaries and other crust and mantle processes. We are interested in recent motions of the Earth’s crust, characterization of subsurface structures and surface fault expressions, and the physics of strong ground motion. The Nevada Seismological Lab maintains a regional seismic monitoring network that investigates the size, frequency, and distribution of earthquakes and promotes earthquake preparedness in the state.
Faculty work in areas that are related to the potential for natural and man-made hazards as well as the interaction of human-built infrastructure with earth materials. Specific projects include modern computational methods for debris flow modeling and glacial lake outburst hazard prediction, stability and rock mechanical properties in underground mines and other civil infrastructure, and hydrologic flow and conductivity of materials in municipal solid waste systems.
Faculty pursue multi-disciplinary approaches to understanding orogenic and extensional systems including geochemistry, igneous and metamorphic petrology, geochronology, and fieldwork. Research encompasses applications of geochemistry, petrology, and geochronology to understand the relationship between volcanism and ore deposits, magma evolution at depth, the pressure–temperature–time path that rocks and magmas follow from the deep crust to the surface, recent volcanism, and fluid flow through orogenic systems.
Faculty work in areas of numerical modeling, geomorphology, surface hydrology, hydrogeology, GIS and spatial analysis, paleohydrology and climate change. Many of our faculty are also part of the interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Hydrologic Sciences.
Faculty work on issues related to climate change across human to geologic timescales, mineral weathering, biogeochemical cycling, environmental shifts, natural disturbances and biotic crises. We perform field work, remote sensing, laboratory experiments and laboratory analyses using a variety of techniques including stable and radiogenic isotopes, elemental chemistry, spectroscopy, chemostratigraphic correlation of sedimentary sequences and more.
The Mackay School has a long history in the study and understanding of both ore deposits and geothermal energy systems. In the Center for Research in Economic Geology applied research focuses on geochemistry and alteration caused by fluids in hydrothermal systems that lead to the genesis of mineral deposits their discovery and production. The Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy explores the surface expression of and structural controls on geothermal systems in Nevada and similar extensional tectonic settings worldwide, and development and expansion of both traditional geothermal resources and engineered geothermal systems.
Research in this area encompasses structural geology, metamorphic and igneous petrology, regional tectonics and geodesy. Our faculty pursue basic and applied research on the thermal, compositional and deformational changes associated with convergent, divergent, transform, and oblique margins, as well as intraplate settings. Specific research is focused on many exciting orogenic systems including the North American Cordillera, Basin and Range, Andes, Himalaya and others worldwide. This group uses a variety of field and laboratory techniques to research mantle-to-surface processes.
See how Department research is put to work in our labs and explore facilities and equipment available to faculty and students.
Research in the Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering research happens all over the state, world and galaxy! Explore how the Department is leading in geological sciences research below.
When the mission for the Mars rover Opportunity was declared complete, after 15 years rolling around the dusty planet surface examining rocks, soil, craters and dunes, science team member Wendy Calvin was a little sad, but said the rover "had a good long life."
Wendy Calvin is the Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering Chair and professor. Her experience as a member of the Mars Rover science team is passed down to students and shared with other faculty.
The Department's applied geophysics graduate class spent spring break doing remote sensing field work out at Fly Ranch in Gerlach, Nevada. They tested out using the drone to create incredibly high-resolution models of the landscape.
