Department of Geosciences

$975,000 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) grant awarded to Miquela Ingalls, assistant professor and Wilson Faculty Fellow.

Using machine learning, researchers at Penn State have tied low-magnitude microearthquakes to the permeability of subsurface rocks beneath the Earth, a discovery that could have implications for improving geothermal energy transfer.

Penn State researchers were recently awarded funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation to develop a new coupled watershed-estuary model that simulates the transport and fate of major salt ions. 

Massive volcanic events in Earth’s history that released large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. A new method to estimate how much and how rapidly carbon was released by the volcanoes could improve our understanding of the climate response

Incorporating field data for the first time, researchers at Penn State demonstrated machine learning can be a powerful and cost-effective tool for monitoring sequestered carbon dioxide (CO2), overcoming a hurdle for the burgeoning technology aimed at combating climate change. New work from researchers at Penn State demonstrates that machine learning could greatly reduce the long-term costs of monitoring carbon sequestration site

Earle “Skip” Lenker established the Earle S. Lenker Fund for Field Studies in Geology to help students participate in field camp, a unique learning experience where students travel to the western U.S. to witness the geological formations they’re learning about in the classroom. 

Kayla Irizarry, doctoral candidate in geosciences at Penn State, is using her Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship to better understand what controlled diversity in Earth’s earliest complex ecosystems. 

Amy Hasan, administrative support coordinator in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, was recognized with a “We Are!” for going above and beyond for the University. 

Rocks once buried deep in ancient subduction zones — where tectonic plates collide — could help scientists make better predictions of how these zones behave during the years between major earthquakes, according to a research team from Penn State and Brown University.

Trees are struggling to sequester heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) in warmer, drier climates, meaning that they may no longer serve as a solution for offsetting humanity’s carbon footprint as the planet continues to warm, according to a new study led by Penn State researchers.