New Undergraduate Degree Option in Environmental Geoscience

The Department of Earth Sciences is pleased to announce that we will be offering a new degree option for our undergraduate students in Environmental Geosciences. Students may choose to pursue a Bachelors of Science (B.S.) or a Bachelors of Arts (B.A.) in Environmental Geosciences. We hope that this new degree option will open various opportunities for our students in a growing career field, preparing them to work in various areas including environmental consulting firms, as well as, federal, state, and nonprofit agencies.

For more information, please contact Dr. Joshua Feinberg at: feinberg@umn.edu.

Also, check out this great spotlight by CSE: Environmental Geosciences.

QMA 2019, Quantitative Microanalysis 2019

The Department of Earth Sciences and the Microanalysis Society are pleased to announce the topical conference QMA 2019, Quantitative Microanalysis 2019. QMA 2019 will be held June 24-27, 2019. Topics covered include, but are not limited to, quantitative analysis by SEM/EDS and EPMA, compositional mapping, sample preparation, microanalysis education, and reference materials.

Visit the QMA 2019 website for more information!

This Week's Department Seminar

Seminar will be held on Thursday, February 14th at 4 pm in room B20 Tate Hall.

Dr. Ann Dunlea, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry

Title: Rethinking the role of the seafloor in ocean chemistry and long-term climate

Abstract: What controls the long-term trajectory of Earth’s climate and ocean chemistry? How do marine sediments regulate – and bear witness to – these changes? My research investigates the diverse and dynamic subseafloor geochemical processes interacting with the ocean and long-term changes in climate. In this talk, I will present a new hypothesis supported with empirical evidence that invokes changes in reverse weathering on the seafloor to explain the increase in seawater Mg/Ca and global cooling observed over the past 50 million years. This hypothesis inverts the prevailing mechanisms that require an increase in silicate weathering as the driver of many elemental and isotopic trends over the Cenozoic. Additionally, this research opens avenues to reconsider the role of the seafloor in many (bio)geochemical and climate enigmas. 

Interested in Working with the Department of Earth Sciences?

If you are interested in applying for any positions available here in the Department of Earth Sciences, check out the current positions available for more information.