A woman wearing a veil over her head sitting among different rock formations.

Department of Geoscience News

Geoscience is an all-encompassing term used to refer to the earth sciences. The Department of Geosciences offers programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels where students can learn about topics such as earth processes; the origin and evolution of our planet; the chemical and physical properties of minerals, rocks, and fluids; the structure of our mobile crust; the history of life; and the human adaptation to earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and floods.

Current Geoscience News

spring flowers
Campus News |

The rosiest headlines and highlights featuring the students and faculty of 51ԹϺ.

NASA's Perseverance Rover
Research |

51ԹϺ-led research details early insights from NASA’s Perseverance rover; Specimens due back on Earth in the 2030s.

unlv pumpkins
Campus News |

A monthly roundup of the top news stories at 51ԹϺ, featuring the presidential election, gaming partnerships, and much more.

blue recycle bins stacked together
Campus News |

The university becomes the first NSHE institution to introduce a comprehensive plan for tackling climate change.

Students pass by Lied Library as they walk campus on the first day of Fall 2024 semester classes
Campus News |

A collection of news highlights featuring students and faculty.

a park ranger speaks with visitors at Ice Age Fossils Park in Nevada
People |

Geoscience graduate Dawn Reynoso helps create Ice Age Fossils State Park.

Geoscience In The News

PBS

Five years ago, Covid-19 drastically changed lives all over the world. The pandemic also presented unique challenges for Las Vegas. We discuss how Nevadans continue to be impacted in a special collaboration with KNPR’s State of Nevada. We then meet Libby Hausrath, a 51ԹϺ professor and lead researcher on a Mars project. She explains what samples being collected now may tell us about the Red Planet.

PBS

Five years ago, Covid-19 drastically changed lives all over the world. The pandemic also presented unique challenges for Las Vegas. We discuss how Nevadans continue to be impacted in a special collaboration with KNPR’s State of Nevada. We then meet Libby Hausrath, a 51ԹϺ professor and lead researcher on a Mars project. She explains what samples being collected now may tell us about the Red Planet.

PBS

Five years ago, Covid-19 drastically changed lives all over the world. The pandemic also presented unique challenges for Las Vegas. We discuss how Nevadans continue to be impacted in a special collaboration with KNPR’s State of Nevada. We then meet Libby Hausrath, a 51ԹϺ professor and lead researcher on a Mars project. She explains what samples being collected now may tell us about the Red Planet.

PBS

Five years ago, Covid-19 drastically changed lives all over the world. The pandemic also presented unique challenges for Las Vegas. We discuss how Nevadans continue to be impacted in a special collaboration with KNPR’s State of Nevada. We then meet Libby Hausrath, a 51ԹϺ professor and lead researcher on a Mars project. She explains what samples being collected now may tell us about the Red Planet.

Las Vegas Review Journal

Could life exist on Mars? That's what a professor at 51ԹϺ is looking to find out using samples from the red planet.

KNPR News

Mars has fascinated humanity since Galileo Galilei accurately observed it more than 400 years ago. Now we’re getting to the point of trying to land spaceships on the planet, which is the stated goal of President Donald Trump and his advisor, Elon Musk.

Geoscience Experts

Lachniet is an expert in paleoclimatology, quaternary geology, climate change and stable isotope geochemistry.
An expert in planetary science, igneous petrology, and Martian geology.
An expert in Mars geochemistry, astrobiology, water-rock interactions, and snow dynamics.
An expert in earthquakes, structural geology, tectonics, and neotectonics.
An expert in geology, paleoecology, paleontology, and the history of geology.
Carrie Tyler is a marine conservation paleobiologist.

Recent Geoscience Accomplishments

Steve Rowland (Geoscience) published "The Cambrian of the Grand Canyon: Refinement of a Classic Stratigraphic Model" in GSA Today with Carol Dehler, professor at Utah State University; James Hagadorn of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science; Frederick Sundberg, Karl Karlstrom and Laura Crossey of the University of New Mexico; and…
Thomas Lamont (Geology) had a paper titled, "Porphyry copper formation driven by water fluxed crustal anatexis during flat-slab subduction," published on Nov. 4 in Nature Geoscience. It has long been recognized that many of the worlds largest porphyry copper deposits (copper ore formed by magmatic-hydrothermal fluids associated with granitic…
Krishnakumar Nangeelil, Peter Dimpfl, Zaijing Sun (all Health Physics and Diagnostic Sciences), Shichun Huang (currently faculty at UTK, a former member of the department of geosciences at 51ԹϺ), and Mayir Mamtimin (Halliburton) published an article titled, "Preliminary Study on Forgery Identification of Hetian Jade with Instrumental Neutron…
Simon Jowitt and Brian McNulty (Geoscience) recently published a paper in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews on critical metals – often discarded as a byproduct of mining operations – that are vital components in the global push for low-carbon energy generation, storage, and transport. Researchers explored the current global…
Amanda Ostwald and Arya Udry (both Geoscience) and their collaborators, Valerie Payré (NAU), Esteban Gazel (Cornell), and Peiyu Wu (Cornell) published a paper, “The Role of Assimilation and Factional Crystallization in the Evolution of the Mars Crust”, in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters. Ostwald is geoscience graduate student, and…
Shichun Huang (Geoscience), Min Li (Physics and Astronomy) and their colleagues published an article, Sulfur Isotopic Signature of Earth Established by Planetesimal Volatile Evaporation, in Naure Geoscience. Using sophisticated ab initio and thermodynamics calculations, they showed that the Earth's sulfur, an important volatile element, budget is…