Prospecting for fossils in a flight (Mustang) suit during a brief reconn stopover adds to the feeling of being on another planet.
Research at the Jackson School occurs across themes (described below) that encompass the entire Earth system and other planetary bodies in our solar system. The six broad themes explore the linkages between earth processes and systems, and bring the fundamental geoscience disciplines together in a way that encourages collaboration and interdisciplinary research.
We encourage students to get involved with research at every academic stage, including undergraduate students. There are ample opportunities to work with experts at each of our three world-class research units. The researchers across these units are leaders in their field, and often work on the frontiers between disciplines where major developments are taking place. Ongoing work includes:
NASA collaborations to explore Mars and Jupiter’s moon Europa and help forecast dangerous floods and droughts here on Earth;
The most comprehensive public study of the nation’s largest shale plays;
Research of natural disasters soon after they occur through the school’s Rapid Response Program;
Research on potential fuel source methane hydrate in the Gulf of Mexico, funded by an $80 million DOE grant;
Creating and operating a seismic monitoring network (TexNet) across Texas to track earthquake activity;
Sampling the Chicxulub crater in the Gulf of Mexico, the impact site left by the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs;
Below Europa’s thick icy crust is a massive, global ocean where the snow floats upwards onto inverted ice peaks and submerged ravines. The bizarre underwater…
More of the world’s coastal glaciers are melting faster than ever, but exactly what’s triggering the large-scale retreat has been difficult to pin down because…
Scientists investigating the underside of the world’s largest ice sheet in East Antarctica have discovered a city-size lake whose sediments might contain a history of…
The Jackson School of Geosciences recently hosted a VIP visitor: a pristine sample of lunar soil collected by astronauts during Apollo 17, the last mission to the moon.
Salt water within the icy shell of Jupiter’s moon Europa could be transporting oxygen into an ice-covered ocean of liquid water where it could potentially…
