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Detailed Information

Programs of Study

The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences offers programs of study leading to the degrees of M.S. and Ph.D. in geological sciences. These programs provide classroom, laboratory, and field instruction as well as research experience to prepare students for successful careers in academia and industry. Department faculty members conduct active research in paleomagnetism and geophysics, solid earth geochemistry, noble gas geochemistry, cosmogenic isotope geochemistry, environmental geochemistry, paleoclimatology and paleoaltimetry, paleoceanography, sedimentary geology, stratigraphy, structural geology, tectonics, and geodynamics.

All graduate students are expected to take a combination of courses designed to provide an in-depth understanding of their area of specialization as well as general expertise in geological sciences. This curricular program is designed individually for each student in consultation with the student’s research adviser and thesis committee. To ensure that candidates for the M.S. and Ph.D. obtain teaching experience, all students are required to aid in instruction for at least one year.

Research Facilities

The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences has state-of-the-art instrumentation for field studies and to complement field-based research programs. Laboratory instruments include a multicollector, magnetic-sector ICP-MS; a quadrupole ICP-MS; and a thermal ionization mass spectrometer, which are used to determine trace-metal content and isotopic compositions of geological, environmental, and biological materials. A rare gas mass spectrometer is used for high-precision He, Ne, and Ar isotopic measurements. A gas source mass spectrometer is available for analyzing light stable isotopes of H, C, O, and N; the instrument is used to analyze carbonates, fossil teeth, organic matter, and water for paleoenvironmental, climate, and ecology studies. A DC SQUID superconducting rock magnetometer with a high-resolution coil configuration is used for paleomagnetic and paleointensity investigations of single minerals. An alternating gradient force magnetometer, a high-speed automatic spinner magnetometer, an automated magnetic susceptibility system (allowing low- and high-temperature measurements), and a range of demagnetization devices allow further detailed rock magnetic analyses. Geophysical field equipment includes geodetic GPS receivers, broadband seismometers, and rock drills. The structural geology laboratory has research microscopes for photomicrography, semiautomated point counting stage, Image Pro Plus image analysis system and universal stage for petrofabric studies, a cold-cathode luminoscope, and a map-scale digitizer. Equipment is also available for X-ray diffractometry, UV-Vis spectrophotometry, and ion chromatography. Sample preparation is carried out in the Department’s rock-cutting and thin-section facilities and in clean labs and wet chemistry labs, which also house a Frantz isodynamic separator and a microwave digestion system. GIS and remote sensing software packages support studies of planetary surfaces; specialist geophysical analysis packages support airborne and ground-based potential field data analysis, seismic and GPS data processing, numerical modeling, and time-series analysis.

Financial Aid

Students enrolled full-time in the Ph.D. program are generally awarded a full-tuition scholarship as well as a competitive stipend. The stipend is in the form of a teaching or research assistantship. All students are expected to serve as teaching assistants for at least one year as part of their training. A number of merit-based and minority representation scholarships are also available for qualified students.

Cost of Study

Generally, students admitted to the Ph.D. program receive a full-tuition scholarship.

Living and Housing Costs

Monthly rents for on-campus facilities for married and unmarried graduate students range from $440 for a furnished studio apartment with a shared kitchen to $800 for a three-bedroom town house. The Community Living Program provides a variety of referral and apartment-hunting services for members of the University who prefer to live elsewhere in the community.

Student Group

Currently, the Department has 12 full-time graduate students and 1 postdoctoral research associates of varying ages, nationalities, and experiences. Of this number, 5 are international students and 4 are women.

Location

Rochester is located in upstate New York, south of Lake Ontario. The metropolitan area includes nearly a million people and high-tech corporations such as Eastman Kodak Company and Xerox Corporation. The city and eight area colleges support theater, dance, film series, art galleries, museums, and musical activities centering on the Eastman School of Music. Rochester is home to professional teams in baseball, hockey, lacrosse, basketball, arena football, and soccer. The Finger Lakes, Adirondack Mountains, and other nearby wilderness areas offer many recreational opportunities.

The University

The University of Rochester, which was founded in 1850, is a private, coeducational institution with some 1,000 full-time faculty members, 2,500 full-time graduate students, 1,100 part-time graduate students, and 4,700 full-time undergraduates.

Applying

Graduate students are generally expected to have a strong background in geoscience and a broad knowledge of other sciences and mathematics. However, because of the multidisciplinary nature of research in the Department, special consideration is given to students with strong backgrounds in particular areas of science (especially chemistry, biology, physics, engineering, and material science) even if they have only a modest background in geoscience. Applications from qualified women and members of minority groups are strongly encouraged.

Students are required to submit scores from the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE). The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is required of all applicants whose native language is not English. Applications should be submitted by February 1 to guarantee consideration for September enrollment.

The Faculty and Their Research

• Asish R. Basu, Professor; Ph.D., California, Davis, 1975. Trace elements and radiogenic isotopic studies of the earth’s crust-mantle system; geochemistry of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks; plume volcanism; origin of continental flood basalts; volcanism in the East African Rift System; meteorites, impacts, and mass extinctions; geochemical and tectonic evolution of the Franciscan Subduction Complex; submarine groundwater discharge and the marine geochemical record.
• Cynthia Ebinger, Professor; Ph.D., MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, 1988. Ebinger’s current research aims to understand the partitioning of strain between faulting and magmatic processes within continental and ocean rift zones over time scales of hours to millennia. A primary aim of collaborataive earthquake monitoring, geodetic, structural, and petrological studies in East Africa and the Galapagos Archipelago is to understand the rise and storage of magma through the crust above hot spots and within rift zones. These studies involve seismic imaging of magma movement and storage in the crust, fault kinematic studies and integration with geodetic data. Our multi-disciplinary team uses these data to develop predictive models of volcano-tectonic crises to mitigate natural hazards. A second theme is the longer-term evolution of continental rift zones from initiation to continental rupture. The superposition of tectonic and magmatic processes over multiple deformation episodes creates broad uplifts and basins that may accumulate thick sedimentary sequences; the rise and storage of magma permanently alters the plate. Passive and controlled source seismic experiments, satellite remote sensing, and structural and geodetic studies probe the plate structure, constraining predictive thermo-mechanical models.
• Udo Fehn, Professor and Chair; Ph.D., Munich Technical, 1973. Origin and movement of fluids in the crust, application of cosmogenic isotopes for tracing and dating of fluids, origin of volatiles in volcanic and geothermal fluids, recycling of marine sediments in island arcs, formation of gas hydrates in marine and terrestrial settings, sources of fluids associated with oil and gas reservoirs, tracing of anthropogenic radioisotopes in the environment.
• Carmala Garzione, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Arizona, 2000. Study of sedimentary basin evolution and related mountain belts; fieldwork emphasizes reconstructing paleogeography and basin evolution from provenance, facies, and paleocurrent information; application of geochemical and petrologic provenance techniques to understand mountain belt unroofing history and stable isotopes as indicators of paleoelevation and/or paleoenvironment; recent work in the Tibet Plateau and Andean.
• Gautam Mitra, Professor; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, 1977. Field-based structural studies in the North American Cordillera (Montana-Idaho-Wyoming-Utah-New Mexico), the Central and Southern Appalachians, the Kumaon and Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya, and the Scottish Caledonides aimed at deciphering the tectonic evolution of mountain belts; finite strain and strain history analysis aimed at understanding large-scale deformational patterns in mountain belts; microstructural and textural studies to determine deformation mechanisms in rocks and their implications for large-scale kinematics and mechanics of deformation.
• Robert J. Poreda, Professor; Ph.D., California, San Diego, 1983. Groundwater flow models and the tritium/3He dating of young groundwater, cosmic ray–produced 3He and its application to geological problems, use of isotopic and geochemical tracers to study regional flow systems and the discharge of groundwater to the coastal ocean, understanding the structure and composition of the subcontinental and oceanic mantles through the study of the rare gases and other volatiles, origin of the volatile components in back-arc basalts (Lau Basin and the Mariana Trough) and island arc lavas (Alaska–Aleutian Arc and the Philippines), chemical and isotopic tracers of extraterrestrial impacts.
• John A. Tarduno, Professor; Ph.D., Stanford, 1987. Paleomagnetism applied to geodynamics, geomagnetism, planetary science, and environmental change including studies of plate, hot spot, and polar motion; use of single silicate crystals to determine geomagnetic paleointensity and meteorite parent body evolution; evolution of the early earth; Cretaceous climate change and archeomagnetism; field studies in California, Mauritania, New Zealand, South Africa, Swaziland, and the Arctic; marine geological studies in the Pacific Ocean, including drilling of the Hawaiian-Emperor seamounts.

Selected Publications

• Asish R. Basu
• Isotopic and geochemical evidence for a heterogeneous mantle plume origin of the Virunga volcanics, Western Rift, East African Rift system. Chem. Geol. 259:273–289, 2009 (with Chakrabarti, Santo, Tedesco, and Vaselli).
• Chondritic meteorite fragments associated with the Permian-Triassic boundary in Antarctica. Science 302(5649):1388–92, 2003 (with Petaev, Poreda, Jacobsen, and Becker).
• Large ground water Sr flux to the oceans from the Bengal Basin and the Marine Sr isotope record. Science 293(5534):2470–3, 2001 (with Jacobsen, Poreda, Dowling, and Aggarwal).
• Editor: Earth processes: Reading the Isotopic Code. Geophys. Monogr., vol. 95. Washington, D.C.: American Geophysical Union, 1996 (with Hart).
• High 3He plume origin and temporal-spatial evolution of the Siberian flood basalts. Science 269:822–5, 1995 (with Poreda, et al.).
• Cynthia Ebinger
• Multiple active volcanoes in the Eastern Rift, Africa. Geology in press (with Biggs and Anthony).
• Repeated dike injection sourced beneath the center of the Dabbahu segment in the Afar rift. Geology, 2009. doi: 10.1130/G25147A.1 (with Keir et al.).
• Magma intrusion and faulting processes in a zone of continental rupture: Seismicity of the Dabbahu (Afar) rift. Geophys. J. Int., 2008. doi: 10.1111/j.1365246X.2008.03877.x (with Keir et al.).
• Crustal structure of the northern Main Ethiopian Rift from a tomographic inversion of local earthquakes. Geophys. J. Int., 172:1033–48, 2008 (with Daly et al.).
• Ocean birth through rifting and rupture. McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science and Technology 161–5, 2007 (with Yirgu, Wright, Calais, and Lewi).
• Udo Fehn
• Halogen and 129I systematics in gas hydrate fields at the northern Cascadia margin (IODP Expedition 311): Insights from numerical modeling. G-cubed 2008. doi:10.1029/2008GC002156 (with Lu, Hensen, and Wallmann).
• Atacamite formation by deep saline waters in copper deposits from the Atacama Desert, Chile: Evidence from fluid inclusions, groundwater geochemistry, TEM, and 36Cl data. Miner. Deposita. 43:633–75, 2008 (with Reich et al.).
• Iodine ages of pore waters at Hydrate Ridge (ODP Leg 204), Cascadia Margin: Implications for sources of methane in gas hydrates. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 267:654–65, 2008 (with Lu and Tomaru).
• Iodine as a tracer of organic material: 129I results from gas hydrate systems and fore arc fluids. J. Geochem. Explor. 95:66–80, 2007 (with Snyder and Muramatu).
• Age variation in pore water iodine from the eastern Nankai Trough, Japan: Evidence for different source regions in a gas hydrate field. Geology 35:1015–8, 2007 (with Tomaru, Lu, Muramatsu, and Matsumoto).
• Old iodine in fluids venting along the Central American convergent margin. Geophys. Res. Lett. 34:L22604, 2007 (with Lu, Hensen, and Wallmann).
• Carmala Garzione
• Surface uplift of Tibet and Cenozoic global cooling. Geology 36:1003–4, 2008 .
• Paleoelevation and geomorphic constraints on the late Miocene rise of the Andes. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 271:192–201, 2008 (with Hoke).
• Rise of the Andes. Science 320:1304–7, 2008 (with Hoke et al.).
• Paleothermometry of Altiplano paleosols: Implications for Late Miocene surface uplift of the Andean plateau. Science 311:511–5, 2006 (with Ghosh and Eiler).
• Source of Oligocene to Pliocene sedimentary rocks in the Linxia Basin in NE Tibet from Nd isotopes: Implications for tectonic forcing of climate. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 117:1156–66, 2005 with Ikari and Basu).
• Gautam Mitra
• Evidence for Permo-Triassic collision in Far East Asia: The Korean collisional orogen. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 279:340–9, 2009 (with Kwon et al.).
• Kinematics-based mathematical model for deforming thrust wedges. Math. Geosci. 40:249–75, 2008 (with Mookerjee).
• Effect of Predeformational basin geometry in the kinematic evolution of a thin-skinned orogenic wedge: Insights from three-dimensional finite element modeling of the Provo salient, Sevier fold-thrust belt, Utah. J. Geophys. Res. 112:BO2403, 2007 (with Kwon and Perucchio).
• Three-dimensional kinematic history at an oblique ramp, Leamington zone, Sevier belt, Utah. J. Struct. Geol. 28:474–93, 2006 (with Kwon).
• Folding by cataclastic flow: Evolution of controlling factors during deformation. J. Struct. Geol. 27:2181–203, 2005 (with Ismat).
• Robert J. Poreda
• Chemical and isotopic evolution of Lake Bonney, Taylor Valley: Timing of Late Holocene climate change in Antarctica. Aquatic Geochem. 10:353–71, 2004 (with Hunt, Welch, and Lyons).
• Ground water discharge and nitrate flux to the Gulf of Mexico. Ground Water 42:401–17, 2004 (with Dowling, Hunt, and Carey).
• Fullerenes and interplanetary dust at the Permian-Triassic boundary. Astrobiology 3:75–90, 2003 (with Becker).
• Sources of nitrogen and methane in Central American geothermal settings: Noble gases and 129I evidence of crustal magmatic sources. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 4, 2003. doi: 10.1029/2002GC000363 (with Snyder, Hunt, and Fehn).
• Geochemical study of arsenic release mechanisms in the Bengal Basin groundwater. Water Resour. Res. 38:1173–90, 2002 (with Dowling et al.).
• John A. Tarduno
• The bent Hawaiian-Emperor hotspot track: Inheriting the mantle wind. Science 324:50–53, 2009.
• Geomagnetic field strength 3.2 billion years ago recorded by single silicate crystals. Nature 446(7136):657–60, 2007 (with Cottrell, Watkeys, and Bauch).
• The Emperor Seamounts: Southward motion of the Hawaiian hotspot plume in the Earth’s mantle. Science 301:1064–9, 2003 (with Duncan, et al.).
• The Cretaceous Superchron geodynamo: Observations near the tangent cylinder. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 99:14020–5, 2002 (with Cottrell and Smirnov).
• High geomagnetic field intensity during the mid-Cretaceous from Thellier analyses of single plagioclase crystals. Science 291:1779–83, 2001 (with Cottrell and Smirnov).

Correspondence and Information

University of Rochester
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
227 Hutchison Hall
Rochester, New York 14627
Telephone: 585-275-5713
Fax: 585-244-5689
Email: ees@earth.rochester.edu