Geology

About the Department

The Geology Department has modern, well-equipped facilities designed to support a program that integrates classroom, laboratory, and field studies and also takes advantage of the local and regional geologic setting.

Among research interests of the geology faculty are volcanic rocks and tectonics of the Northwest (Cascades, Columbia River Plateau, Puget Lowlands, and Olympic Peninsula), environmental geochemistry, computer applications in geology, sedimentary processes (Puget Sound), glacial and Pleistocene geology (Puget Lowland, Colorado Rockies, and the upper Midwest), behavior of the Earth’s magnetic field in the past, and use of paleomagnetism to examine crustal motions.

Other areas of faculty interest are paleobotany, regional geology of North America, environmental geology, and the application of the scanning electron microscope to geology. Geology majors and faculty have ongoing research projects in the Northwest, western North America, and Central America.

The Geology Department is continually expanding its fossil, mineral, rock, and map collections. In addition, the Collins Memorial Library has extensive holdings both of modern and classical geologic literature that have been selected to support and sustain the undergraduate geology program.

Equipment available for instruction and research includes an X-ray diffractometer and spectrometer, a scanning electron microscope equipped with microanalyzer, an inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometer, a fully-equipped environmental geochemistry laboratory, paleomagnetics laboratory, two boats for sampling lake sediments, petrographic and binocular microscopes, hammer seismograph, microcomputers, sedimentology laboratory, global positioning system, survey instruments, spectrometer, gravity meter, magnetic susceptibility meter, magnetic separator, and thin section machinery.

Students who major in Geology or in Natural Science - Geology acquire the ability to examine the natural world in an analytical fashion, using skills developed in major courses and drawing both qualitative and quantitative conclusions from their own observations. In the latter part of students' time at Puget Sound, the more project-oriented courses provide students with the opportunity to integrate knowledge gained at all levels of their educational experience.

Specifically, the department produces Geology graduates who are

1. Able to observe and interpret the natural world around them;
2. Able to acquire and use scientific knowledge to make informed decisions regarding important issues such as resource use, natural disaster policy, and hazardous waste disposal;
3. Prepared for the required field camp experience;
4. Well prepared for graduate school or typical entry-level positions in the current job market.

Students graduating in geology enter directly into professional positions or continue their studies at the graduate level. Puget Sound geology graduates are currently employed in industry, governmental agencies, and educational institutions, both in the United States and abroad.