Introduction

The Department of Earth Sciences awards both Master’s (M.S.) and Doctoral (Ph.D.) degrees. Student applicants to our graduate program commonly have a Bachelor’s degree in Earth Sciences or closely related discipline, but the multidisciplinary nature of our program allows for entry from other backgrounds as well. Students entering the graduate program in Earth Sciences typically have completed at least one year of chemistry, physics, and calculus, as well as several courses in the Earth/environmental sciences beyond the introductory level. Students who have not completed these basic requirements may be admitted, but may be required to complete specific courses to fulfill deficiencies. Students who wish to be considered for teaching assistantships should have a complete application submitted by the end of the first week in February. Research assistantships may also be available and prospective graduate students should contact faculty members working in the student’s area of interest to inquire about the availability of funds.

Research Groups

Climate Change, Glacial Geology, Glaciology and Quaternary Studies

As concern about the timing, magnitude, and rate of future climate change increases, developing a comprehensive understanding of the relevant mechanisms governing climate variability has become crucial. The identification of several abrupt climate shifts in the paleoclimate record that are greater in magnitude than those experienced by modern society has served to highlight the potential risks associated with continued increases in atmospheric greenhouse gases. Identifying the forcings associated with these abrupt changes, using a combination of modern observations and process studies, paleoclimate proxy data, and model-based data synthesis and prediction, will serve to improve our ability to estimate future changes. Mechanisms and physically plausible models that can explain observed climate variability on all timescales are still inadequate, in part due to a lack of information on fundamental relationships among climate and environmental responses. Hypotheses that relate changes in climate forcings and associated responses are critical, particularly for the Southern Hemisphere where long high-resolution paleoclimate records and detailed glaciological observations are limited. The Department of Earth Sciences and Climate Change Institute have long been recognized as leaders in these areas, and have been involved in defining and refining several paradigms associated with global and abrupt climate change. Over the next decade, Department and Institute faculty will have integral and often leadership roles in several climate research initiatives ranging from deep ice core recovery and geologic sampling to satellite remote sensing.

Environmental Geosciences, Hydrogeology and Low-Temperature Geochemistry

The Environmental Geosciences at the University of Maine focus on near surface Earth processes that control water quality, water movement, and the chemical alteration of earth materials. Ecosystem management, water resource protection, and the supply of clean drinking water are all intertwined with near surface hydrologic and geochemical processes. These processes touch the lives of individuals in Maine whenever they drink a bottle of spring water or cast a fishing line into the many lakes and rivers in Maine, and have direct bearing on the health of ecosystems, ranging from the headwaters of streams to cities. Our studies interpret field data through computer and laboratory-based experiments. Projects within the Environmental Geosciences that faculty are pursuing include computer modeling to assess feedback between peatland hydrology and greenhouse gasses produced and sequestered by peatlands, evaluating the hydrology and geochemistry of fractured bedrock aquifers, conducting field and laboratory experiments to assess the weathering of rocks and their influence on soil and water chemistry, and modeling the dissolution of silicate minerals involved in important carbon dioxide sequestration reactions. There are several departments and research groups at the University of Maine that share our goal of improving our understanding of the environment. These groups, as well as state and federal agencies, provide many exciting opportunities for multidisciplinary interaction.

Geodynamics, Crustal Studies and Rheology of Earth Materials

The solid Earth sciences have built on the plate tectonic theory since the 1960’s, and in that time a major funding structure has been established by federal agencies to investigate the inner workings of our planet and the evolution of its surface. The question of how stress is transferred in the lithosphere as a result of long-term processes such as plate motions, gravitational potential energy distribution, or lithosphere/asthenosphere interactions, is a central issue in solid Earth science, with direct implications for fundamental geological processes such as the development of mountains and sedimentary basins, inter- and intra- plate deformation, and the triggering of earthquakes. Equally important is the visco-elastic response of Earth to transient loads imposed by icecaps that come and go with changing climate. This is a topic of great significance that can bring together a more complete understanding of coupled responses to climate change and vertical motions of Earth’s surface. Our understanding of solid Earth evolution requires a better knowledge of the interactions among chemical and mechanical processes at various spatial and temporal scales. New observational techniques, including novel applications of cosmogenic nuclides, space geodesy and electron-beam technology are providing new, high quality data, and the next decade will witness the development of dynamic models able to integrate these data. Our department is a leader in many of these areas of study, with researchers specializing in the coupled physical and chemical processes that shape Earth’s surface and drive evolution of its lithosphere and cryosphere.

Marine Geology, Coastal Processes, Sedimentology and Sea-Level Studies

The response of shorelines and the people who inhabit them to rising sea level and associated coastal processes has been a major research focus of near shore Marine Geology for many years. With the recent explosion of human populations in coastal areas like barrier islands, deltas and landslide-prone bluffs, there is a growing need to develop quantitative measurements and models for how coastal environments have changed, are changing and will likely change as the level of the sea rises and storms frequently alter the shore. Sea-level change is driven by both glacial expansion and contraction as well as by land level changes associated with loading/unloading of ice on the land; processes that link marine geology to climate change and geodynamics. As the shoreline rises and falls, processes dominated by waves, wind and tides have swept over what is now the seafloor as well as terrestrial regions and lakes. We have pioneered in the development of indices to record sea-level change over the past 20,000 years from locations above and below the present shoreline. We have studied the record of past sea-level changes by mapping the seafloor as well as lake bottoms. We interact with State agencies like the Maine Geological Survey and Department of Marine Resources as well as federal agencies like the U.S. Geological Survey and National Park Service. We have used our expertise to influence state and national policies on coastal hazards and construction.

Facilities

Departmental research facilities are extensive and modern. Facilities available for solid-earth research include a Cameca SX-100 electron microprobe, Tescan Vega XMU scanning electron microscope (with integrated energy-dispersive spectrometry, electron backscatter diffraction and full-color cathodoluminescence systems), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, powder x-ray diffraction, stable isotope laboratory, computational geodynamics facility, mineral separation, rock preparation, polishing and thin section laboratories, and high resolution photomicroscopy.

Marine Geology equipment and facilities include a suite of digital electronic geophysical equipment for sidescan sonar, seismic reflection and single and multibeam bathymetry, current meters and tide gauges and ground penetrating radar. We have a marine electric vibracorer, a portable coastal vibracorer and hand-operated corers as well as an underwater videocamera. The sedimentology laboratory is fully equipped for core analysis, photography, microscopy, weighing, centrifuging, drying, muffle furnace, sieving, and automated textural analysis with a settling tube for sand and an X-Ray sedigraph for mud. GIS capability is supported with computer workstations mounting ArcView and ArcInfo software.

The glacial and surficial geology group maintains laboratories in the Sawyer Environmental Building. Facilities include preparation areas (including a clean room) for radiocarbon, uranium-thorium, and cosmogenic isotope dating. We also have facilities and equipment for satellite and air photo interpretation and sediment-core analysis.

Facilities and instrumentation in the Sawyer Environmental Chemistry Research Laboratory (SECRL) include an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer, a low level cold vapor atomic florescence mercury analyzer system, a direct mercury analyzer, a flow injection mercury system, a graphite furnace/flame atomic absorption spectrometer, a total organic carbon analyzer, a flow solution auto analyzer, several ion chromatographs, an auto titrator, and extensive facilities for sample preparation (e.g., microwave digestion and clean room space).

The environmental geology group maintains a wet chemistry laboratory and a hydrogeology laboratory. The wet chemistry laboratory includes a shaking water bath, pH meters, stirring hot plates, water filtration system and DI water dishwasher, visible light spectrophotometer, as well as other supplies for sample preparation equipment. The hydrogeology laboratory houses a computer workstation, a borehole geophysics winch and downhole tools (caliper, gamma, heat-pulse flow meter), Darcy tube, function generator with voltage potential data loggers (for laboratory experiments), and two Ashtech Z-surveyor GPS Units. These labs also store extensive field sampling equipment including soil augers (hand and ‘little beaver’ power auger), several submersible pumps, peristaltic pump, field portable pH and conductance meters, field spectrophotometer, field filters, Hach digital titrator, several water-level indicators, data-logging pressure transducers, and dedicated field laptop. Computer modeling and data analysis is supported with computer workstations utilizing Geochemistʼs Workbench, GPS processing software (GAMIT/GLOBK), and various open source software (Modflow, FiPy, Python, Octave).

Graduate Faculty

Daniel F. Belknap, Ph.D. (Delaware, 1979), Professor. Sedimentology, marine geology, stratigraphy.

George H. Denton, Ph.D. (Yale, 1965), Professor. Quaternary and Glacial Geology.

Christopher C. Gerbi, Ph.D. (Maine, 2004), Assistant Professor. Mineralogy, rheology, geochronology and tectonics.

Edward S. Grew, Ph.D. (Harvard, 1973), Research Professor. Metamorphic petrology.

Brenda L. Hall, Ph.D. (Maine, 1997), Associate Professor. Quaternary and Glacial Geology, millennial-scale climate change and ice sheet stability.

Gordon S. Hamilton, Ph.D. (Cambridge, 1992), Associate Professor. Polar glaciology, ice sheet mass balance, and the role of ice sheets in modulating global sea levels.

Scott E. Johnson, Ph.D. (James Cook, 1989), Professor. Structural geology, microstructural processes, Earth rheology, tectonics, coupling of deformation and metamorphism.

Alice R. Kelley, Ph.D. (Maine, 2007), Instructor. Geoarcheology, surficial processes.

Peter O. Koons, (E.T.H., 1983), Professor. Mechanics of mountain building, interaction of surface processes and plate tectonics, the evolution of active continental margins, mantle deformation, atmosphere-topography interactions.

Karl J. Kreutz, Ph.D. (New Hampshire, 1998), Associate Professor. Stable isotope geochemistry, paleooceanography, ice core geochemistry.

Andrei Kurbatov, Ph.D. (SUNY Buffalo, 2001), Research Assistant Professor. Explosive volcanism, tephrachronology, glaciochemistry.

Daniel R. Lux, Ph.D. (Ohio State, 1981), Professor. Isotope geochemistry, geochronometry.

Kirk A. Maasch, Ph.D. (Yale, 1989), Professor. Climate Modeling.

Paul A. Mayewski, Ph.D. (Ohio State, 1973), Professor. Glaciology, paleoclimatology, ice core geochemistry.

Stephen A. Norton, Ph.D. (Harvard, 1967), Professor Emeritus. Environmental geochemistry.

Amanda A. Olsen, Ph.D. (Virginia Tech, 2007), Assistant Professor. Environmental geochemistry.

Andrew S. Reeve, Ph.D. (Syracuse, 1996), Associate Professor. Hydrogeology.

Martin G. Yates, Ph.D. (Indiana, 1987), Associate Scientist. Electron beam and X-ray facilities, ore deposits.