As a Geology major at Appalachian, you will have access to a wide variety of laboratory equipment, both on-campus and off-campus, and state-of-the-art computational facilities.

Students in our department typically operate laboratory equipment independently in the course of their research, and are introduced to much of it while completing their 3000-level classes.

People

Dr. Richard Abbott's metamorphic petrology research involves extensive use of the FEI Quanta 200 Environmental SEM in the The William C. and Ruth Ann Dewel Microscopy Facility as well as traditional optical microscopy techniques.

Dr. Bill Anderson uses computer modeling techniques as laboratories of his field and virtual sites in order to understand groundwater dynamics in mountain and coastal aquifers. Please see him if you are interested in learning about numerical modeling.

Dr. Sarah Carmichael uses a wide variety of analytical equipment in her mineralogy and geochemistry research, including CL (cathodoluminescence) imaging, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, ion chromatography, X-ray diffraction, FT-IR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy), LA-ICPMS and LA-ICPOES (laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry or optical emission spectroscopy), stable isotope analysis (particularly carbon and oxygen), and a variety of wet chemistry techniques.

Dr. Chuanhui Gu uses laboratory instrumentation such as ion chromatography and a liquid water isotope analyzer to quantify flow paths, fluxes, and stores of water in the natural environment. Dr. Gu also applies computer models to interpret field observations and experimental data, and predict water flow pathways and chemical fate in the environment.

Dr. Steve Hageman uses light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy to investigate morphologic variation of fossil invertebrates (particularly Bryozoa).

Dr. Andrew Heckert notes that few people know that finding and collecting fossils in the field is just the beginning of the story and that sometimes the best discoveries happen in the lab. Students have picked through material collected in Arizona and brought back to Appalachian to find fossils of tiny animals that lived with dinosaurs. They then use the scanning electron microscope (SEM) to collect images of the fossils. Another important contribution students make is to prepare fossils, which is the process of removing unwanted rock and gluing bones or teeth back together. This is a crucial skill for vertebrate paleontologists, and Appalachian is fortunate to have access to preparation facilities in the Department of Geology.

Dr. Cynthia Liutkus uses optical mineralogy and other methods (e.g., cathodoluminescence, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, etc.) to investigate the volcanic origin of ash deposits in northern Tanzania, and thin section petrography and stable isotope geochemistry to reconstruct past landscapes.

Dr. Scott Marshall uses a variety of computer programs and languages (Poly3D - a Boundary Element Method program, GMT - Generic Mapping Tools, and Matlab, among others) to better understand how the Earth deforms in response to tectonic stresses.