Skip to main content

The Environment

In the context of the geosciences, the environment integrates biotic and abiotic aspects of the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. Faculty in this group includes several internationally recognized leaders in the study of water in the environment. Over a wide range of time scales, our faculty and students examine the chemical, physical, and biological impacts of environmental disturbances. We study pristine to highly degraded systems, their developmental history and anthropogenic influences, the human and ecological health implications of geogenic elements and compounds, and the measures required to restore or remediate such problems. Such research helps us sustain natural communities and ecosystems, and allows us to predict the impacts of projected changes in climate and land use on the sustainability of water resources and the health of aquatic ecosystems.

Environment Faculty

Bruno Basso - Crop Modeling, Land Use Sustainability

David Hyndman - Hydrogeology and Applied Geophysics

David Long - Aqueous and Environmental Geochemistry

Remke Van Dam - Applied and Environmental Geophysics

Michael Velbel - Mineral-Water Interactions

Paleo-environment Faculty

Danita Brandt - Invertebrate Paleontology

Michael Gottfried - Vertebrate Paleontology

Ralph Taggart - Paleobotany, Palynology, Paleoecology

Visiting Faculty

Warren Wood - Geochemistry and Hydrogeology

Emeritus Faculty

Robert Anstey - Invertebrate Paleontology

Grahame Larson - Glacial Geology and Hydrology

Joint Faculty

Mantha S. Phanikumar - Surface Water

Randall J. Schaetzl - Soils and Geomorgphology

Catherine H. Yansa - Quaternary Paleoenvironments

Adjunct Faculty

Stephen K. Hamilton - Aquatic Biogeochemistry, Ecology

Thomas C. Voice - Environmental Chemistry

Roger B. Wallace - Hydrogeology

 

Lab Webpages

Hydrogeology 

Applied Geophysics

 

 

spotlight

highlight002

Professor David Hyndman and collaborators have received a $1.2M NSF grant to predict sustainable solutions for communities across the High Plains that rely upon a diminishing water supply [read more]. Image by Anthony Kendall.

spotlight

Professor Michael Gottfried and colleagues recently discovered a prehistoric crocodile in Tanzania. Their findings were published in Nature [read more].

highlight001

An artist's interpretation of Pakasuchus kapilimai, the small crocodile fossil. Illustration  courtesy of Mark Witton, University of Portsmouth