Research Areas

Faculty and student research in the Department of Geology & Geological Engineering involves field, laboratory, and/or computational studies in areas that include:

• Geochemistry
• Geological hazards
• Geophysics/geodynamics
• Geotechnical/engineering geology
• GIS/remote sensing
• Ground water and environmental resource protection
• Mineral resources
• Mineralogy/petrology
• Paleontology
• Petroleum geology
• Sedimentation/stratigraphy
• Structure/tectonics.

Examples of active projects in seven broad thematic areas are listed below.

Information on Research Facilities also is available

Petroleum and Other Energy Resources
Faculty: Duke, Fox (emeritus), Roggenthen (adjunct), Sawyer, Stetler, Terry, Uzunlar

Research Projects:

• Characterization of oil and gas potential in SD
• Petrology of oil shales
• Investigating chemical and mechanical properties of shale for used fuel disposition
• Geothermal energy potential in SD
• Uranium resources of the southern Black Hills and Nebraska

Mineral Resources
Faculty: Duke, Paterson, Terry, Uzunlar, McCormick(adjunct)

Research Projects:

• Controls on giant Homestake-type gold deposits
• Carlin-type gold – structural controls and magmatic association, Cortez Hills (NV), Wharf mine (SD)
• Spectroscopy/remote sensing in gold skarns, Namibia
• PGE-Cu-Ni in southern margin, Superior Craton, SD
• REE resources in the USA (WY, CA)

Structure/tectonics/petrology
Faculty: Duke, Lisenbee (emeritus), Terry, Uzunlar

Research Projects:

• Evolution of the lithosphere in the Northern Great Plains
• Structural evolution of the Black Hills Precambrian
• Laramide tectonics – Black Hills and Wyoming
• Reflectance spectroscopy, remote sensing, and metamorphic processes

Ground Water, Engineering and Environmental Geology
Faculty: Davis, Katzenstein, Lisenbee (emeritus), Masterlark, Price, Sawyer, Stetler,

URL(s):
http://www.westdakotawater.com/projects.html
http://uranium.sdsmt.edu/

Research Projects:

• Black Hills aquifer vulnerability
• Offsite contamination from abandoned mines
• Arsenic in drinking water
• Abandoned mine water quality
• Surface and ground water, soil and dust sampling for U contamination
• Geologic hazard assessment
• Ground-based photogrammetry and laser scanning for:
  -- rock mass assessment
  -- paleo quarry documentation
• InSAR applications for geological engineering
• Deterioration mechanisms in concrete

Geocomputing: GIS and Remote Sensing; Geodynamics
Faculty: Duke, Katzenstein, Masterlark, Paterson, Price

Research Projects:

• FEMs of earthquake and volcano deformation, earthquake coupling, and tsunami genesis
• Black Hills aquifer vulnerability (GIS)
• Ground-based photogrammetry and laser scanning for:
  -- rock mass assessment
  -- paleo quarry documentation
• Geospatial mapping and analysis of paleontology collections
• Digitization of Museum of Geology map collections (GIS)
• InSAR applications for geology, geophysics, and geological engineering
• Mineral prospecting in Namibia (hyperspectral remote sensing)
• Contact metamorphism in Death Valley National Park (hyperspectral remote sensing)

Paleontology
Faculty: Anderson, Belanger, Boyd (Haslem Post-Doc), Fox (emeritus), Pagnac, Price, Shelton, Stetler

Current research projects fall under three key paleontological questions:

• How do organisms respond to environmental changes and adapt to different environments?
  -- Effects of 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill on coastal ecosystems
  -- paleo quarry documentation
  -- Paleoecological and evolutionary responses to environmental change
  -- Evaluation of endochemosymbiosis in modern and fossil bivalves
• How is biological diversity distributed across space and time?
  -- Phylogeny, evolution, and biostratigraphy of fossil vertebrates and molluscs
  -- Geospatial mapping and analysis of paleontological data
  -- Biogeographic patterns in modern and fossil organisms
  -- Biodiversity of Amazonian aquatic communities
• How do we best utilize paleontologic resources for scientific study?
  -- Geologic and paleontologic resource monitoring, modeling, and conservation
  -- Spatial databasing and mapping of paleontology collections
  -- Assessment of preservation biases for molluscs and foraminifera in the geologic record

Science and Engineering Research at the Sanford Underground Laboratory 
Faculty: Davis, Duke, Lisenbee (emeritus), Paterson, Roggenthen (adjunct), Terry, Uzunlar

URLs:

http://www.dusel.org/
http://homestake.sdsmt.edu/Resources.htm
http://www.sanfordundergroundlaboratoryathomestake.org/
http://www.hpcnet.org/HLS
http://www.hpcnet.org/dewatering

Research Projects:

• Transparent Earth
• Dewatering and aquifer properties
• Deep underground rock properties
• Controls on giant iron-formation-hosted gold deposits