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Geology |
GEOLOGY
Chair: Bart J. Kowallis
Graduate Coordinator: Jeffrey D. Keith
673 WIDB
Provo, UT 84602-5111
(801) 378-3918
THE PROGRAM OF STUDIES
Geology is the science that reveals how the earth works. The graduate program in geology at Brigham Young University is designed to prepare scientists to find solutions to many of the environmental and resource problems society faces.
The department offers one degree: Geology-MS. Areas of specialization include: Earth Science Education, Environmental Geology, and Geology.
The expected duration of the MS program is two years for full-time students who enter without deficiencies. The MS degree is designed to give the student a solid foundation in the theoretical and applied aspects of geology and a strong research experience. The thesis component allows each student to develop skills in defining a significant problem, developing a research strategy, acquiring and analyzing data, and technical writing. An MS degree in geology prepares a student for a wide variety of employment opportunities in industry, education, and government, or for advanced study toward a doctoral degree.
The department currently has from approximately twenty to twenty-five graduate students in the MS program.
Geology—MS
Pursuit of the MS degree not only helps prepare students for exciting career opportunities in areas of distinct benefit to mankind, but it also allows them to experience the challenges and rewards of modern scientific research. It is expected that the thesis work will culminate in new understanding of a problem of scientific significance and that results will be published in a reputable scientific journal.
Areas of specialization: Earth Science Education, Environmental Geology, and Geology.
Admission and Entry.
Requirements for Degree.
Geology: to be determined in consultation with advisor.
Environmental Geology: Geol 635, 636, 637; 12 hours from Geol 411, 435, 436, 521, 559, 560, 590R (approved by graduate committee), AgHrt 511, ChEn 411, CEEn 545, 550, 555, 641, 654, Hlth 454. Recommended: Stat 501, 502.
Earth Science Education: Geol 502, 697R (approved by graduate committee), ScEd 531; 6-9 hours from Geol 411, 435, 440, 445, 451, 460, 480; 6 hours from IP&T 551, 564, 620, 652, 661, ScEd 601.
Any additional graduate courses in geology approved by graduate committee may be taken to satisfy remainder of 24 course work hours.
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
New graduate students are eligible for departmental scholarships, tuition waivers, and teaching or research assistanships on a competitive basis.
Most regular degree-seeking students receive some form of financial aid. However, none may expect financial assistance from the department for more than four semesters.
Graduate students are also encouraged to seek additional support from industries and agencies outside the Department of Geology. Note: Such requests must be submitted to the department chair, who will forward them with a supporting letter.
RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES
The Department of Geology will move into the newly remodeled Eyring Science Center in 1997. Extensive renovation includes the construction of state-of-the-art classrooms with multimedia capabilities, new office space for faculty and graduate assistants, and modern laboratories. The new facilities will house extensive instrumentation, computer facilities, and mineral, rock, and fossil collections.
The location of the university campus on the Wasatch Front near the juncture of the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado Plateau, and the Great Basin provides an incomparable natural laboratory for geology studies. The Department of Geology utilizes this natural setting, and the many geologic problems that remain in it to be studied, as one of our main assets.
The department is well equipped for graduate research in geology. A partial list of research equipment available includes: an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, atomic absorption spectrophotometers, a gradient elution ion chromatograph, an automated single-crystal X-ray diffractometer, powder X-ray diffractometers, a visible/UV spectrophotometer, a cathodoluminescence microscope, a fluid inclusion heating and freezing stage, a core plug porosimeter/permeameter, Worden gravimeters, proton precession magnetometers, a ground-penetrating radar system, a twenty-four-channel seismic system, variable offset electrical resistivity equipment, and a Mssbauer spectrometer. Additional research facilities include:
The Earth Science Museum. This developing museum with affiliated laboratories houses major fossil groups, including one of the best dinosaur collections in the country. It also offers significant, and in some cases unique, assemblages of rocks, minerals, and maps, providing many research opportunities for faculty and students.
Fission Track Dating Laboratory. This laboratory provides student and faculty researchers with the geochronological potential to solve problems in stratigraphy and structural geology, to determine rates of uplift and subsequently to aid in thermal modeling, and to provide support for numerous other faculty and student research projects where dating of events is necessary.
Hydrogeochemistry Laboratory. The hydrogeochemistry lab supports research programs in hydrology, environmental geology, economic geology, and petrology. In addition, the lab is used in teaching modern analytical techniques in upper-division undergraduate and graduate courses. Groundwater composition, migration, and pollution have been major emphases of research.
Faculty research interests currently include: studies of regional Cenozoic magmatism and tectonism in the Great Basin; composition of thermal waters; Cenozoic mammals in Mexico; Jurassic dinosaurs; Jurassic and Cretaceous bentonites; location and distribution of underground hazardous waste using geophysical methods; crystallography and crystal chemistry of silicate minerals; investigations of shallow subsurface geology using gravity, seismic, electrical, and magnetic methods; origins of copper and molybdenum deposits; tungsten skarns; characterization of petroleum reservoir quality and trapping potential; Devonian ammonoids; and Carboniferous-Permian conodont biostratigraphy in the U.S. and Russia.
For a more detailed description of the graduate program requirements, send for a copy of the department's bulletin.
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
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510. Conducted Field Trips. (1)
Prerequisite: any college-level geology course and instructor's consent.
Geology field trips.
511. Advanced Structural Geology. (3)
Prerequisite: Geol 311, 410.
In-depth discussions of a variety of topics in structural geology, emphasizing current literature and problems.
520. Petroleum Geology. (3)
Prerequisite: Geol 311, 370.
Origin, migration, and entrapment of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons.
521. Borehole Geophysics and Geology. (3)
Prerequisite: Phscs 121, 122, Geol 351, 370.
Applied well log analysis, including conventional and new techniques. Subsurface geology and lithology determined from electrical, acoustical, radioactive, and other logs.
525. Basin Analysis. (3)
Prerequisite: Geol 370.
Tectonic basin development, including extensional, compressional, flexural, and strike-slip processes. Processes of basin-fill and thermal histories emphasizing sequence and seismic stratigraphy.
545. Isotope Geochemistry. (3)
Prerequisite: Geol 352.
Use of stable and radioactive isotope systematics in geochronology and investigation of origins of rocks and waters.
551. Advanced Mineralogy. (3)
Prerequisite: Geol 351, Phscs 121, 122, 221.
Crystallography, structure, and crystal chemistry of major silicate mineral groups.
556. Applied Geomathematics. (3)
Prerequisite: Math 112, 113, Phscs 121, 122, 221.
Applications of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, matrices, computers, and statistics to the analysis and interpretation of geoscience data.
559. Applied Geophysics 1. (3)
Prerequisite:Geol 311, Phscs 121, 122, 221.
Principles, tools, and methods in gravity, magnetic, and electromagnetic exploration. Includes acquisition, processing, and interpretation of gravity and magnetic data.
560. Applied Geophysics 2. (3)
Prerequisite:Geol 311, 559, Phscs 121, 122, 221.
Principles, tools, and methods used in seismic geophysics, with engineering, environmental, exploration, and hydrological applications. Includes acquisition, processing, and interpretation of seismic data.
565R. Special Topics in Geology. (2-4)
Prerequisite: instructor's consent.
The following topics may be offered on demand: Geology for Teachers, X-Ray Crystallography, Instrumental Methods, Ore Deposits.
574. Advanced Stratigraphy. (3)
Prerequisite: Geol 370 or equivalent. Recommended: Geol 480 or equivalent.
Study of the stratigraphic record through modern methods of correlating stratal packages, emphasizing concepts of chronostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, lithostratigraphy, and absolute dating. Extended field trip required.
580. Principles of Paleontology. (3)
Prerequisite: Geol 480.
Modern approaches to fossil study applied to areas of evolution, paleoecology, and biostratigraphy.
586. Vertebrate Paleontology. (4)
Prerequisite: instructor's consent.
History of vertebrate fossils. Field trips required. Credit applies in either zoology or geology. Laboratory studies.
590R. Short Courses. (1-3)
Short graduate-level courses offered on a random basis.
591R. Seminar. (0.5)
Seminars on various geologic topics by guest speakers. Total of 1 credit hour required.
599R. Cooperative Education. (1-9)
635. Advanced Hydrogeology. (3)
Prerequisite: Geol 435; Math 321 or concurrent registration.
Equations governing fluid flow through saturated porous media under various geologic conditions; applying hydraulic characteristics to analysis of well and aquifer conditions.
636. Hydrogeochemistry. (3)
Prerequisite: Geol 435 or instructor's consent; Chem 105, 106, 107, or 111, 112.
Nature and origin of solutes and isotopes in groundwater systems. Applying geochemistry to evaluation of groundwater recharge conditions and flow patterns.
637. Groundwater Modeling. (3)
Prerequisite: Geol 435 or instructor's consent; Chem 105, 106, 107, or 111, 112.
Computer modeling and groundwater systems.
655. Igneous Petrology. (3)
Prerequisite: Geol 552.
Origin and crystallization behavior of magmas, emphasizing crystal- liquid relations in simple experimental systems.
671. Sedimentary Petrology—Carbonate Rocks. (3)
Prerequisite: Geol 370.
Characteristics and significance of limestones and dolomites.
672. Sedimentary Petrology—Clastic Rocks. (3)
Prerequisite: Geol 370.
Characteristics of conglomerates, sandstones, and shales. Provenance studies of various terrains by thin section analysis. Extended field trip required.
695R. Research. (1-4)
696R. Readings and Conferences in Geology. (1-4)
697R. Directed Field Studies. (1-6)
699R. Master's Thesis. (6-9)
FACULTY 
BAER, JAMES L., Professor. PhD, Brigham Young University, 1968. Geologic Engineering.
BENSON, ALVIN K., Professor. PhD, Brigham Young University, 1972. Geophysics; Environmental Geophysics.
BEST, MYRON G., Professor. PhD, University of California, Berkeley, 1961. Petrology; Tectonics.
CHRISTIANSEN, ERIC H., Professor. PhD, Arizona State University, 1981. Petrology; Geochemistry.
GRIFFEN, DANA THOMAS, Professor. PhD, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 1975. Mineralogy; Crystallography.
KEITH, JEFFREY D., Professor. PhD, University of Wisconsin, 1982. Economic Geology; Geochemistry; Environmental Geology.
KOWALLIS, BART J., Professor. PhD, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1981. Structural Geology; Geochronology.
MABEY, MATTHEW A., Assistant Professor. PhD, Brigham Young University, 1992. Seismicity; Geophysics.
MAYO, ALAN L., Professor. PhD, University of Idaho, 1981. Hydrogeology; Environmental Geology.
MILLER, WADE E., Professor. PhD, University of California, Berkeley, 1968. Vertebrate Paleontology.
MORRIS, THOMAS H., Associate Professor. PhD, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1986. Sedimentology; Stratigraphy.
NELSON, STEPHEN T., Assistant Professor. PhD, University of California, Los Angeles, 1991. Isotope Geochemistry; Environmental Geology.
RITTER, SCOTT M., Associate Professor. PhD, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1986. Invertebrate Paleontology; Carbonate Petrology.
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