Research
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.
Information on GEOL/GEOE Research Facilities
Examples of active projects in seven broad thematic areas are listed below
1 - Petroleum and Other Energy Resources
Faculty: Duke, Roggenthen (adjunct), Sawyer, Fox (emeritus), 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
2 - 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 on the USA (WY, CA)
3 - Structure/tectonics/petrology
Faculty: Duke, Lisenbee (emeritus), Sawyer
— 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
4 - Ground Water, Engineering and Environmental Geology
Faculty: Davis, Katzenstein, Lisenbee (emeritus), Price, Sawyer, Stetler,
— URL(s):
http://www.westdakotawater.com/projects.html
http://uranium.sdsmt.edu/
http://aquifers.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
5 - Virtual Earth: GIS and Remote Sensing; Geodynamics
Faculty: Duke, Katzenstein, Masterlark, Paterson, Price
— Research Projects:
- Finite element modeling of magma intrusion and fault-slip of complex earthquake and volcano deformation systems
- 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)
6 - Paleontology
Faculty: Anderson, Belanger, Boyd (Haslem Post-Doc), Pagnac, Price, Shelton, Stetler
— Research Projects:
- Phylogeny, evolution and biostratigraphy of fossil vertebrates
-- Oligocene – Miocene stratigraphy and paleontology of the White River, Arikaree and Ogallala groups of the northern Great Plains
-- Miocene stratigraphy and paleontology of the Great Basin, particularly the Barstow Formation of the western Mojave Desert
- Paleobiology, paleoecology, taphonomy, and phylogeny of mollusks, particularly Bivalvia
-- Evaluation of chemosymbiosis in modern and fossil bivalves
-- Effects of 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill on coastal ecosystems
-- Biodiversity of Amazonian aquatic communities
- Geologic and paleontologic resource monitoring, modeling and conservation
- Geospatial mapping and analysis of paleontology collections
- Biotic responses to past environmental change from stratigraphic and deep sea core records
-- Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of marine environments using geochemical and faunal proxies
-- Biogeographic patterns in modern and fossil organisms
7 - Science and Engineering Research at the Sanford Underground Laboratory
Faculty: Davis, Duke, Lisenbee (emeritus), Paterson, Roggenthen (adjunct), Stetler, Terry, Uzunlar
— URLs:
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