Environmental & Engineering Geology & Geophysics

Environmental and engineering geology and geophysics is the study of fundamental geological and geophysical processes that shape and impact the environment, as well as the engineering applications that assess and mitigate potential environmental impacts. Research and learning in these areas includes topics such as natural hazard assessment and mitigation, groundwater utilization and protection, and human-Earth system interaction.

Faculty

Undergraduate students interested in environmental and engineering geology and geophysics receive a solid foundation in geology and geophysics to understand the processes that shape and impact the environment, resources and land use. Through elective courses, students gain knowledge and skills to address environmental issues, including hands-on experience with laboratory and field methods in both environmental and engineering geology and geophysics. 

At the undergraduate level, elective courses include: Geochemistry, Hydrogeology, Engineering Geology, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Field Methods in Geophysics, and Geological Data Analysis.

Our graduates move on to careers in the environmental and energy industries, federal and state agencies, and private sector and nonprofit organizations. Many students continue to advanced study in graduate programs.   

Graduate study in environmental and engineering geology and geophysics may focus on a wide range of topics, including climate change, groundwater hydrology and fluid transport, water contaminants and mitigation, environmental geochemistry, urban aquifers, geotechnical applications of geophysics, and earthquake hazards. Abundant in-house facilities and field equipment support these studies and are outlined below.  

Graduate students are successful in the environmental and energy industries, federal and state agencies, and private sector and nonprofit organizations. Many Ph.D. graduates transition into academic careers.

Computational Equipment and Software: The following software is available to students and faculty:

• Visual MODFLOW
• Groundwater Modeling System (GMS)
• HYDRUS-3D
• MATLAB
• Aquifer Test
• Many graphic software packages

Further, the university's state-of-the-art Immersive Visualization Center is located within the geology department, easy to access and free of charge. Geographic information system (GIS) software is also available across the campus for all students, including Arc software.

Field Equipment: Available field equipment includes electric water level meters (Model 101 P7, Solinst Canada Ltd.), as well as the following equipment used for measuring chemical parameters:

• Two handheld multi-parameter meters, available for measuring temperature, specific conductance, pH and oxidative-reductive potential (ORP) (YSI Professional Plus, Xylem Inc.)
• CHEMetrics V-2000 Photometer (CHEMetrics, Inc.)
• Alkalinity test kit (Model AL-DT, Hach Company)
• Turbidimeter (Model 2100Q, Hach Company)
• Trsenic test kit (Model 481298, Arsenic Econo-Quick, Industrial Test Systems, Inc.)

Laboratory Equipment: Within the College of Geosciences is the Stable Isotope Geosciences Facility (SIGF) equipped with a Picarro cavity ring-down spectrometer (Picarro Inc.). The department also has a clean lab equipped with an ICP-MS (Element XR, Thermo Fisher Scientific) Further, Dr. Peter Knappett has a 500-square-foot wet laboratory that is available for standard water chemistry analyses and is equipped with deionized water, an ion chromatograph (Dionex DX-600, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.) and a programmable eight-channel peristaltic pump (FH100M Multichannel Pump System Model 72-320-126, Thermo Fisher Scientific) to drive flow in column experiments. This pump has a volumetric flux range of 0.002 to 760 ml/min. Knappett’s lab also has a fraction collector for collecting effluent samples from column experiments, as well as a permeameter for measuring hydraulic conductivity in sediments. Students can access all the equipment as needed for detailed sediment analyses, including: a drying oven, sieves and a shaker table for sand-size analyses, and a laser particle size analyzer (Mastersizer 3000 optical system, Malvern Instruments, Inc.) to quantify the silt and clay-sized particle size distributions (PSD), which includes a range from 10 nm to 1,000 µm.

This laboratory houses a New Wave computerized drilling system for precision sampling of shells and corals for isotope paleotemperature studies. The laboratory also includes Orion pH and conductivity meters for high-precision field measurements of natural waters.

SIGF houses five dynamic-source isotope ratio mass spectrometers (IRMSs), a cavity ring-down spectrometer and seven peripheral devices with the capabilities of performing high-precision H, C, N, O, S and clumped analyses on carbonates, sediments, waters and organic matter.

SIGF performs high-precision carbonate δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O analyses with a Thermo Scientific Kiel IV Automated Carbonate Device coupled to a Thermo Scientific MAT 253 dual inlet IRMS. With the new addition of a Thermo Fisher Scientific 253 Plus and modified Kiel IV Automated Carbonate Device, SIGF is capable of clumped isotope analyses of carbonate samples as small as 1.2 mg.

SIGF performs routine analyses of a broad range of organic sample types for bulk total organic carbon, total organic nitrogen, δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N compositions via Thermo Fisher Scientific Delta V Advantage with Flash Elemental Analyzer (EA). This system is also used for δ³⁴S analyses of organic matter.

δ¹³C analyses of natural water dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), soil gas, breath gas, etc. are available using continuous flow headspace sampling via a Thermo Scientific GasBench II also connected to the Delta V IRMS. Lastly, SIGF’s Picarro Li2120 Cavity Ring-Down Spectrometer performs δ¹⁸O and δD analyses of water.

The Near-Surface Applied Geophysics Laboratory is maintained in the Department of Geology and Geophysics by Dr. Mark Everett. Geophysical field equipment includes the following:

• Electromagnetic induction (Geonics G-TEM, PROTEM 47, EM34—3, EM31 and EM63 instruments and GSSI EM Profiler)
• Ground-penetrating radar (Sensors & Software PulseEkkoPro 100, 250, 4500 MHz systems and GSSI 400 MHz and 1 GHz systems)
• Eight-channel 112-electrode resistivity and 56-electrode induced polarization (Advanced Geosciences Inc. SuperSting R8/IP system)
• Cesium vapor magnetic gradiometry (Geometrics G—858)
• Gravimetry (LaCoste and Romberg G-meter)
• Reflection/refraction seismic (Geometrics StrataView and Geode 24-channel seismographs with 14/40 Hz geophones augmented with GeoStuff land streamer and roll-along box)
• Passive seismic/SASW (six Geometrics Atom seismographs)

Trimble GPS R10 and traditional Topcon and Sokkia total-station navigation are also available, in addition to various commercial (seismic/GPR interpretation includes Kingdom Suite, ProMax, Schlumberger Petrel, Sensors & Software EkkoProject, and Geometrics SeisImager) and in-house developed software systems and several ruggedized Panasonic Toughbook-30 field laptops. Computations may be executed at the Texas A&M Supercomputing Facility on Ada, an 845-node IBM commodity cluster equipped with Intel 64-bit 10-core IvyBridge processors.

The Paleontology Research Imaging Laboratory has a Nikon SMZ1500 stereoscope with a dedicated Nikon DS-Fi2 camera system and a Nikon LV100POL compound microscope with Nikon DS-Fi3 camera system for higher magnification capture of focused stacked images. The foraminifera laboratory has two Nikon SMZ800N stereoscopes and one Nikon SMZ745 stereoscope for routine collection and identification. For precise weighing of samples for geochemical and morphological analyses, a Sartorius Ultramicro-balance with 0.1µg resolution is available for samples up to 2.1g. In the sediment and rock processing laboratory, there is also a Labconco 2.5-liter freeze drier, drying oven and Sartorius Entris analytical balance with 0.1 mg resolution and 220g capacity.

The John W. Handin Laboratory for Experimental Rock Deformation, directed by Dr. Hiroko Kitajima, provides facilities to investigate the deformation of rock under controlled conditions appropriate to the environments of the upper crust to the lithopheric mantle. The laboratory is equipped with groups of different rock deformation apparatus, devices for measuring physical properties, controlled environmental chambers, a rock repository, sample preparation equipment and a machine shop. Graduate students, visiting scientists, research scientists and faculty use the laboratory for research and teaching activities.

The Center for Tectonophysics is an interdisciplinary research group initiated in 1967 for dual purposes: to undertake basic and applied research of both natural and man-induced rock deformation processes and the broad range of geologic structures formed, and to provide research support, training and mentoring of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows pursuing advanced studies in the area of tectonophysics.