Department of Geological Sciences, Ohio University

06/30/2022

Thank you so much to the students, faculty, and Alumni of the Department of Geological Sciences. I have greatly enjoyed the honor of working with you all over the past 18 years. This is my last post as social media coordinator (or department chair) as I’m moving to a new position at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in August. Come visit if you are near the Smokies!- we have great geology and a Ordovician bedrock 😊. —Dr. Alycia Stigall

04/30/2022

Congratulations to the class of 2022!!! We have loved working with you during your undergraduate degree and are excited to see where your career takes you!

04/29/2022

Congratulations to the 2022 class of Geological Sciences MS students!!!!

04/23/2022

Last night was our annual Geological Sciences picnic and awards ceremony. It was so wonderful to gather together in person, share a meal, and celebrate the outstanding achievements of our undergraduate and graduate students and faculty. Overall, fifty certificates were awarded for scholarships and awards. Congratulations everyone for a wonderful year filled with labs, field trips, and full classrooms!

Congratulations to our award winners:
Outstanding Graduating Senior: Josie Mitchell
Outstanding Graduating HTC Senior: Daniel Dunfee
Outstanding 1st year TA: Skyler Houser
Outstanding 2nd year TA: Ian Forsythe
Outstanding Graduate Student: Ian Forsythe
Outstanding Faculty Teaching: Dr. Katherine Fornash
Outstanding Faculty Research: Dr. Dan Hembree
Outstanding Faculty Service: Dr. Dan Hembree

04/13/2022

Donate on Giving Day and help us provide OHIO students with hands-on, in-depth instructional opportunities: givingday.ohio.edu

04/08/2022

OHIO Giving Day is April 13! It’s one day to support and share our love for OHIO. Choose a cause to support at givingday.ohio.edu

03/24/2022

Congratulations to grad student Selene Lisbey! She received an Ohio University Student Enhancement Award to support there thesis work, “Investigating the relationship between the Rio San Juan Complex and Samana Peninsula,” $6,000; mentor: Katherine Fornash

The Ohio University Student Enhancement Awards program provided 24 students this spring with a total of $134,433 in funding for their original research, scholarship and creative work.

03/21/2022

Dr. Lee's Groundwater and Hydrogeology classes gained skills in field methods on campus this past fall.

The photos were taken during Field exercises for GEOL 3700 and 4800 last Fall semester at a well in OU campus by the soccer field. Field exercises were conducted separately on November 2 (4800) and November 4 (3700). Students measured groundwater level, purged the well and collected groundwater samples for inorganic and organic analyses using a bladder pump, filtered and preserved groundwater samples, and measured field parameters (pH, specific conductance, dissolved oxygen, and oxidation-reduction potential) using a multi probe.

The weather was cold, and the hot chocolate served by Dr. Lee was very popular.

03/12/2022

Day 8: the students finished up their synthesis work (originally scheduled for last night at the hotel) in Clippinger today. After spending the week exploring 1.2 billion years of eastern Laurentian history and tectonics, students summarized everything in conceptual cross sections. It was a really fantastic week with an incredible group of students.

03/12/2022

Day 7: The students enjoyed a day of gorgeous weather in the Blue Ridge examining 1.2 billion year old Grenville basement rocks, more Catoctin metabasalt (with gorgeous epidote filled amygdule), and visited the impressive Garth Run shear zone (with sigma porphyroclasts and blue quartz!) to apply and expand their knowledge of ductile deformation. All around a fantastic day of hard rock geology followed with a summative activity over lunch. However, a dramatic winter storm heading for the Athens to VA region meant that instead of returning to the hotel to summarize, we drove home to Athens after finishing field work. We arrived just in time as the last 20 minutes were near while our conditions and Clippinger had nearly an inch of snow by the time we pulled in. What a wild, but really wonderful, day!

03/10/2022

Day 6: the students explored the Blue Ridge in Shenandoah National Park. Highlights included reconstructing stress fields via strike and dip of lineation in the 1.2 billion year old Peddlar Gneissic granite and studying the columnar jointing, amygdules, volcaniclastics, and shear structures of the Catoctin meta basalt. Roadside outcrops and hikes to outcrops combined for a memorable day!

03/10/2022

Day 5: the students furthered their understanding of how tectonics impacts sedimentation (and how sedimentation can be used to reconstruct tectonic regimes) by examining the carbonate -foreland basin -coastal plan successions of the Taconic and Acadian orogenies as we traversed from Seneca Rocks to Luray, WV. They visited the highly commercialized Luray Caverns, which provided an interesting contrast from Smokehole. And we FINALLY saw the Blue Ridge!