Department of Geoscience News
Geoscience is an all-encompassing term used to refer to the earth sciences. Geoscientists strive to understand earth processes and study the origin and evolution of our planet; the chemical and physical properties of minerals, rocks, and fluids; the structure of our mobile crust; the history of life; and the human adaptation to earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and floods.
Current Geoscience News
Pair of geoscience professors at the forefront of UNLV’s contributions to Mars exploration, but plenty more academics are involved in the Red Planet.
Eight UNLV Students Honored With 2020 Lance and Elena Calvert Awards For Undergraduate Research across a wide spectrum of research topics.
Las Vegas Valley rock layer matches that of a famous interval of rocks at the Grand Canyon; findings reported in the journal Geology.
Life sciences' Helen Wing and colleagues assisting Southern Nevada Health District with viral transport medium; other faculty in College of Sciences contribute protective equipment.
New UNLV research provides context for climate history of Guatemalan rainforests.
A collection of stories highlighting UNLV faculty and students who made the news in 2019.
Geoscience In The News
The 6.5-magnitude Tonopah earthquake was felt by many here in southern Nevada. It’s now raising questions if a similar-sized quake could rock the valley anytime soon.
She is sparkling. Determined. Brilliant. Arya Udry is 32 years old. This native Valaisanne, whose mother lives in Hérémence and who grew up between Brittany and neighboring France, is now a professor of geology and planetology at the University of Nevada, in Las Vegas. A dazzling journey for the one who, while crawling on the mountains of Valais, dreamed of being an astronaut. "To realize this dream, you had to either become a scientist or an airplane pilot."
Despite their microscopic size and simplistic cells, bacteria are some of the hardiest life forms around. In recent years, scientists have uncovered these stalwart microbes in environments as extreme as the searing hot springs in Yellowstone National Park and the acidic, metal-rich waters that drain out of mines.
IN 2013, SCIENTISTS were stunned to find microbes thriving deep inside volcanic rocks beneath the seafloor off the Pacific Northwest, buried under more than 870 feet of sediment. The rocks were on the flank of the volcanic rift where they were born, and they were still young and hot enough to drive intense chemical reactions with the seawater, from which the microbes derived their energy.
It's hard to believe the landscape ever looked any different. But according to new research by UNLV climate scientists, the locations where those jungles exist today likely looked very different less than 9,000 years ago -- a blink of an eye by geologic standards.
Tourists today spend thousands of dollars to explore and enjoy the lush and thriving rainforests of Guatemala.
It’s hard to believe the landscape ever looked any different. But according to new research by UNLV climate scientists, the locations where those jungles exist today likely looked very different less than 9,000 years ago – a blink of an eye by geologic standards.
