Overview
UC Berkeley's Department of Earth and Planetary Science (EPS) was the first major center of academic geology in the western United States. Berkeley geologists made the first detailed study of a major earthquake, developed potassium-argon dating, brought the rigor of thermodynamics into geology, and discovered the evidence that a comet impact killed the dinosaurs.
With growing concerns over environmental deterioration and depletion of resources, focus has broadened to include issues of urgent social relevance. Many departments at Berkeley are involved in environmental questions, ranging from policy, management, economics, and engineering to social concerns, but all have to base their conclusions upon a sound scientific understanding of Planet Earth. It is up to geologists, geochemists, and geophysicists to provide that background.
The interests of the faculty cover a broad range of earth sciences. The traditional fields of petrology, mineralogy, mineral resources, and structural geology are represented. A rapidly growing field is micro-biogeochemistry. Solid earth geophysics includes a unique combination of expertise in seismology, mineral physics, and geodynamics. The earthquake and tectonics programs benefit from the resources made available through the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory (BSL). A vigorous program in geomorphology and surface processes attracts many students. Recently, the department has added expertise in marine, atmospheric, and planetary sciences, with links to related programs in the Departments of Chemistry, Astronomy, Geography and Environmental Science, and Policy Management. Additional resources for research are available through the Berkeley Atmospheric Science Center (BASC) and the Center for Integrated Planetary Science (CIPS). Resources for Geochemists include the Center for Isotope Geochemistry and the Berkeley Geochronology Center. Some faculty members have strong collaborations with the Earth Science Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (ESD-LBNL) and make extensive use of the Advanced Light Source (ALS).
Research Facilities
Center for Isotope Geochemistry (CIG), directed by Professor Donald DePaolo, is a joint research center of UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. CIG provides state-of-the-art analyses for measuring concentrations and isotopic compositions of elements in rocks, minerals, fluids, and gases in the earth's crust, oceans, and atmosphere. CIG has seven mass spectrometers that provide high-precision isotopic and isotope dilution analyses of Rb, Sr, Nd, Sm, Ca, K, Re, Os, Fe, U, Th, Pb, Ba, La, Ce; clean laboratories; and clean mineral separation and rock preparation laboratories. Materials analyzed are rock, ocean and ground waters, and naturally occurring noble gases.
The Center for Atmospheric Sciences is a new multidisciplinary academic group at Berkeley. It focuses on the processes that maintain and alter the atmosphere's chemical composition and circulation. It also examines the climatic effects of changes in these processes. A special emphasis is the interaction between the geosphere-biosphere and climate, with the atmosphere as the synthesizer of changes at its boundaries, and the communicator of these changes to the other spheres. Center members and associates are from the Departments of Earth and Planetary Science; Chemistry; Environmental Science, Policy and Management; Mechanical Engineering; as well as the Space Sciences Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, among others. Research approaches are multifaceted, and include global three-dimensional circulation models; satellite observations; high-precision instrumentation for atmospheric chemistry; aircraft measurements of stratospheric-tropospheric exchange; and measurements and simulations of atmosphere-biosphere exchange of trace gases. This diversity permits the center to pose and attack new questions about past and future climate change.
Berkeley Geomorphology Group prospers because of the diversity of strong research programs across the campus and because of a commitment to undergraduate teaching and graduate training. The core faculty consist of Kurt Cuffey (Geography), William Dietrich, Jim Kirchner, and Michael Manga (Earth and Planetary Science). Their research programs tackle a wide range of topics, including glacier mechanics; paleoclimate analysis; hydrology; environmental geochemistry; landscape evolution; hillslope erosion mechanics; fluvial processes; restoration geomorphology; and biologic extinctions and evolutionary processes. These faculty and their students interact and collaborate with many other related groups on campus.
Active Tectonics Group uses an interdisciplinary approach to investigate active tectonic processes and the rheology of the earth's lithosphere. This approach integrates geodetic, seismologic, geomorphic, and geologic observations with theoretical models to improve scientific understanding of fault-zone processes and crustal deformation. Of particular value in this endeavor are space geodetic observations employing the Global Positioning System and Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry to precisely measure deformation near active faults, volcanoes, and landslides. Members of the group, led by Roland Bürgmann, often interact closely with colleagues in the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory and the Geomorphology Group.
The Berkeley Geochronology Center is a nonprofit research institution dedicated to establishing the evolution of the earth, its various inhabitants, and its interactions with the rest of our solar system, throughout the 4.6 billion years of the planet's existence. BGC scientists determine the ages of rocks and other materials to date important events in geological and biological history. Through understanding such information in geologic context, BGC research provides key insights into such processes as plate tectonics; volcanism; mountain building; mass extinctions; climate change; interactions between the earth and solar system; and the evolution of life, including humankind.
The Berkeley Seismological Laboratory: The University operates several networks of geophysical instruments in Northern California to study earthquakes and tectonic processes at the regional scale; a network of 26 broadband seismometers, regionally distributed and linked by continuous telemetry to UC Berkeley, forms the core of the monitoring program. In addition, a network of permanent GPS stations and a network of borehole seismometers are maintained and operated by the lab as well as an online archive for earthquake-related data in Northern California. Research includes the study of earthquake wave-propagation through complex structures, the nature of earthquake sources, eigenvibrations of the earth, and global tomography.
Center for Computational Geoscience: Within the Earth Sciences Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is a facility for modern seismological research which relies heavily upon intensive computational analysis (e.g., acoustic imaging, 3D wave propagation, high-resolution inverse earthquake analyses) or large database manipulations. The center is used in a number of PhD and postdoctoral research studies.
The Engineering Geoscience Group teaches and researches Applied Geophysics. It is an integral part of the Geological Engineering Group within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley. Originally, the group formed in 1962 to study and encourage the use of geophysical methods in mineral and petroleum exploration programs. Recently attention has shifted to the more general topic of subsurface mapping and imaging. While research in resource exploration topics is still actively pursued, the group's activities now include work on methodology and instrument development for a variety of near surface applications related to the resolution of geotechnical and environmental problems. In this area, the group works jointly with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering on site remediation, near surface hydrology, and soil stability projects. Incidentally, geophysical technology developed for use in shallow subsurface regions can also be used as an aid to archaeological searches. The technology is also expected to play a key role in resolving contemporary problems associated with the detection and removal of buried explosive ordinance.
Center for Integrative Planetary Science (CIPS) is a new organized research unit at UC Berkeley. Their task is to unite scientists and students from many disciplines on a rapidly emerging scientific landscape characterized by striking developments. These discoveries, and others during the past decade, have revealed a remarkable set of connections among many separate traditional sciences: geophysics, astrophysics, meteorology, oceanography, organic chemistry, biology, and planetary science. These disciplines are well represented at Berkeley, where strong research programs with long records of accomplishment have existed for some time in diverse campus departments, the Space Science Laboratory, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. CIPS takes advantage of these strengths with the integrated study of the physical origin and geochemical evolution of planets and planetary systems. Much of the compelling research about the solar system and other planetary systems will require knowledge across traditional disciplinary boundaries. From the condensation of planets within protoplanetary discs to the geochemical history of planets and moons, future researchers will require frontier knowledge of all related disciplines.
Undergraduate Programs
Atmospheric Science: BA, Minor
Earth and Planetary Science: Minor
Environmental Earth Science: BA, Minor
Geology: BA, Minor
Geophysics: BA, Minor
Marine Science: BA, Minor
Planetary Science: BA, Minor
Graduate Program
Earth and Planetary Science: MA, PhD (the MA program is only open to students who majored in EPS at Berkeley)
Faculty and Instructors
+ Indicates this faculty member is the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award.
Faculty
Richard Allen, Professor. Seismology earthquakes earthquake hazard mitigation earth structure tomography natural hazards.
Research Profile
Jillian Banfield, Professor. Nanoscience, Bioremediation, genomics, biogeochemistry, carbon cycling, geomicrobiology, MARS, minerology.
Research Profile
Jim Bishop, Professor. Ocean carbon cycle dynamics, remote sensing, aquatic chemistry, marine biogeochemistry, land - ocean biogeochemistry, chemical oceanography, ocean sensors and autonomous observing systems, Carbon Explorer, Carbon Flux Explorer .
Research Profile
Kristie A. Boering, Professor. Physical chemistry, climate change, atmospheric chemistry, environmental chemistry, ozone, earth and planetary science, isotopic compositions of atmospheric trace gases, stratospheric ozone, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, molecular hydrogen, methane.
Research Profile
William Boos, Associate Professor. Atmospheric science, climate dynamics, monsoons, Earth's hydrological cycle.
Bruce Buffett, Professor. Dynamics and evolution of planetary interiors, including mantle convection, plate tectonics, and planetary dynamos.
Roland Burgmann, Professor. Geophysics, geology, earth and planetary science, geomechanics, tectonics, structural geology, active tectonics, fault zone processes, crustal deformation, space geodesy.
Research Profile
+ Eugene Chiang, Professor. Planetary science, theoretical astrophysics, dynamics, planet formation, circumstellar disks.
Research Profile
Ronald C. Cohen, Professor. Physical chemistry, water, climate, air pollution, atmospheric chemistry, environmental chemistry, analytical chemistry, ozone, nitrogen oxides, CO2, clouds.
Research Profile
William D. Collins, Professor in Residence. Interactions of clouds and aerosols with solar and terrestrial radiation.
Kurt Cuffey, Professor. Continuum mechanics, climate, geomorphology, glaciers, glaciology, climate history, stable isotopes, geographical thought.
Research Profile
Imke De Pater, Professor. Radio, planetary science, infrared, observations.
Research Profile
William E. Dietrich, Professor. Morphology, earth and planetary sciences, geomorphology, evolution of landscapes, geomorphic transport laws, landscape evolution modeling, high resolution laser altimetry, cosmogenic nuclide analysis.
Research Profile
Douglas S. Dreger, Professor. Wave propagation, geophysics, earth and planetary sciences, waveform data, geophysical inverse problems, seismic radiation, regional distance methodology, crustal structure affects on ground motions in the greater San Francisco Bay area.
Research Profile
Bethanie Edwards, Assistant Professor. Microbial oceanography, the marine biological pump, and the diversity and distribution of oxylipins.
Inez Fung, Professor. Global change, environmental policy, ecosystem scienes.
Research Profile
Raymond Jeanloz, Professor. Planetary geophysics, high-pressure physics, national and international security, science-based policy.
Research Profile
Harriet Lau, Assistant Professor. Large-scale properties of Earth; Global-scale geodynamic processes across different timescales; Frequency-dependent Rheology.
+ Michael Manga, Professor. Hydrogeology, fluid mechanics, geomorphology, earth and planetary science, geological processes involving fluids, including problems in physical volcanology, geodynamics, dynamics of suspensions, flow and transport in porous materials, percolation theory.
Research Profile
Burkhard Militzer, Associate Professor. Saturn, structure and evolution of Jupiter, and extrasolar giant planets.
Research Profile
Steven R. Pride, Adjunct Professor. Crusted seismology, poroelasticity, electrical properties of rocks, physics of brittle fracture.
James W. Rector, Professor. Geophysics, Oil and Gas, Unconventional Shale Gas Reservoirs, Horizontal Drilling, Fracking, Near Surface Seismology, Tunnel Detection, Treasure Hunting, and Geophysical Archaeology, Borehole Seismology.
Research Profile
Paul Renne, Professor in Residence. Geochemistry, geochronology, paleomagnetism.
Research Profile
Barbara A. Romanowicz, Professor. Earth and planetary science, deep earth structure and dynamics, earthquake processes and scaling laws, real time estimation of earthquake parameters, development of modern broadband seismic and geophysical observatories, planetary seismology.
Research Profile
David Romps, Professor. Climate, atmosphere, atmospheric science, weather, clouds, fluid dynamics.
Research Profile
Stephen Self, Adjunct Professor. Physical volcanology, field studies of products of large eruptions, environmental impact of volcanism.
David Shuster, Professor. Noble gas geochemistry, thermochronometry, and cosmogenic nuclide observations.
Daniel Stolper, Assistant Professor. Biogeochemistry, Earth History, Geobiology, Global Climate Studies, Organic Geochemistry, Stable Isotope Geochemistry.
Nicholas Swanson-Hysell, Assistant Professor. Geology, stratigraphy, paleomagnetism, paleogeography.
Research Profile
Lecturers
Horst Rademacher, Lecturer.
Emeritus Faculty
Walter Alvarez, Professor Emeritus, Professor of the Graduate School. Stratigraphy and Earth history, tectonics, stratigraphy of pelagic limestones.
George H. Brimhall, Professor Emeritus. Earth and planetary sciences, geology, ore-forming processes, mineral exploration science, non-renewable resource issues, photo-voltaic semi-conductor resources.
Research Profile
Mark S. T. Bukowinski, Professor Emeritus. Geophysics, earth and planetary sciences, planetary interiors, theoretical mineral physics, deep earth minerals, geochemical processes, thermal and chemical evolution.
Research Profile
Don DePaolo, Professor Emeritus, Professor of the Graduate School. Application of mass spectrometry, radiogenic isotope geochemistry, and principles of physics and chemistry to fundamental problems in geology.
Research Profile
Lynn Ingram, Professor Emeritus. Geophysics, geology, earth and planetary science, geography, stratigraphy with strontium isotopes, paleontological, paleoclimate, California climate change, paleosalinity, shellmounds, geochemical data, paleoclimatic and paleo-environmental reconstruction in aquatic environments using sedimentological.
Research Profile
Lane Johnson, Professor Emeritus. Earth and planetary science, geophysical methods of studying structure and processes within the earth, seismic sources, monitoring of nuclear test ban treaties, theoretical and computational methods of treating wave propagation in realistic earth models.
Research Profile
James Kirchner, Professor Emeritus. Evolutionary ecology, biogeochemistry, earth and planetary sciences, geomorphology, watershed hydrology and geochemistry.
Research Profile
Mark A. Richards, Professor Emeritus. Crustal deformation, earth and planetary sciences, mantle convection, large-scale mantle structure, rotational dynamics and gravity fields of terrestrial planets, history and dynamics of global plate motions, igneous processes in the mantle and deep crust.
Research Profile
Chi-Yuen Wang, Professor Emeritus, Professor of the Graduate School. Earth and planetary science.
Research Profile
Hans-Rudolf Wenk, Professor Emeritus, Professor of the Graduate School. Crystallography, earth and planetary science, structural geology and rock deformation, seismic anisotropy, investigating development of preferred orientation under expreme conditions using neutron diffraction, synchrotron x-rays, and electron microscopy.
Research Profile
Contact Information
Department of Earth and Planetary Science
307 McCone Hall
Phone: 510-642-3993
Fax: 510-643-9980
Department Chair, Earth and Planetary Science
Michael Manga
177 McCone
Phone: 510-643-8532