Earth Sciences
By virtue of our outstanding location in the scenic and rugged mountains of southwest Montana, Earth Science students have many opportunities to participate in field trips that will facilitate the study of earth processes, earth resources, earth history, and environments that people have modified. These field trips are an integral part of many courses, as well as extracurricular activities sponsored by the department. Fieldwork is a very important component of our instructional programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.Because of the research conducted by faculty in the department, an undergraduate student may have the opportunity to work on active research projects. In particular, we offer the opportunity to do a "Senior Thesis" to our top students in each senior class. The senior thesis enables a student to work on an actual research project under the supervision of a faculty member, write a research report (a mini-thesis), and present the results at a professional conference. This is excellent preparation for graduate school and/or the workplace. Our Master's theses frequently involve field-testing of state-of-the-art hypotheses proposed elsewhere, as well as formulation of the next generation of hypotheses, which will shape our disciplines in the decades to come. Most Master's thesis work in the Department is published in the peer-reviewed professional literature after presentation at regional or national professional meetings.
Collections in this community
Recent Submissions
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The Most Complete Bowfin (Amiidae: Amia sp.) from the Coal Creek Member of the Kishenehn Formation (Eocene), Northwestern Montana
(Polska Akademia Nauk Instytut Paleobiologii, 2022-01)The larger-bodied fish fauna of the Kishenehn Formation’s Coal Creek Member (Eocene, 43.5 Ma), northwestern Montana, is understudied because of a sampling bias towards small specimens. Small specimens (<10 cm length) of ... -
The diverse terminology of reptile eggshell microstructure and its effect on phylogenetic comparative analyses
(Wiley, 2022-06)Reptile eggshell ensures water and gas exchange during incubation and plays a key role in reproductive success. The diversity of reptilian incubation and life history strategies has led to many clade-specific structural ... -
New Paleomagnetic Constraints on the Early Cretaceous Paleolatitude of the Lhasa Terrane (Tibet)
(Frontiers Media SA, 2022-05)New zircon U-Pb dating results from the Zonggei Formation volcanics indicate that the volcanic rocks formed at ∼114–110 Ma. Paleomagnetic data, petrography, and rock magnetism confirm the primary nature of isolated ... -
Tracking decision-making of backcountry users using GPS tracks and participant surveys
(Elsevier BV, 2022-07)Snow avalanches are a significant natural hazard representing the primary risk of death to backcountry travelers in many alpine countries. Careful use of backcountry terrain through effective decision making can mitigate ... -
The intersection of geoethics and diversity in the geosciences
(Geological Society of London, 2020-12)The geosciences (inclusive of geology, oceanography, atmospheric science and allied disciplines) have an ethical imperative to increase diversity in the profession. The diverse ways of exploring the Earth system, and the ... -
Should I judge safety or danger? Perceived risk depends on the question frame.
(American Psychological Association, 2021-04)Linguistic polarity is a natural characteristic of judgments: Is that situation safe/dangerous? How difficult/easy was the task? Is that politician honest/dishonest? Across six studies (N = 1599), we tested how the qualitative ... -
Rock weathering and nutrient cycling along an erodosequence
(American Journal of Science, 2021-10)How flowing water and organisms can shape Earth's surface, the Critical Zone, depends on how fast this layer is turned over by erosion. To quantify the dependence of rock weathering and the cycling of elements through ... -
CHANGE: Climate and Hydrology Academic Network for Governance and the Environment
(American Meteorological Society, 2011-08) -
Measuring conservation program best management practice implementation and maintenance at the watershed scale
(Soil and Water Conservation Society, 2010-11)There is growing interest in evaluating the impacts at the watershed scale of agricultural best management practices (BMPs) designed to improve water quality. Many approaches to impact assessment require detailed information ... -
Defining Ecological Drought for the Twenty-First Century
(American Meteorological Society, 2017-12)Droughts of the twenty-first century are characterized by hotter temperatures, longer duration, and greater spatial extent, and are increasingly exacerbated by human demands for water. This situation increases the vulnerability ... -
Cultural theory of risk as a heuristic for understanding perceptions of oil and gas development in Eastern Montana, USA
(Elsevier BV, 2017-11)This paper applies Douglas’ cultural theory of risk to understand perceptions of risk associated with oil and gas development in eastern Montana. Based on the analysis of interviews with 36 rural residents, findings show ... -
Ecological Drought: Accounting for the Non-Human Impacts of Water Shortage in the Upper Missouri Headwaters Basin, Montana, USA
(MDPI AG, 2018-02)Water laws and drought plans are used to prioritize and allocate scarce water resources. Both have historically been human-centric, failing to account for non-human water needs. In this paper, we examine the development ... -
Integrating Ecological Impacts: Perspectives on Drought in the Upper Missouri Headwaters, Montana, United States
(American Meteorological Society, 2021-04)Drought is a complex challenge experienced in specific locations through diverse impacts, including ecological impacts. Different professionals involved in drought preparedness and response approach the problem from different ... -
Murky waters: divergent ways scientists, practitioners, and landowners evaluate beaver mimicry
(Resilience Alliance, Inc., 2022-01)Beaver mimicry is a fast-growing conservation technique to restore streams and manage water that is gaining popularity within the natural resource management community because of a wide variety of claimed socio-environmental ... -
Subglacial erosion has the potential to sustain microbial processes in Subglacial Lake Whillans, Antarctica
(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2021-06)Subglacial Lake Whillans lies below around 800 m of Antarctic ice and is isolated from fresh sources of photosynthetic organic matter to sustain life. The diverse microbial ecosystems within the lake and underlying sediments ... -
New snow metrics for a warming world
(Wiley, 2021-06)Snow is Earth's most climatically sensitive land cover type. Traditional snow metrics may not be able to adequately capture the changing nature of snow cover. For example, April 1 snow water equivalent (SWE) has been an ... -
A typology of drought decision making: Synthesizing across cases to understand drought preparedness and response actions
(Elsevier BV, 2021-09)Drought is an inescapable reality in many regions, including much of the western United States. With climate change, droughts are predicted to intensify and occur more frequently, making the imperative for drought management ... -
Regional Exhumation and Tectonic History of the Shanxi Rift and Taihangshan, North China
(American Geophysical Union, 2021-03)This study presents a comprehensive low-temperature thermochronometric data set from the Shanxi Rift, Taihangshan, and eastern Ordos block in North China, including new apatite fission track and apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He data ... -
Evolution of magma decompression and discharge during a Plinian event (Late Bronze-Age eruption, Santorini) from multiple eruption-intensity proxies
(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2021-02)We have coupled three independent methods to investigate the time evolution of eruptive intensity during the sub-Plinian and Plinian phases of the 3600-year BP Late Bronze-Age eruption of Santorini Volcano: (1) mass eruption ... -
Evolutionary Sample Size and Consilience in Phylogenetic Comparative Analysis
(Oxford University Press, 2021-03)Phylogenetic comparative methods (PCMs) are commonly used to study evolution and adaptation. However, frequently used PCMs for discrete traits mishandle single evolutionary transitions. They erroneously detect correlated ...
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