Department of

Geology


What drives the Earth’s water, tectonic, and climate systems? How have Earth’s life forms and environments changed over time? And how are humans affecting Earth systems today?

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Explore
Geology

Understand Your World

Get out of the classroom

Study geology in the field, from local streams and rock outcrops to destinations such as Death Valley, the Grand Canyon, and Canyonlands National Parks. Study glaciers in Norway, volcanoes in Japan, rivers in China, beaches in Australia, and mountains in New Zealand during semesters abroad.

Unearth the past

Southern Wisconsin was once covered by a tropical, shallow sea teeming with trilobites. Explore the rock record to understand how fossilized organisms evolved and why they went extinct.

Apply your skills to the water, climate, and energy challenges facing our society

Prepare for a career in the geosciences by designing a sustainable rain garden to reduce storm water runoff, comparing climate reconstructions in the Eocene to changes observed today, and learning about the environmental impacts of our dependence on non-renewable resources.

Tri-States Field Conference
Geology News

Tri-States Field Conference

Beloit students attended the 76th Tri-State Field Conference. This year the trip was headquartered out of Maquoketa, IA and focused on current research on the Paleozoic rocks of the Upper Mississippi River Valley. Field trip stops included exposures in quarries and along road cuts that contained abundant fossils and a visit to learn about extracting metals from mine waste at a superfund site for use in the transition to a green economy.

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Nov18th

Ivan Stone Lecture - Steve Vavrus

Wisconsin’s State Climatologist and Co-Director of the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts will address the theme of Climate Change and Climate Justice. 

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The 1974 Peru Seminar’s Continuing Connections

Fifty years on from the 1974 Peru Seminar, participants look back and consider how that adventure in South America forged lasting connections and shaped their lives.

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