Two focus areas were developed for the LSU Department of Geology & Geophysics to enhance existing strengths of the Department and allow the Department to interface synergistically with other academic units at LSU. The LSU Flagship agenda indicates that “LSU will advance knowledge and intellectual inquiry by promoting groundbreaking research”. This goal can be accomplished through these two focus areas:

• Evolution of Sedimentary Systems
• Earth Materials and Solid Earth Processes

Research Sub-Areas

The sedimentary portion of the crust contains a unique record of the evolution of Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, climate, biosphere, and continental lithosphere.  Sediments also play an important role in the complex cycling of materials between shallow environments and the deep Earth.  In addition, sedimentary basins are repositories of economically-important natural resources, such as fossil fuels, potable waters, and repositories for the disposal of wastes, including CO2.

The Department has had a rich tradition of fundamental research in sedimentary geology.  This research has included the investigation, not only of surficial and depositional processes and of the stratigraphic record, but of most aspects of the study of sedimentary history and environment, including paleobiology, geomicrobiology, and biogeochemistry; fluids in the Earth’s crust; the geochemical evolution of the atmosphere and oceans; the physical, chemical, and thermal evolution of sedimentary basins, and controls on the distribution and origin of sediment-hosted economic resources, including fossil fuels and potable water. 

The Department will have the opportunity in the near future to fill four new chaired professorships.  One or more of these chairs is specified to be in the general area of sedimentary geology. We believe our present strengths and the addition of these chairs provide a unique opportunity for the Department to establish itself as a premier center for the study of sedimentary geology.  This will be done by the development of a formal focus area to foster collaborative research within the Department and with others at LSU in the Evolution of Sedimentary Systems.  For example, we see the potential for interfacing with faculty in the Computational Science Multidisciplinary Hiring Initiative (MHI) as we develop programs in such areas as the numerical modeling of sedimentary basins, subsurface fluid flow, and the evolution of fluvial-deltaic systems and sequence stratigraphic sequences.  There will also be opportunities to collaborate with researchers in the Materials Science MHI in the study of such fundamental problems as the porosity structure of sediments.

The term ‘evolution’ in the name of this focus area is meant to represent the importance of time in studying the physical, chemical, and biological history of the Earth.  The term ‘system’ recognizes the fact that physical, chemical, and biological Earth processes are closely interconnected and can only be understood in the context of complex interactions and feedback.  The creation of this focal area within the Department will provide the framework for developing such an understanding, for recruiting excellent Ph.D. graduate students, and for enhancing collaborative programs with other units at LSU.

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Under the umbrella of Earth Materials, a variety of research topics are covered. This includes projects involving those faculty members interested in mineralogy, petrology and geochemical studies of Earth materials. The processes that form them, and then modify rocks and minerals, are critical to understanding the evolution of the Earth and other planets. This would also include many of the projects that are covered in “Fluids in the Crust” such as the role of fluids in contact metasomatism, isotopic study of the origin of hypersaline fluids in shield and sedimentary rocks and the role of fluids in subduction zone processes and arc magma genesis. The Department has a wide range of expertise in dealing with terrestrial, extraterrestrial and synthetic materials. LSU faculty and students have access to the analytical tools necessary to solve a wide variety of mineralogical, petrologic and geochemical problems. Current student and faculty research in petrology, mineralogy and materials span from the Earth's surface to deep crust, and even to Mars, and from most recent times to the earliest history of the Earth.

Under the heading of Solid Earth Processes, faculty members have interests in local- and global-scale geophysical and tectonic problems. Geophysics and tectonic studies combine field-based data acquisition and simplification of earth processes through understanding physical principles, and by using comprehensive mathematical and experimental methods. Examples of geophysical interests include gravity, flexure, and rheology of the lithosphere as well as fluid flow and deformation on faults and in the crust. Current tectonic interests include investigations of Archean greenstone belts, of the effects of large meteorite impacts, of the temporal and kinematic evolution of orogenic belts and of the tectonometamorphism of high grade metamorphic terranes.

This focus area is in a strong position to interface with currently existing faculty in other units and to take advantage of the multidisciplinary hiring intitiatives (MHI) that are currently in place. For instance, Bijaya Karki (Computer Sciences), an adjunct faculty in the Department, has “been developing/applying a metacomputing/visualization framework to address fundamental materials problems, primarily, for important geophysical implications”. Les Butler (Chemistry) has been collaborating on cutting-edge projects that develop optimal techniques for imaging of rock samples using X-ray tomography and neutron tomography. The MHI in Materials Science is in place as of this fall, and is developing hiring plans and equipment needs that are necessary for the success of this endeavor. The Department could dovetail into this effort and gain both equipment and faculty members. The other currently funded MHI is in high-end computing, primarily through CCT. In this general area, new faculty members enhance the Department’s current expertise and strengthen its quantitative aspects. Such hires could be experts in modeling geologic processes or visualizing large geologic data sets e.g. through mantle convection studies, seismic data acquisition, etc. Efforts to convince the Materials MHI and the computation MHI of the need of faculty members in our Department will require active participation of the Department faculty members in these MHIs.

The investigation of Earth Materials, Solid Earth Processes and Evolution of Sedimentary Systems are not mutually exclusive, but rather complementary. Many faculty and student research interests may cover all of the focus areas. One of the most fruitful avenues for “groundbreaking research” is likely to be at the interface among these focus areas.

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