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Research Areas

Research in Greenland

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About DEEPS research

Externally funded projects within the department span a wide range of research areas. These projects include substantial amounts of field, lab, and computational work. Many of the research projects are collaborative both within and outside the department, with notable ties to Argonne National Labs, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), the Field Museum, and the Chicago Botanic Garden, to name just a few.

From a geographic standpoint, we currently have active projects in Namibia, Greenland, China, Iceland, Australia, the large icebergs of the Ross Sea off the coast of Antarctica, the New Zealand Southern Alps, the Yucatan Peninsula, the Amazon Delta, the Pacific Rim, various Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) sites, northern Italy, southern France, Arctic Canada, and sites throughout the United States.

Graduate students carry out a significant portion of the Department's research under the guidance of experienced faculty and staff. Undergraduate students also participate in ongoing research. 

Earth and Planetary Science research at Northwestern is supported by our state-of-the-art analytic lab facility called the Integrated Labs for Earth and Planetary Sciences (ILEPS).   

Explore our research areas

Learn more about the various subfields of DEEPS

Aqueous Geochemistry

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Climate Change

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A student takes notes in the field in Iceland

Decarbonization

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Researchers stand next to a sign that states "San Andreas Fault"

Geohazards

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A microbialite formation

Geobiology

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A student in the Stable Isotope Lab

Isotope Geochemistry

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Jacobsen lab space

Mineral Physics & Petrology

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A camp set up in Greenland for taking sediment cores

Paleoclimatology & Paleoceanography

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A fossil found in Ethiopia

Paleoecology

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Meteorite samples

Planetary Science

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Interesting stratigraphy on a hillside

Sedimentology & Stratigraphy

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Seismology

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Michigan and Van Buren intersection in Chicago

Sustainability

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A student presents a poster

Tectonophysics

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