Welcome
Research at the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences examines everything from the earth's core, mantle, and crust to the outposts of the solar system.
Division faculty are leaders in earthquake studies; have determined the first reliable values of the age of the earth, the moon, and meteorites; worked out the geological history of western North America; deciphered the record of the earth's climate from studies of tree rings and glaciers; perfected isotopic tracers and high-pressure laboratory techniques that indicate how magmas form on the earth and the moon; showed that surface waters penetrate deep into the crust and extensively interact with magma bodies; and, using theoretical studies and data from spacecraft missions, have been largely responsible for our present understanding of the origin of planetary surfaces and atmospheres, satellites, rings, comets, asteroids, and the interplanetary plasma.
The Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences was established in 1926.
Caltech Researchers Gain Greater Insight into Earthquake Cycles
Technology Developed at Caltech Measures Martian Sand Movement
Dianne K. Newman has been selected by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Editorial Board to receive the Cozzarelli Prize, awarded in Class 1, Physical and Mathematical Sciences. The paper is titled: “Microaerobic steroid biosynthesis and the molecular fossil record of Archean life,” (2011) PNAS 108 (33) 13409-13414.
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Last updated May 15, 2012 07:52 by Lisa Christiansen
