Geobiologists
study the role of life in shaping the chemical and physical characteristics
of the Earth and, conversely, the environmental forces that have
shaped the evolution and function of life. These questions span
the range of geologic time, from the emergence and evolution of
life on the earliest Earth to its role in shaping modern biogeochemical
cycles. The tools employed by geobiologists at Caltech include
sedimentology and stratigraphy, paleontology, paleomagnetism, organic
and trace-element geochemistry, isotope geochemistry, molecular
biology, and genetics.
