Geological Sciences

UBC and the Province of British Columbia offer exceptional opportunity for combined field and laboratory research. The Canadian Cordillera offers research opportunities in:

  • petrology of intrusive and volcanic rocks of many kinds, and of metamorphic rocks of all grades
  • structural studies of complex metamorphic terrains exposed in three dimensions
  • metalliferous deposits of varied genetic types
  • mineral exploration methods; mineralogy associated with many different environments
  • complexly folded and faulted successions of bedded rocks in the mountain belts and plateaus, and in virtually undisturbed coal- and gas-bearing strata of the north-eastern province
  • numerous problems of engineering, environmental geology-related to water, slope stability, natural geological hazards, and hydrogeology (lakes, fjords, deltas, tidal flats, continental shelf, and oceanic depths provide a wide range of aquatic environments for students interested in sedimentology, geochemistry, biostratigraphy, and geological oceanography)
Name Research Interests
Ameli, Ali Geology; Climate Changes and Impacts; Ground Water and Water Tables; Groundwater Ecohydrology; Groundwater-Surfacewater & land Interaction; Hydro-geological Engineering; Hydrological Cycle; Numerical analysis; Watershed Management
Barker, Shaun
Beckie, Roger Other environmental engineering and related engineering; Hydrogeology; Mine drainage; physical hydrogeology; groundwater geochemistry; groundwater contamination
Bustin, Robert Marc Unconventional Petroleum Reservoirs
Chritz, Kendra Anthropocene, Onset, tempo, and trajectory of human impacts on biological processes and environmental change
Crowe, Sean Geobiology, biogeochemistry, microbial evolution
d'Arcy, Mitch Earth and related environmental sciences; Geomorphology; Climate/palaeoclimate; Sedimentology; Geochronology; remote sensing
Eberhardt, Erik Geotechnical engineering; Mining engineering; Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering; Deep Underground Excavations; Rock Slope Engineering; Block Cave Mining
Groat, Lee Mineralogy and crystallography (except soil mineralogy and chemicals aspects of crystallography); Inorganic geochemistry; Economic geology; mineralogy; crystal chemistry; Geochemistry; economic geology; gem deposits; pegmatites
Hickey, Kenneth understand the processes involved in the genesis of mineral deposits from a multidisciplinary perspective; Post-mineralization weathering, denudation and subsequent burial of Carlin-type Au-mineralization at the Cortez Hills deposit: Implications for finding Au-deposits in bedrock under cover.
Jellinek, Mark Volcanology, Geodynamics, Planetary Science, Geological Fluid Mechanics
Johnson, Mark Geology; Natural environment sciences; Agriculture; Biogeochemistry; Carbon cycle; Climate Changes and Impacts; data science; Ecohydrology; Ecology and Quality of the Environment; Fresh Water; Ground Water and Water Tables; Hydrological Cycle and Reservoirs; Land and Soil; land use; Running Water Hydrosystem; Water and Sustainability
Kopylova, Maya diamond ore deposits, Diamond exploration, petrology and volcanology
Lukes, Laura Earth and related environmental sciences; Psychology and cognitive sciences; Education; Geoscience Education Research (Discipline-Based Education Research); Self-regulated Learning; field-based experiential learning; learning in informal settings (e.g., museums, parks, science centers); crowdsourced and citizen science; teacher beliefs; motivation, emotion, and beliefs in learning; Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in STEM; learning engineering
Mayer, Ulrich Geology; groundwater contamination; groundwater remediation; hydrogeology; low-temperature geochemistry; mine waste management
McDougall, Scott Other earth and related environmental sciences, n.e.c.; Geotechnical engineering; Debris flows / floods; Geohazards; Landslide-generated waves; Landslides; Natural and man-made geological hazards; Rock avalanches; Shoreline erosion; Tailings dam breaches
Peacock, Simon Natural sciences; metamorphic petrology; Tectonics; earthquakes
Prytulak, Julie magma generation and evolution on Earth and other planets; element transfer in subduction zones; subduction initiation; metal transport in the surface and near surface environment; combining experimental mineralogy with stable isotope techniques; development of emerging stable isotope techniques; metal stable isotope analytical development and applications
Russell, Kelly Physical sciences; volcanology; petrology; magma rheology; geochemical thermodynamics
Saylor, Joel Edward Paleoaltimetry; Paleoclimatology; Tectonic Basin analysis; Quantitative sediment provenance analysis; Rivers; Tectonics; Sedimentary Basins; Structural Geology; Field Geology; Sedimentology; Stratigraphy; Sequence Stratigraphy; Sediments; Geology
Scoates, James Igneous petrology; Geochronology; Economic geology; magmatic evolution; layered intrusions; flood basalts; large igneous provinces; Proterozoic anorthosites; magmatic ore deposits
Smit, Matthijs 1) timing and duration of
Tarling, Matthew structure, deformation behaviour & evolution of large faults and shear zones over the seismic cycle; Geology; Geophysics; Mineral Deposits
Weis, Dominique Isotope geochemistry; Environmental geochemistry; Earth Structure and Composition; Geodynamics; Chemical Pollutants; Earth Sciences; Geochemistry; High-precision/sensitivity geochemical analyses; Indigenous studies; Oceanic islands and mantle plumes