DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY
GRADUATE PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:
MS in GEOLOGY
Graduate
Catalog Entry
We offer a two-year M.S. degree program for about 10-15 students at
any given time, in an active, research-oriented environment. We stress
personalized, individual attention to graduate student research. Our
program provides a combination of classical geological training, involving
a significant field component, together with applications of modern
technology, such as remote sensing, to solve geological and environmental
problems. Graduate students become proficient in a wide variety of
computer techniques. We are closely linked with the Environmental Science
Program at TCU, and many students carry out research in environmental
geology, earth surface processes, hydrogeology and related topics.
Faculty and students also are engaged in structural, tectonic, stratigraphic,
sedimentological, paleontological, paleovolcanological and petrological
studies in Oklahoma and Texas, Scotland, southern Africa and the Sierra
Nevada mountains of California. A new departmental strength involves
research in the dynamics and evolution of coastal geomorphic systems,
with study areas along the coasts of North Carolina, New England and
Texas.
Fort Worth is centrally located relative to a wealth of diverse geological
settings, in addition to the classic Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata
of the southern midcontinent. Regular departmental field trips visit
the complex Paleozoic structures of southern Oklahoma and Arkansas
(Wichita, Arbuckle and Ouachita Mountains), Cambrian and Precambrian
igneous rocks in the Wichita and Arbuckle Mountains and Precambrian
crystalline rocks in central and west Texas. The spectacularly exposed
geology of the Big Bend region in west Texas is an area of particular
departmental expertise and interest.
For more information about faculty and research opportunities, please
visit the Department website