The graduate program in Geological Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin currently enrolls about 170 students in all disciplines, divided about equally between Master of Science and Doctoral degree seekers. Both degrees involve original research in the form of a thesis or dissertation, and publication of results and presentation at professional society meetings is a goal for all graduate students.

Roughly 20 percent of the graduate student body is engaged in research that employs geophysical observations, and/or develops new geophysical techniques. The diverse graduate research opportunities in geophysics can be separated broadly into four major themes: field intensive studies; theoretical and numerical investigations; applied geophysics; and regional to global scale studies.

Examples include Antarctic expeditions with aero-geophysical surveys of major ice sheets; marine geophysical expeditions to understand tectonic and sedimentary processes over the continental margins and deep oceans; broad-band seismic experiments to illuminate the structure of the crust and upper mantle; airborne laser mapping of topography to understand terrestrial sedimentary processes; radar and electromagnetic investigations of the near-surface; and active source seismic experiments for near-surface and petroleum exploration studies. There are also development efforts for seismic sources and receivers, gravity, radar, and other field instrumentation.

These include: solutions to inverse problems to estimate complex multi-parameter earth models from large data sets; development of numerical methods to simulate wave propagation and deformation in complex materials via finite element and finite difference methods; inference from and analysis of complex systems, such as Earth's climate variations; and development of algorithms using parallel processing architectures.

Geophysical methods employing seismic and electromagnetic waves can be used to explore for resources, including petroleum, water, and others, and to estimate near surface physical properties for identification of hazards. Examples underway at UT include improved imaging of subsurface structures to support geological interpretation; estimation of subsurface physical properties from conventional and multi-component seismic data; and application of electromagnetic methods (radar and others) to estimate subsurface structure and physical properties.

UT geophysicists develop images of the interior of the earth using seismic waves; study earthquake sources and their distribution in time and space; interpret the deformation of the crust and the forces that cause them; and study Earth's gravity and magnetic fields from surface and space-based observations.

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• Development and application of new approaches to the acquisition, processing and interpretation of seismic reflection and other geophysical data.
• Application of geophysical data to problems in stratigraphy and structure.
• Worldwide reflection studies of the continental shelf, slope and rise.
• Plate tectonics, paleomagnetism, worldwide paleogeographic and paleodepth reconstruction.
• Global seismology, seismicity, seismo -tectonics, earthquake hazards, and theoretical seismology.
• Heat flow, subsidence, deposition and tectonic history of continental basins and shelves.
• Studies of Arctic and Antarctic basins.
• Earth rotational and gravity field variations and their causes.
• Studies of the earth’s gravity field and geoid anoma lies from satellite observation.
• Crustal strain measurements from satellite geodesy.
• Sedimentary economic geology of the Gulf Coast.

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Research opportunities within the Jackson School of Geosciences include those within the Department of Geological Sciences, as well as the Institute for Geophysics and the Bureau of Economic Geology, the latter serving as the Texas state geological survey.

In addition, there are active research collaborations with other University colleges and research units: the Department of Civil Engineering, Department of Petroleum Engineering, Center for Space Research, Applied Research Laboratory, McDonald Observatory, Environmental Science Institute, Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, and Marine Science Institute.

These units operate, for example, the following facilities: an earthquake engineering program; a lunar and satellite ranging facility; the Geotechnical Engineering Center; the Rock Mechanics Laboratory; the Core Repository; and research vessels and facilities on the Texas Gulf Coast.

In addition to computer resources within the Jackson School, computational support is provided by Texas Advanced Computing Center, home of the Lonestar Supercomputer, a cluster capable of a peak performance of 3.67 Teraflops.

• More about Jackson School facilities

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• portable multi-channel seismographs with vertical and 3-component geophones; hydrophone streamer for marine surveys
• ground penetrating radar system
• LaCoste-Romberg gravimeter
• airborne Optech LIDAR system for fine-scale topographic mapping
• portable broad-band Guralp seismographs for regional studies of the crust and mantle
• Vibroseis seismic sources, for both low and high frequency 3-axis shaking
• dual-frequency geodetic quality GPS receivers with choke-ring antennas
• portable field magnetometers
• aero-geophysical instrument package (ice-penetrating radar, gravity, laser altimeter, magnetometers) most often used in Antarctica
• ocean bottom seismometer system with 3-component geophones and hydrophone
• scanning electron microscopes with EDS, EBSD, and CL capabilities
• x-ray diffractometer with EDS detector
• electron microprobe

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• More about graduate admissions & support

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