The Department of Geological Sciences offers M.S. and Ph.D. graduate degrees. Most M.S. students undertake thesis research, but a coursework and project report option exists. The Ph.D. program requires qualifying exams, a minor, a research skill, and completion of a dissertation under the guidance of an advisor and research committee.

Our faculty has strong multidisciplinary research interests that bridge diverse topics, encompassing field-based, analytical, and theoretical research, or some combination of these approaches. The focus of these research activities ranges from local areas in Indiana, to other parts of the U.S. (such as at the IU Geologic Field Station in Montana), to Canada, to the Caribbean and tropics, to Europe, Asia, and South America, to the oceans, to studies of global-scale phenomena, and to the Moon and Mars. Various thematic research fields, such as Astrobiology and Geoarchaeology, are also represented by well-funded programs within the Department (see Research).

The Department's research activities can be broadly described in terms of principal fields of study as listed below with links to pages describing these areas of research and downloadable brochures as pdf files.

Prospective students are urged to explore the research interests of individual faculty and the research groups within the Department, and to initiate a dialogue about possible research opportunities early in the application process.

For application forms and further information about graduate study in the Department of Geological Sciences at IU, please contact: