Pushing the boundaries of what we know about Earth
At Stanford Earth scientists and students push the boundaries of knowledge about Earth's evolution and how it functions: from its interior dynamics and ocean processes to characteristics of the atmosphere, and more. Their research covers a breadth of areas such as paleontology, biogeochemistry, and the structure and movement of Earth's crust. That work is essential to our understanding of both ancient and modern concerns from medieval plagues to earthquake dynamics, climate change, and the occurrence of natural resources.
Are we in a "sixth mass extinction"?
Stanford paleontologist Jonathan Payne puts modern extinction in context by comparing it with Earth's five previous mass extinctions. Watch.
Navigating the guts of an ancient submarine canyon
Geological Sciences professors Stephan Graham and Don Lowe take us into an exposed submarine canyon at Point Lobos, CA, to understand how rock sediments inform oil resource exploration. Watch.
Meet some of the faculty who discover our planet
Paula Welander
Assistant Professor of Earth System Science
Page Chamberlain
Professor of Earth System Science
Karen Casciotti
Associate Professor of Earth System Science
George Hilley
Associate Professor of Geological Sciences
Anne Dekas
Assistant Professor of Earth Systems
Elizabeth Miller
Professor of Geological Sciences
A sampling of courses related to discovering our planet
Related research groups
Related research news
Could a Colorado earthquake have been triggered by asteroid?
A dino-killing asteroid that crashed into Mexico could have generated massive seismic waves that triggered earthquakes as far away as Colorado, according to Stanford Earth's Norm Sleep.
Bacterial discovery solves 20-year-old paleo-molecular mystery
A fatty molecule once thought to be unique to flowering plants has turned up in bacteria skimmed from the Adriatic Sea and may provide biotech insights.
Stanford scientists discover how the forces that shaped Pangea helped make coal
The same geologic forces that helped stitch the supercontinent Pangea together also helped form the ancient coal beds that powered the Industrial Revolution.
