Research
Our researchers are invested in making the world a better place. Our work cuts across academic and industry silos to make a real impact in four major areas. Discover the challenges we are tackling and the people and teams who are working on them.
Learn more about our researchers
We are hydrogeologists, volcanologists, palaeontologists, geobiologists, planetary scientists, geophysicists and more! Find out who we are and what we are working on.
Applied Geochemistry Group
The Applied Geochemistry group (AGg) employs a wide variety of physical, chemical, isotopic and modelling techniques to study aspects of the water cycle and trace the fate of anthropogenic carbon, nitrogen and sulphur in both surface and subsurface environments.
Centre for Applied Basin Studies
The Centre for Applied Basin Studies (formerly Applied Stratigraphy Research Group) uses a multidisciplinary approach. This includes biostratigraphy, ichnology, geochemistry, sedimentology, and sequence stratigraphy to resolve stratigraphic problems, characterize reservoirs and determine tectonic influences on basin architecture and sedimentologic processes in basins around the world including Western and Arctic Canada.
Chile Slope Systems
The CSS joint industry project (JIP) is a collaboration between the University of Calgary, Colorado State University, Virginia Tech and industrial partners, which aims to better understand the processes of sediment transfer across deep-water slopes through analysis of channel deposits that crop out in the Magallanes Basin of southern Chile.
CREWES Project
CREWES works closely with industry partners, conducts advanced research in resource exploration and development. It focuses on improved acquisition, processing and interpretation of multi-component seismic data. The principal goal is improved 3D geological images of the subsurface.
Dinosaur Paleontology
Our research interests focus on the paleobiology and paleoenvironments of extinct taxa, with a particular emphasis on dinosaurs. We use various approaches to study extinct taxa in order to reconstruct their paleobiology and to examine changes in their biology or behaviors through ontogeny or phylogeny.
Geo- and Thermochronology Research Group
The Calgary Geo- and Thermochronology Research Group and Laboratory at the University of Calgary investigates a diversity of near-surface processes using cutting edge analytical methods. Our research interests include basin fill sequences, near-surface tectonics, detrital thermochronology and technique development.
Geofluids and Geohazards
Bridging the gap between geophysical observations and measurements (e.g. seismological, geodetic, temperature, pressure data) and the fundamental processes that govern the production and movement of subsurface fluids.
Hydrogeology Research Group
The department has a very active Hydrogeology Research Group with internationally recognized research programs in surface water-groundwater interaction, hydrogeophysics, isotope hydrology, numerical groundwater modelling, vadose zone hydrology and alpine hydrology.
Instrumentation Facility for Analytical Electron Microscopy (IFFAEM)
IFFAEM is an analytical facility established in 2011 and built around an FEI Quanta 250 FEG field emission scanning electron microscope. A rich assortment of additional detectors and auxiliary equipment yields a facility well equipped to examine a wide range of samples using diverse imaging modalities and to perform varied dynamic experiments.
Laboratory for Electron Microprobe Analysis
The University of Calgary Laboratory for Electron Microprobe Analysis (UCLEMA) was established in 2001 to provide secondary and back scattered electron imaging and characteristic X-ray microanalysis capability to the department and the larger university community, as well as researchers in the oil and gas, mineral and engineering sectors.
Metamorphic Geology
Metamorphic geology is concerned with the ways in which rocks change in response to variations in depth, temperature and fluid movement in the Earth's crust and mantle, the time scales over which these changes occur, and the underlying geochemical and tectonic processes that control these changes.
Microbial Markets Lab and Geomicrobiology Group
The Microbial Markets Lab and Geomicrobiology Group brings together researchers from the U of C Departments of Earth, Energy, and Environment and Biological Sciences addressing microbial ecology, genomics and geochemistry. Bioremediation, biogeography, sediments, groundwater and alkaline soda lakes are some of our topics.
Microseismic Industry Consortium
The Microseismic Industry Consortium is a novel, applied-research geophysical initiative dedicated to the advancement of research, education and technological innovations in microseismic methods and their practical applications for resource development. Working with industry partners and government agencies, the consortium is a team of faculty, students and researchers hosted by the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta.
Mineralogy and Crystallography
Our research is based on structural characterization of materials under different PT conditions using state-of-the-art experimental probes and applying the results to Mineral Physics and to environmental problems such as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).
Prairie Meteorite Search Project
The Prairie Meteorite Search Project (MIAC/CCMI) research group uses the method pioneered by Harvey Nininger seventy years ago to recover meteorites.
PRG
We are a group of experienced scientists, engineers and technicians combining discovery, invention and innovation to explore the biogeoscience of the surface and subsurface of the Earth and applying our research results to the solution of several real world problems.
Sedimentary Systems Research
Our research spans spatial scales, from bedforms to basins, and includes investigation of both modern and ancient systems.
Tight Oil Consortium
TOC is a multidisciplinary research group with a focus on geological and engineering problems of low-permeability oil reservoirs. Research efforts are directed toward reservoir characterization, including geological characterization, pore structure, fluid flow analysis and fluid-rock interaction, as well as production analysis of these increasingly important resources.
Tutolo Reactive Transport Group
Our overarching goal is to distill simple, cause-and-effect relationships out of complex Earth systems.
WaterSHED Group
The WaterSHED (Water, Sediment, Hazards, and Earth-surface Dynamics) group studies geomorphological change, primarily in high altitude and high latitude environments. Research efforts are focused on landslides and floods, glacial landscapes, and rivers.