A new PBS documentary on Henry David Thoreau, which features expertise from Department of Earth Sciences Professor Robert Thorson, aims to reintroduce Thoreau to modern audiences. The film presents him as a scientist and writer whose ideas bridge the natural sciences and humanities. Professor Thorson emphasizes how Thoreau’s scientific observations can be found throughout his […]

Earth Sciences Professor, Tracy Frank, won first place in the Featured Research Art & Media Exhibit (FRAME) contest. Her winning photo was "Growth Rings of an Ancient Cephalopod." The image was taken with a polarizing petrographic microscope and shows calcite crystals forming growth rings. Link to a UConn Today article about the contest

A new publication by Department of Earth Sciences Assistant Professor, Mojtaba Fakhraee, explains that mangrove, seagrass, and salt marsh ecosystems not only store carbon, but they also help restore nearby coral reefs. When these ecosystems are located together, they improve water quality, reduce ocean acidity, stabilize sediments, and protect coastlines, all of which help reefs […]

Seaweed farms are highly efficient at removing atmospheric CO₂ because seaweed grows rapidly and converts carbon into biomass, but their long-term storage potential has often been underestimated. New research published in Nature Communications Sustainability by Department of Earth Sciences Assistant Professor Mojtaba Fakhraee challenge the assumption that this carbon is quickly released back as CO₂, […]

A new study, led by assistant professor Lijing Wang, investigates how snowmelt and subsurface water sustain headwater streams in mountain regions through late summer. Using field measurements and a modeling framework, the team showed that evergreen forests delay snowmelt by one to two weeks and gradually release water, buffering streamflow over longer periods. They also […]

The Stone Pavilion is a small hexagonal stone building that houses a unique collection of stones from every U.S. state and a statewide assemblage of stones from all 169 Connecticut towns. It was originally dedicated in 1937 before falling into obscurity after the 1938 hurricane. It holds scientific, educational, and cultural significance, embodying the Geological […]

Lijing Wang, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, led a study that examines how beaver ponds influence groundwater movement under varying subsurface structures. The work uses a combination of field data, geophysical surveys, and a neural density estimator to calibrate a hydrologic model of a mountainous alluvial floodplain in the Upper Colorado […]

Two UConn scholars, including Department of Earth Sciences Professor Robert Thorson, published an essay in the Atlantic on why Concord, Massachusetts is the source of many historically significant events. For instance, it is the site of the first armed resistance to British rule in April 1775 when local militia defeated British troops, an event later […]

Department of Earth Sciences PhD candidate, Joey Schnaubelt, led a new study quantifying the role of atmospheric rivers on Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance during the last interglacial. Atmosphere rivers are long, narrow bands that transport exceptional amounts of moisture and heat. They are known for causing extreme weather events. The last interglacial is […]

A new study led by Mojtaba Fakhraee, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, shows that the ocean can stabilize large carbon releases through a feedback mechanism involving iron sulfide (pyrite) formation under low oxygen (anoxic) conditions. This process preserves ocean alkalinity, buffers against acidification, and helps the Earth system recover from extreme […]