New research of brachiopod fossils from the Late Devonian (~370 Ma) mass extinction suggests extinction survivors stayed in similar ecological niches despite large environmental disturbances. Current and former researchers in the Department of Earth Sciences, including Sarah Brisson, Jaleigh Pier, Andrew Beard, Anjali Fernandes, and Andrew Bush, produced the study after examining over 20,000 brachiopod […]

Professor Vernon Cormier discusses the recording of the Turkey earthquake on the UConn seismometer. Shown below are UConn seismograms of Turkey's earthquake and aftershocks the past 24 hours. Also below is a map of the mainshock and aftershock, illustrating the length of fault slip. In the mainshock, the slip will distributed across a broad area […]

A recent publication by Department of Earth Sciences faculty Tammo Reichgelt and Ran Feng investigated how terrestrial climate in the eastern U.S. changed through time. The researchers used a combination of fossil floras and climate modeling to reconstruct eastern U.S. climate during a past warm interval known as the Miocene. Their research identified a reduced […]

A study involving Professors Tracy Frank and Chris Fielding in the Department of Earth Sciences provides new insights into the latest Permian mass extinction. Published in Nature Communications, the team collected and analyzed samples from terrestrial sites in southern Pangea for mercury, which is a proxy for volcanic activity. These southern hemisphere mercury records capture […]

Learn about the geology of Connecticut through 10 essays in Connecticut Magazine by Department of Earth Sciences Professor Robert Thorson. In this collection, he describes many unique aspects of Connecticut’s landscape that help define the state’s identity. By recounting Connecticut’s tectonic, glacial, and human history, Thorson illuminates how the land of steady habits came to […]

A new study by Earth Sciences professor Ran Feng explores the North American Monsoon during the Pliocene. Published in AGU Advances, the researchers used a combination of model simulations and proxy reconstructions to better understand how the North American Monsoon responded to this past warm interval. The authors find an intensification of the North American […]

As part of interdisciplinary research team, Department of Earth Sciences Professor Lisa Park Boush was awarded 2.5 million dollar from the National Science Foundation to explore the relationship between climate change and biodiversity at Lake Tanganyika, Africa. To do so, the team will collect and analyze sediment cores from the lake bed using a variety […]

A new study published in Paleoclimatology and Paleoceanography explored Australian climate during the early-to-middle Eocene (55-40 million years ago). The research, led by Dr. Tammo Reichgelt in the Department of Earth Sciences, used plant fossils from southern Australian to reconstruct past temperature and precipitation. Despite the continent of Australia being closer to the South Pole […]

A study led by Assistant Professor Ran Feng in the Department of Earth Sciences provides a new explanation for how ancient subtropical drylands become mesic habitats. Published in Nature Communications, the team conducted a series of simulations to investigate the climate conditions responsible for generating mesic subtropical conditions over 3 million years ago during the […]

A team of scientists, including Department of Earth Sciences researcher Megan Mueller, have a new explanation for how mammals originally from Asia were able to colonize Europe around 34 million years ago. In a new Earth Science Reviews article, the team documents several lines of evidence for an ancient continent, named Balkanatolia, between Europe, Africa, […]