Geoscience Department at Wellesley College

Research

The Geosciences Department has many opportunities for students to conduct research with faculty on their interests of choice. Research projects are often presented in annual conferences such as the annual Wellesley College Ruhlman Conference.

Below you can see a list of faculty that offer research opportunities for students in their labs with their current research interests listed. Contact professors to learn more about the research opportunities they offer.

Interests Professor

  • Coastal sedimentation processes
  • Sea level rise

FitzGerald, D.M., Fenster, M.S., Argow, B.A. and Buynevich, I.V., 2008. Coastal Impacts Due to Sea-Level Rise. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 36(1).
One-time download of pdf available courtesy of Annual Reviews here.

Argow, B.A., 2007. Geomorphology. In: M. Dionne, C. Dalton and H. Wilhelm (Editors), Site Profile of the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve. Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, Wells, ME, pp. 15-28.

Argow, B.A., 2007. Origin and Evolution of the Estuary. In: M. Dionne, C. Dalton and H. Wilhelm (Editors), Site Profile of the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve. Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, Wells, ME, pp. 205-220.

professor argow
Professor Argow

  • Quantitative X-ray diffraction
  • Petrology

Besancon, J. R. and T. M. Spence (2004). Modal Petrology and Geostatistics of the Blue Hills Igneous Complex, Boston, Massachusetts, by Rietveld X-ray Diffraction: Multi-scalar Investigation of Volcanic and Intrusive relationships. Eos Trans. AGU Fall Meeting Supplement, Abstract V21B-0614, San Francisco, California, American Geophysical Union.

Thompson, M.D., Hermes, O.D., Bowring, S.A., Isachsen, C.E., Besancon, J.B., and Kelly, K.L., Tectonostratigraphic implications of Late Proterozoic U-Pb ages in the Avalon zone of southeastern new England, in Nance, R.D. and Thompson, M.D., eds., Avalonian and Related Peri-Gondwanan Terrances of the Circum-North Atlantic: Geological Society of America Special Paper 304,179-191, 1996.

professor besancon
Professor Besancon

  • Environmental Geochemistry
  • Medical Geology

Clark H. F.*, Hausladen D. M. *, Brabander D. J. (2008) Urban gardens: Lead exposure, recontamination mechanisms, and implications for remediation design. Environmental Research 107: (3) 312-319. 17.

Burnet A. *, Kurtz A. C., Brabander D. J., Shailer M. (2007) Dendrochemical record of historical lead contamination sources, Wells G&H Superfund site, Woburn, Massachusetts Journal of Environmental Quality 36:1488-1494. 16.

Schaider L. A., Senn D. B., Brabander D. J., McCarthy K. D. *, Shine J. P. (2007) Characterization of zinc, lead and cadmium in mine waste: Implications for transport, exposure, and bioavailability. Environ. Sci. Technol. 41: 4164-4171.

professor brabander
Professor Brabander

  • Mechanisms and time scales of plutonic construction
  • Connection between magma chambers, plutons and volcanic centers
  • Tectonics

Hawkins, D.P. and Wiebe, R.A., in preparation, High precision U-Pb geochronology of the Silurian Vinalhaven Intrusive Complex, Maine: Implications for the construction and longevity of a subvolcanic silicic intrusion. To be submitted to Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology.

Wiebe, R.A., Wark, D.A., and Hawkins, D.P., 2007, Insights from quartz cathodoluminescence zoning into crystallization of the Vinalhaven granite, coastal Maine: Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, v. 154, p. 439-453.

Wiebe, R.A., Jellinek, M., Markley, M.J., Hawkins, D.P., and Snyder, D., 2007, Steep schlieren and associated enclaves in the Vinalhaven granite, Maine: possible indicators

professor hawkins
Professor Hawkins
Created by: Rachel Kaston '10 & Rae Yan '11
Maintained by: Maria Raffi
Created on: June 20, 2008
Last Updated: August 4, 2008
Expires: August 8, 2009