EAPS faculty and students in tectonics study how the Earth has evolved over billions of years, integrating observations from the building and breaking of mountain ranges to the rise and filling of ocean basins, with an eye to their impact on the evolution of life.
Geology and Geophysics
Tectonics
Geophysics
Our geophysics faculty and students quantify the forces that currently shape the surface of our planet, from plate tectonics to mountain building, and the strength of the crust and mantle, from cold rocks that break as earthquakes to warm rocks that flow.
Geomorphology
Select EAPS faculty and students focus their research on the study of the origin and evolution of landscapes created by physical and chemical processes including tectonics, the flow of water and ice, and climate change.
Energy
Research in the traditional and unconventional energy thematic areas are conducted by our faculty and students, including the study of the exploration of reservoirs, the sedimentological and structural characterization of wells, and fluid/rock interactions.
Geology and Geophysics News
Dinosaur-killing asteroid may have helped create a long-lived underground home for life
06-10-2026
The asteroid that ended the age of dinosaurs also created something unexpected deep beneath the surface. A warm, water-rich environment that may have lasted for millions of years and could offer clues about where life might arise on Earth and other planets. EAPS's Marissa Tremblay was a part of the research team.
Hidden hundreds of kilometers deep, two rivers of molten rock are devouring the ancient base of the North American Continent
06-08-2026
Click Oil and Gas — Hidden hundreds of kilometers deep, what scientists describe as two rivers of molten rock are slowly devouring the ancient base of the North American continent towards the Black Hills, overturning the old certainty that this core was an untouchable and immovable anchor of the planet. The research was conducted by a team led by EAPS geophysicist Xiaotao Yang, a professor at Purdue University and published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
Purdue researchers uncover deep mantle process that reshaped the North American midcontinent
04-22-2026
A hidden rupture deep beneath North America may have reshaped the landscape of the central United States hundreds of millions of years ago. New research led by Purdue University found that a dense part of the continent's deep rocky foundation likely peeled away and sank into the mantle, allowing hotter, lighter material to rise and lift the land above it.
Travel through Vietnam's Son Doong, the surreal cave so large a 747 plane could fly through it
03-31-2026
CBS 60 Minutes — Imagine discovering a marvel on par with Mount Everest or the Grand Canyon. It happened in 2009, with the revelation of the largest cave passage in the world. It's in Vietnam and they call it Hang Son Doong, "Mountain River Cave." 60 Minute's Scott Pelley toured the cave in an episode that features Darryl Granger, Purdue Science's Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Purdue Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences professor.
Purdue geologist Michael Eddy receives national early career award for Earth history research
03-30-2026
Michael P. Eddy, an associate professor in Purdue University's Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, has received the 2026 Early Geological Career Award from the Geological Society of America's Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Petrology and Volcanology Division. The award recognizes scientists near the beginning of their careers who have made distinguished, multidisciplinary and field-based contributions to geology.