From freshly formed simple craters on the Moon to hydrogen sulfide production in the Salton Sea, DEEPS undergraduate students participated in cutting edge research throughout the 2025 summer break. We are proud to showcase some of these research projects with this photo series.

Strong new evidence suggests that primordial material from the planet’s center is somehow making its way out. Continent-size entities anchored to the core-mantle boundary might be involved. Assistant Professor Harriet Lau commented on this exciting research, noting: if material is effusing from the core into the mantle, is the boundary between them “as distinct as we think?”

DEEPS Shorts is a video series highlighting the diverse research within Brown’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences. This week's scientist is Jaesoek Lee, PhD student studying seismology, earthquakes, and fault geometries. Created by PhD Candidate Élise Beaudin, with support from Communications Specialist Mae Jackson.

Conversations about sea-level rise often spotlight warming temperatures. But Earth’s geological engine quietly plays its own role. Professor Colleen Dalton, together with colleagues, connects the dramatic change in sea levels to a slowdown in seafloor spreading that reshaped the depth of the ocean basins.

In a new Science Advances publication, Assistant Professor James Dottin III demonstrates how Hydrogen may leak from the core into the lowermost mantle, become entrained in mantle plumes, and mix into the upper mantle. "We typically think about the water cycle on the surface," explained Dottin, "but we often don't consider what happens to water beneath our feet through deep Earth processes." By measuring 2H/1H ratios in olivine-hosted basaltic melt inclusions from a Baffin Island lava, Dottin and his team investigated whether mantle plumes contain Hydrogen from the core. "This means that some the the water you're drinking today might be seeing the surface for the first time since the Earth was formed."

Rescue teams in Myanmar and Thailand are searching for survivors after Friday’s 7.7 magnitude quake that toppled buildings and damaged roads on Sunday, March 30th. As rescue teams continue to search, experts share the factors that impact their chances for survival. Trapped victims are more likely to survive if they are in a debris-free pocket that prevents major injury while they await rescue, like under a sturdy desk, said Professor Victor Tsai in an email.

A new study by DEEPS Professors Colleen Dalton, Chris Huber, Tim Herbert, and Senior Research Associate Weimin Si explores how variations in global mean sea level over millions of years originate from changes in both the climate and solid Earth systems.

A recent article features forthcoming research from Assistant Professor Daniel Ibarra and Physics Professor Brad Marston. Their research shows that using crushed rock dust to speed up the rate at which soils absorb carbon dioxide could also affect the climate by making Earth’s surface reflect more or less of the sun’s radiation.

Ice sheet melt has been shown to increase volcanic activity in subglacial volcanoes elsewhere on the globe. DEEPS PhD candidate Allie Coonin and her team ran 4,000 computer simulations to study how ice sheet loss affects Antarctica’s buried volcanoes, and they found that gradual melt could increase the number and size of subglacial eruptions.

Geologists generally think that creep happens on faults that slice through particularly slippery rocks. But a recent study co-authored by Professor Victor Tsai reports that the overall structure of a fault network might also dictate why some faults creep rather than intermittently slip dramatically.

New radiometric dating of material returned from the Moon suggests there was active volcanism 120 million years ago – nearly 2 billion years more recently than previous estimates. Assistant Professor James Dottin III shared his perspective, unconvinced that the three beads are conclusively volcanic.

Professor Greg Hirth has been awarded the 2024 Harry Hess Medal from the American Geophysical Union. The Harry H. Hess Medal is given annually to a senior scientist in recognition of outstanding achievements in research on the constitution and evolution of the Earth and other planets.

Each year, AGU celebrates individuals who have made significant contributions to the Earth and space sciences. This year, DEEPS graduate student Manar Al Asad was honored with the 2024 Study of the Earth's Deep Interior Section Award for Graduate Research.

In a recent study published in Science Advances, DEEPS PhD candidate Manar Al Asad and Assistant Professor Harriet Lau demonstrate that Earth's early tectonic activity was likely very different from what we see today. They propose a 'sluggish-lid' mode, where the Earth's outer layer moved slowly and was partially disconnected from the mantle. The new model addresses previous challenges in understanding Earth's thermal history and tectonic evolution, offering new insights into how Earth's magnetic field is maintained throughout most of Earth's history.

After decades of research, a reliable earthquake prediction system remains elusive as ever. Michael Blanpied ’85 ScM, ’89 PhD isn’t worried.

Rhode Island was among several East Coast states that felt a small earthquake on Friday morning, April 5th. Brown University Professor of Geological Sciences Karen Fischer says even though the quake was small, it was felt in multiple states because of the geologic makeup of the East Coast.

Professor Colleen Dalton talks with NBC 10 about the April 5th earthquake that struck New Jersey and why it was unusual.

Recent Postdoctoral Research Fellow Kai-Xun Chen has published a new paper in Geophysical Research Letters, titled “Seismic evidence for a mid-lithospheric discontinuity in 155 million-year-old Pacific lithosphere. Consistent with now-frozen melt that was trapped in the young lithosphere close to the ridge.” The publication lays out evidence for a low velocity layer inside old oceanic lithosphere. Dr. Chen completed this research while he was a postdoctoral researcher in DEEPS, working with Prof. Don Forsyth and Prof. Karen Fischer.

In a new paper published in Science Advances, Professor Donald Fisher, a Geosciences faculty member at Penn State and Brown alumnus, and DEEPS Chair Greg Hirth propose that rocks buried deep in ancient subduction zones could help scientists make better predictions of how these zones behave during the years between major earthquakes.

Sonam Sherpa, one of IBES & DEEPS's newest postdoctoral researchers, recently offered insights in a Brown Daily Herald interview on an earthquake that shook her native Nepal earlier this month.

The “Solid Earth Geophysics” class joined the North Burial Ground for a groundbreaking project this Halloween season, using ground penetrating radar (GPR) to help investigate the mysteries buried within the historic cemetery.

Professors Kim Cobb and Alberto Saal have been elected as American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) Fellows. They join 53 other individuals in the 2023 Class of Fellows. AGU, the world's largest Earth and space sciences association, annually recognizes a select number of individuals for its highest honors. Since 1962, the AGU Union Fellows Committee has selected less than 0.1% of members as new Fellows.

Professor Karen Fischer was selected to receive the AGU Inge Lehmann Medal, which is given annually to a senior scientist in recognition of outstanding contributions to the understanding of the structure, composition, and dynamics of the Earth’s mantle and core. AGU, the world's largest Earth and space science association, annually recognizes a select number of individuals for its highest honors. 

Associate Professor Victor Tsai has published a new article in GeoScienceWorld's Seismological Research Letters about the challenges with available Earth imaging techniques, and explores opportunities for improvement.

This summer, an article was published in AGU's Geophysical Research Letters representing work from former Ph.D. graduate Aron Buffen, Professor Meredith Hastings, and other colleagues using a model to better understand how sunlight changes snow nitrate. The work was featured as the cover art for the June issue of AGU's Geophysical Research Letters.

Anant Hariharan was selected for his impacts to the fields of seismology, tectonics, and geodynamics through his dissertation, Understanding Overtone Interference in Surface Wave Measurements: Application to Anisotropic Imaging of the Uppermost Mantle Beneath North America.

On March 29th, DEEPS hosted a thrilling volcano demonstration for fourth and fifth graders from the Vartan Gregorian School.

Associate Professor Victor Tsai is the co-author of a new paper explaining the abnormally strong shaking of earthquakes in Alaska’s Nenana Basin.

A recent Eos Editors Highlight, titled "Can Anelastic Attenuation of Oceanic Mantle be Reliably Measured?" features research by Postdoc Joshua Russell and Associate Professor Colleen Dalton.

One of the newest DEEPS faculty members, Assistant Professor Harriet Lau, has received the prestigious Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering. This is in recognition of Harriet's outstanding work to understand the relationships between Earth's deformation and climate.

The field of seismology is entering a new era where our understanding of earthquakes and the solid earth is increasingly driven by new Big Data experiments and algorithms.

Imprint of the Continental Strike-Slip Fault Geometrical Structure in Geophysical Data

A new global analysis of the last 19 million years of seafloor spreading rates found they have been slowing down. Geologists want to know why the seafloor is getting sluggish.

Assistant professor Karianne Bergen joins the TWIML Podcast.

A unified model for transient subglacial water pressure and basal sliding