The geological oceanography faculty and graduate students conduct research from the continental margins to the deep ocean seafloor extending in time from modern environments to millions of years back in earth's history to understand and predict earth surface and interior processes. Primary research themes include: (1) paleoceanography and paleoclimatology from analyzing deep-sea cores and shallow-water corals, (2) coastline and continental shelf development and processes including effects of storms and sea-level fluctuations, (3) the health of modern and recent geologic history of coral reefs and carbonate depositional environments, (4) anthropogenic influences on estuaries, (5) mathematical explanations of geologic phenomena, and (6) plate tectonics. The faculty are engaged in numerous other related themes.

Participation in scientific ocean drilling through the past Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) and its successor the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) is a central activity for the geological group. Our faculty have sailed on numerous legs to far away sites and continue to serve on major advisory panels to this major, multi-decadal, international scientific program. Although we have projects and interests in all of the earth's oceans, we pay particular attention to Florida's marine geology including regional geologic history, rivers and estuaries, barrier islands and marsh coastlines, continental shelf-coastline linkages, and relic and modern coral reefs.

Collectively, the geological oceanography group has modern, well-equipped laboratories that include light isotope mass spectrometers, an x-ray diffraction unit, core and sediment analytical capability with sedigraph, coulometer, digital core photography, a wax modeling facility, microfossil analysis, and foram culturing. Equally as important, the geological group has one of he best seafloor mapping capabilities in the US including high-resolution swath bathymetry (multibeam), high-resolution seismic reflection (boomer and chirp) and side-scan sonar profiling, a fully instrumented ROV capable of working in 200 m water depths, and fully instrumented quadrapods capable of measuring multiple environmentalvariables in the nearshore and shelf environments. Fully integrated with these field instruments is the computational capability to generate state-of-the art data depictions and imagery. The geology faculty, staff, and students have access to the full array of technology within the CMS including the scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, ICP-MS, satellite oceanography imagery, and other technical and engineering support capability. Finally, our group works closely with scientists from the US Geological Survey's Center for Coastal and Watershed Studies-a major federal laboratory located on our campus.