Georgia Southern’s Geological Setting
Georgia Southern is located approximately 40 miles inland from Savannah, Georgia and sits on Miocene deposits of the Hawthorne Formation of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Approximately eight miles east is a Pleistocene scarp, marking a highstand of the Atlantic Ocean. The Coastal Plain beneath Statesboro consists of approximately 4,000 feet of seaward dipping Cretaceous-Recent deposits, including the limestones of the Floridian Aquifer. Ecologically, Statesboro sits in the midst of Pine and Live Oak forests developed on the low relief ancient Pleistocene sea floor of a Pleistocene highstand. The area is drained by the nearby Ogeechee River and several of its tributaries.
Soft Rock Geology
Soft Rock Geology, the study of sedimentary rocks, includes stratigraphy, sedimentation, paleontology, hydrogeology, neotectonics, and aspects of economic and structural geology and geophysics. The Soft Rock program of the Department is centered around individual research projects of Dr.’s Kelly, Jackson, Reichard, Rich, and Trupe. Current topics of interest include Kaolin clay deposits, coastal sedimentation and processes, groundwater, science education, and palynology. The Soft Rock Research Training Laboratory has undergone renovation into a modern multimedia laboratory.
Hard Rock Geology
Hard Rock geology, the study of metamorphic and igneous rocks, includes mineralogy, optical mineralogy, igneous and metamorphic petrology, and aspects of economic and structural geology and geophysics. The Hard Rock program of the Department is centered around individual research projects of Dr.’s Trupe and Vance. Current topics of interest include emplacement of gold deposits, hydrothermal alteration of granites, igneous processes, structure and tectonics of the Southeast. The Hard Rock Research Training Laboratory and Rock Preparation Facility have undergone renovation.
Paleontology
The faculty of the Department of Geology and Geography includes two palynologists, and a vertebrate paleontologist. Individual research efforts involve paleoecology, vertebrate paleontology, evolution of mammals, taphonomy, ichnology (the study of trace fossils), whale ecology, and local collecting.
Last updated: 8/6/2021