Subsurface Geoscience Information

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RICE EARTH SCIENCE DEPARTMENT NEWS UPDATE:

Building a Habitable Planet: From Environment To Energy - Visit here for more!

The world is more complex and interconnected than ever. Building a habitable planet in such a complex world requires that we train a new generation of students versed in whole Earth systems. The goal of Rice University’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences is to bring together the creative power of Houston’s energy, environmental and space industries in the context of whole earth systems to make sustainable progress on the landscape of environment and energy. Subsurface Geoscience student participate in various field trips to study geological formation and get real hands-on field methods training!

Rice geologists study half-billion-year-old ‘time capsules’ on Texas ranch under guidance of our own SG Program Director Dr. Andre Droxler:

BRANDON MARTIN – AUGUST 3, 2015
POSTED IN: CURRENT NEWS, FEATURED STORIES

When you look at the cliffs overlooking the Llano River in Central Texas, it’s hard to imagine that they were underwater a half-billion years ago and formed part of the North American coastline during the Upper Cambrian era.

But that’s what brought Rice marine geologist André Droxler and his team of researchers to a rare land-based expedition. “I never thought on land you could discover something,” he said. “To discover something in the middle of Texas, it’s pretty exciting.”

According to Droxler, the Eagle Ridge Ranch located in Mason County near Fredericksburg has some of the best outcrops in the world containing fossilized prehistoric bacteria and microbes. He believes these microbial reefs contained the first forms of life on Earth.

Droxler’s team was granted access to the land after working with Woodlands resident Donald Shepard and his wife, Rose, who own the ranch. The professor of Earth science also secured funding from four major oil companies that had interest in the research on microbial reefs.

See a slide show here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ricepublicaffairs/sets/72157656191357309/

Since 2012 the Rice professor and graduate students have made many trips to Mason County, drilled more than 150 core samples and virtually mapped the area using a drone. Droxler said the three summers here “have been some of the happiest summers I have had in my life,” and he returns with the same excitement as the first time he paddled down the Llano River in search of half-billion-year-old “time capsules.”

- See more at: https://news.rice.edu/2015/08/03/rice-geologists-study-half-billion-year-old-time-capsules-on-texas-ranch/#sthash.HrnYezoS.dpuf