The science of geology involves the development of an understanding of the Earth’s physical and chemical processes, environmental systems, and natural resources. Processes that produce the Earth’s landforms, cause earthquakes, generate volcanism, form rocks and minerals, govern the movement and residence of surface and ground waters are all subjects of geological study, as well as the history of the earth and the record of life on earth, as preserved in fossils.
The Geology program at Arkansas Tech University is a Bachelor of Science program designed to give students a broad background in geology for flexibility in career goals. Employment opportunities for geologists exist in private industry, state and federal government agencies, and education at all levels.
The TECH Geology program has a strong emphasis and a successful history in preparing students for field geology. The geographic setting of ATU in central Arkansas provides an exceedingly rich opportunity to see examples of a wide variety of features covered in the basic geology curriculum. For example:
In the Boston Mountains and Ozarks to the north
- Paleozoic carbonate shelf rocks
- Marine invertebrate fossils from Ordovician through Pennsylvanian Age
- Zinc and lead sulfide deposits, world class dolomite crystals
In the Ouachita Mountains to the south
- Fold and thrust belt structures
- The world class Magnet Cove alkaline igneous intrusive complex
- Paleozoic deep-water facies sedimentary rocks
- Quartz crystal capital of the US, and other collectibles
In the Arkansas River Valley, where the campus is located
- Arkoma foreland basin (gas-rich)
- Bituminous through semi-anthracite coal deposits
In the nearby Coastal Plain and Mississippi embayment to the south and east
- Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Pleistocene unconsolidated sediments
- Cretaceous Prairie Creek diamond pipe (Crater of Diamonds State Park)
- Dinosaur footprints and skeletal fossils