In April 2019, a marine heat wave struck a coral reef on the island of Moorea in French Polynesia, killing much of the coral and the beneficial algae that colonized it. This “bleaching” event reduced live coral populations on the reef from about 75% beforehand to less than 17% a year later and led...

A new study using multidecade satellite imagery and face-to-face human interviews tracked the environmental and societal impacts of gravel mining in the Lubha River, Northeast Bangladesh. The researchers found that the river had recovered its natural shape within just four years after gravel mining...

Geology can take many forms, from the study of rocks and minerals to the living records preserved in trees. At Homer Lake Forest Preserve, graduate students from the ...

The voyage of the HMS Challenger in the 1870s was a sprawling 3-1/2-year expedition to explore the world’s oceans. The scientists aboard the vessel collected 100,000 specimens of sea creatures, discovered 5,000 new species, mapped the ocean floors and took hundreds of measurements of sea...

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is expanding its online offerings with two innovative programs, designed to meet the growing demand for advanced skills in environmental and engineering geology.Launching in spring 2026, the graduate certificate programs in...

Winds across Illinois are beginning to still. A new study led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers has found that average wind speeds across the state have declined over the past three decades—and that the prevailing wind direction is slowly shifting southward. The findings,...

While rivers are popular magnets for fishing, boating, and kayaking, they are also potential powerhouses in the fight against climate change. Rivers and streams carry inorganic carbon from land to oceans in a process called lateral carbon flux. In recent years, environmental engineers have proposed...

 Sarah Austin didn’t set out to become a geologist. In fact, she jokes that she “messed up” when she first enrolled at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, mistakenly thinking the College of Education and Human Development was the right path to medical school. But one introductory geology...

Jenna Shelton (B.S., 2011, Environmental Geology) recently joined the Prairie Research Institute as the new director of the Illinois State Water Survey.Shelton is a hydrobiogeochemist with 14 years of experience at the U.S. Geological Survey. She has a dynamic background of research and leadership...