Independent and original research is a valuable part of an undergraduate education as a Geology major, and all Geology majors complete a research project during their senior year. Senior research provides students the opportunity to explore a particular sub-discipline of geology in detail and to apply the research skills that they have mastered in their geology coursework to a specific research question they find fascinating.
Submit Your Geology Senior Thesis
Geology Senior Theses are restricted to On-Campus Access Only.
Geology Senior Theses from 2023
Stratigraphic Distribution and Source of Radon in the Yorktown Formation (Virginia), Allison Dorsey
Rates and drivers of benthic respiration in an Arctic coastal lagoon, Sarah Gianturco
Oyster Morphology in Middle Woodland Middens and Late Woodland Pits at the Shelly Archaeological Site (Southeastern Virginia), Parker J. Jackowski
Assessing watershed understanding through place-based learning, Jordan Kenney
Highlighting groundwater use by trees in a forested watershed in the Virginia Coastal Plain, Chloe Lund
The Impact of a Retention Pond on Downstream Groundwater-Surface Water Interactions, Jennie Mullen
Geophysical Surveys of Soapstone and Nelsonite Bodies in Virginia’s Eastern Blue Ridge, Payton Reidy
Characterizing hydrological and geomorphological changes in urban streams through environmental signals, Danni Riggs
Reconstructing Ice Cap Changes in Northern Greenland Using Proglacial Lake Sediments, Lauren Schmidt
Effect of Marsh Migration on Coastal Forest Litter Decomposition, John Small
Metabolic rate as a predictor of molluscan abundance across the Mid- Pliocene Warm Period in the Virginia Coastal Plain, Natalie M. Spage
Measuring Uranium Levels in Fossils in the Yorktown Formation to Determine Radon Risk Potential, Quincy Wilkins
Geology Senior Theses from 2022
Analyzing the Impact of Land-Use Changes on Sedimentation in Coastal Plain Mill Ponds, Charlie Altman
Powering a sustainable future: How environmental review aids Dominion Energy's net-zero mission, Lindsey Call
Structural Analysis of Blueschists and Eclogites at As Sifah, Oman, Nick Carpenter
Unraveling the History of Pleistocene Sea-Level Change in Virginia: Insights from the Wachapreague Formation, Virginia Eastern Shore, Cameron Clarke
Structural Geology of the Eastern Limb of the Blue Ridge Anticlinorium, in the Schuyler area, central Virginia, Katie Cullen
Reconstructing Storm Records from Pond Sediment in Virginia's Coastal Plain, Katherine Fosnight
Improving the teaching of climate science in undergraduate geoscience laboratory lessons, Jordan Green
Sifting through sediment: Evaluating zinc in the remote Gordon Creek Watershed, Virginia, Chrissy Hart
Quantifying the Hydrological Impact of Tides & Precipitation on Jamestown Island, Virginia Wells from 2017-2020, Veronica Mantha
Stratigraphy and Depositional Age of the Upper Lynchburg Group in the Schuyler 7.5’ Quadrangle, Virginia, Haley E. Meyrowitz
Predicting and Communicating Newly-Identified Radon Hazards in the Virginia Coastal Plain, Dorian Miller
National Fossil Day Event for Colonial National Historical Park (Southeastern Virginia), Kara Morien
Petrogenesis of an Unusual Chlorite-Quartz-Garnet Rock, Chopawamsic Terrane, Virginia, Jonathan Peters
The Consequences and Future of Mountaintop Removal Mining, Samuel Poth
People, Plants, and Pastures: A Multi-Proxy Approach to Understanding Human-Environment Relationships in Holocene South Arabia, Neel Simpson
An exploration of the relationship between sediments and mountain slopes on Venus, Elexis Speers
Reconstructing Fire History in the Shenandoah Valley from an Ephemeral Sinkhole Pond, JaneAnne Stockton
Decline in marine invertebrate species richness across the Mid-Pliocene Warm Period in the Virginia Coastal Plain, Emily Topness
Northern Norway paleofire records reveal prehistoric human impacts on fire activity, Rebecca Topness
Geology Senior Theses from 2021
Colonial National Historical Park Paleontological Resource Inventory, Mackenzie Chriscoe
Monitoring performance of shallow, subtidal restoration oyster reefs using advanced technologies: A case study on Felgates Creek reef (York River, VA), Kate Dean-McKinney
The effects of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction on phylogenetic relationships in Crassatellidae (Mollusca, Bivalvia) from the U.S. Gulf Coastal Plain, Rosemary Guardado
Hidden Levees: Efficacy of small-scale barriers to sea level driven marsh migration on rural coasts, Emily Hall
Validation of the Derivative Radon-Risk Map of Williamsburg, VA, Heather Macdonald
Numerical Modeling of Compounding Flooding During Hurricanes in the Charleston Harbor and Savannah River Watersheds, Breanna Maldonado
Urbanization and Zinc Concentrations in the Lake Matoaka Watershed, Greta Mattheis
Structural Geometry of Mafic/Ultramafic Bodies Near Schuyler in the Eastern Blue Ridge, Central Virginia, Gabriel Mojica
A Holocene record of tephra deposition from lake Kirkjuvatn, Faroe Islands, Lindsay Moller
Size and age structure of modern Crassostrea virginica in lower Chesapeake Bay, Colleen C. Norton
Urban Runoff and Atmospheric Deposition as Zinc Sources in Two Distinct Watersheds, Chris Pardo
Kinematic and vorticity analysis of quartzite from the Evington Group, eastern Blue Ridge, Virginia, Olivia Pearson
Mapping and Analyzing Millpond Watersheds in Williamsburg, VA using Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing, Andrew Peck
