At the boundaries between tectonic plates, narrow rifts can form as Earth’s crust slowly pulls apart. But how, exactly, does this rifting happen? Does pressure from magma rising from belowground force the land apart? Or is a rift just a rip, created mainly by the pulling motion of tectonic plates that are drifting away from each other? A study in the journal Geology explores these questions and sheds new light on how this process works.
1/13/2022: Shambhu Upadhyaya and Jason Briner are the recipients of the 2021-22 Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award, presented by the Graduate School to recognize UB faculty for their support and development of graduate students through their mentoring activities.
1/3/2022: How will climate change impact Earth’s ice sheets in the 21st century? And how much will sea levels rise as a result? It depends on how quickly we act, says UB geology researcher Sophie Nowicki.
Our featured alumni for 2020 are Jessica Ball and Martin Derby. Both work on natural hazards, and speak to their experience at UB in our Alumni Profiles page.