Earth & Planetary Science

Mars today is a cold, dry, dusty planet with its only obvious water locked up in frozen polar ice caps. But billions of years ago, it appears to have had sandy beaches lapped by waves along the shoreline of a vast ocean.

The evidence for beaches on Mars comes from a Chinese rover, called...Read more about Ancient beaches testify to long-ago ocean on Mars

Planning ahead for summer? The Earth & Planetary Science (EPS) Summer Sessions are now open for enrollment! Whether you're looking to fulfill major requirements, explore new topics, or gain hands-on field experience, our summer courses offer a unique opportunity to dive into earth sciences...Read more about EPS Summer Sessions Are Now Live!

UC Berkeley Assistant Professor Weiqiang Zhu has been awarded the 2025 Charles F. Richter Early Career Award by the Seismological Society of America. The award recognizes his innovative contributions to seismology, including advancements in AI-based earthquake monitoring, numerical modeling, and...Read more about Weiqiang Zhu Receives 2025 Charles F. Richter Early Career Award

Felipe González Cataldo, who studies the interior of planets through simulations of minerals at high pressures and temperatures, has once again been recognized for his exceptional contributions to scientific peer review. He has received the 2023 Editors' Citation for Excellence in Refereeing...Read more about Felipe González Cataldo Receives AGU 2023 Editors' Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth

Stephen Self, Adjunct Professor and expert in physical volcanology, has been honored with the 2023 Outstanding Reviewer Award for Reviews of Geophysics. Nominated by the journal's editors, this award recognizes his exceptional reviews of submitted papers over the past year...Read more about Stephen Self Receives AGU 2023 Outstanding Reviewer Award for Reviews of Geophysics

Assistant Professor of Earth & Planetary Science Penny Wieser has been named AGU’s 2024 Hisashi Kuno Award recipient. This award is presented annually to an early career scientist for outstanding contributions to the fields of volcanology, geochemistry, and petrology. It is named to honor...Read more about Congratulations to EPS's Own Penny Wieser Awarded the 2024 AGU Hisashi Kuno Award!

Professor Bill Boos, a dedicated member of UC Berkeley's Earth & Planetary Science Department, is making strides in understanding how atmospheric and oceanic processes influence our climate, particularly in the tropics. His research sheds light on the impact of extreme weather events like...Read more about Spotlight on Professor Bill Boos: Going With The Flow

UC Berkeley's Earth and Planetary Science (EPS) professor, David Shuster, has co-authored a pivotal study on Mars rock samples collected by NASA's Perseverance rover. Shuster, who is part of NASA’s science team, emphasized the mission's success, saying, “These samples are the reason why our...Read more about EPS Professor David Shuster Co-Authors Groundbreaking Mars Study

We are excited to feature the Berkeley Center for Ocean Futures (BeCOF) on our EPS website. This addition underscores the center's pivotal role in advancing ocean health research and solutions.

...Read more about Celebrating Bethanie Edwards’ Leadership in Launching the Berkeley Center for Ocean Futures

We are excited to share that our very own Felipe Gonzalez was recently featured on CNN London and RTVI, a Russian TV channel based in New York, for his expert insights on a groundbreaking Nature article about a...Read more about EPS Project Scientist Felipe Gonzalez Featured on CNN and RTVI for Insights on Mercury's Underground Diamond Layer

Large volumes of liquid water were transiently present on the surface of Mars more than 3 billion years ago. After Mars lost much of its atmosphere, the surface water was either lost to space or sequestered beneath the...Read more about EPS Professor Micheal Manga Contributes to Groundbreaking Discovery of Subsurface Liquid Water on Mars

Check out Professor David Romps' research on global warming.Read more about The heat index — how hot it feels — is rising faster than temperature

Congratulations to Doug Dreger for being awarded the 2024 Distinguished Service Award at the Seismological Society of America (SAA) Annual Meeting. The award recognizes Dreger's substantial contributions as the SAA Publications Committee chair between 2016 and 2022, including the ...Read more about Douglas Dreger receives the 2024 Award for Distinguished Service to the Seismological Society of America (SSA).

A massive congratulations to second year PhD student, Kyla de Villa, who has published her very first scientific article in Nature Communications. The paper reports a novel state matter: double superionicity, in which two atomic species behave like a liquid while the largest atoms remain...Read more about Kyla de Villa discovers a new state of matter - double superionicity!

Congratulations to Quentin Nicolas who was one of two recipients for the Geophysical Journal International Student Author Award Scheme! Quentin received this award for their paper on...Read more about Quentin Nicolas awarded the GJI Student Author Award Scheme

Please join us in congratulating EPS Professor Daniel Stolper on being selected as a Heising-Simons Faculty Fellow to develop a paleohygrometer.

Congratulations Daniel!

Professor...Read more about EPS Professor Daniel Stolper Developing a New Paleohygrometer with Heising-Simons Faculty Fellowship