REU 2025: Yellowstone

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Eligibility Information

• Be currently enrolled full-time in an accredited public or private college or university in the United States or its territories;

• Be in good academic standing;

• Have completed at least two semesters and have at least one semester remaining of their undergraduate education by the start of the summer program;

• Be a U.S. citizen, non-citizen national, or permanent resident;

• No research experience is necessary, but Mineralogy/Petrology backgrounds are preferred.

Students from all groups underrepresented in the sciences are particularly encouraged to apply. Our program welcomes students of all sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions, and students from diverse life experiences and academic paths.

Project 1

Petrologic Characterization of the Mt. Jackson Rhyolite Series

This student will contribute to fundamental research that will redefine the geologic understanding of the Lava Creek Tuff and the Mount Jackson Series Rhyolites, including mapping their distributions and identifying key eruption characteristics.

For the first few weeks you will be involved with a front country field collection of rocks.

The remaining research project involves hands-on lab opportunities using geochemical techniques, such as feldspar picking and preparation for trace element analysis, and petrological methods, including thin section descriptions to assess mineral textures, assemblages, and alteration.

Mentor: Liv Wheeler

Project 2

Storage Conditions of the Magma(s) that fed the Lava Creek Tuff Eruption

For the first few weeks you will be involved with a front country field collection and description of rocks associated with the Lava Creek Tuff.

The remaining time will involve preparing mineral and glass separates for imaging and chemical analysis, collection geochemical data, and using thermobarometry programs to reconstruct the storage conditions of this massive eruption.

Mentor: Madison Myers

Project 3

Stratigraphic description of the Elkhorn Mountain Volcanics

Volcanism in this region of the world is not just focused on Yellowstone; there are older Eocene and Cretaceous centers that underlie the more modern Yellowstone volcanism.

This project is a classic stratigraphic mapping project, focused on describing the units that make up the largest Cretaceous center in Montana, the Elkhorn Mountain Volcanics. This project involves creating a measured stratigraphic section of the lower and middle members of the Elkhorn Mountain Volcanics, focusing on the textures, components, and evolving matrix of these deposits. Through a combination of field and lab work, you’ll document key lithologic changes, identify diagnostic features.

Mentor: Bel Liscomb