This group studies the cycling of organic materials and both major and trace elements in groundwater, rivers, estuaries, continental margins, and the open ocean. Studies reach from Chesapeake Bay and its watershed to Antarctica.
Physical Sciences
The Department of Physical Sciences at VIMS includes the subdisciplines of chemical, geological, and physical oceanography. This union facilitates the high level of interdisciplinary synergy needed to address today's complex environmental issues and challenges. The department's objective is to generate, communicate, and apply knowledge concerning physical, chemical, and geological processes in the coastal ocean and in estuaries.
This group studies all aspects of marine and coastal geology at field sites in Chesapeake Bay and around the world. Research illuminates sedimentary processes in all manner of open-ocean and near-shore environments.
This group focuses on water motion in estuaries and on the continental shelf along with the associated transport of suspended particles, nutrients, and pollutants.