Concentration of Geology Faculty by Fields In College and University Departments

Abstract

In the oil-producing, coal producing, and mineral-producing states, many geology departments specialize in response to major economic products of the state. At fourteen universities in the principal oil-producting states, proportions of the major specialties (in percent) are: sedimentary geology, 35; petrology, 20; geophysics, 11; structural geology, 8; and economic geology, 6. At ten colleges and universities in some of the principal mineral-productive states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah — the proportions of major specialties in departments are: petrology, 29; geophysics, 18; sedimentary geology, 15; structural geology, 11; and economic geology, 8. Based on means of the percents, the latter departments show about three standard deviations fewer sedimentary geologists than the former departments, one standard deviation more petrologists, and half a standard deviation more geophysicists. Most students who get jobs work for petroleum companies. The s...