Evan Dethier
Assistant Professor of Geology
Geology
Curious about the complex physical, chemical, and biological processes that shaped Earth over the last 4.56-billion years? Study geology at Colby.
Collaborate with Colby students and faculty to explore Earth processes, climate change, and solar system formation.
About Geology
The Geology Department actively involves undergraduates in scientific research. Geology students routinely use advanced tools like a powder X-ray diffractometer (powder-XRD) for determining mineral identities and a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray-fluorescence spectrometer (EDS) system, an electron-backscatter-diffraction (EBSD) system, and a cathodoluminescence (CL) detector for detailed analysis of solid materials at the micrometer scale. The department also features a state-of-the-art geochemistry lab, an ice core storage facility, sediment coring equipment, research-grade stereo and petrographic microscopes, and rock and sediment processing equipment.
Colby’s setting offers exciting opportunities for field study, enabling students to combine field and laboratory experiences in most geology courses. Students and faculty also enjoy extracurricular field trips in Maine and extended trips to unique geologic sites across North America and abroad. The Geology Department also offers international experiences, including study in Bermuda.
Faculty and Staff
Learn more about the members of the department
Tasha Dunn
Associate Professor of Geology
Bess Koffman
Associate Professor of Geology
Bill Sullivan
The Whipple-Coddington Associate Professor of Geology; Chair of Geology
Tom Whittaker
Senior Lab Instructor
Holly Zadra
Administrative Assistant II – Geology, Physics & Astronomy, Science, Technology & Society
- Donald B. Allen, M.A. ’82, Ph.D., 1967-2007, Professor of Geology, Emeritus
- Robert A. Gastaldo, M.A. ’99, Ph.D. (Gettysburg, Southern Illinois), 1999-2020, Whipple-Coddington Professor of Geology, Emeritus
- Ian Glasspool, Research Scientist, Postdoctoral Fellow
- Robert E. Nelson, M.A. ’96, Ph.D. (San Francisco State, Washington), 1982-2018, Professor of Geology, Emeritus
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Bruce Rueger, Colby College Visiting Assistant Professor of Geology, M.S. ’84, Ph.D 2002 (University of Colorado Boulder)
Events
Audrey Lemoine (‘25) samples glacial meltwater from the Kaskawulsh Glacier, Yukon, Canada.
Nàłùdäy (Lowell) Glacier, Kluane National Park and Reserve, Yukon, Canada: Audrey Lemoine (‘25) and Professor Bess Koffman sampled glacial meltwater nearby.
Students explore the shore at Pemaquid, Bristol, Maine.
Elana Alevy (‘24) presents her senior thesis at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC), March 2024.
Intrepid young researchers Sierra Rothman-Haji (‘27) and Kir Mullen (‘25) head into the ice core freezer.
2024 NEIGC: Basic Maine geology field trip requirement: visit abandoned granite quarry… with Sadie Williams (‘28), Instructor Tom Whittaker, and Caleb Boxwell (‘26).
Professor Bruce Rueger and Jan Plan GE 279j, 2023: Yes, Virginia, those are cross-beds, almost everywhere you look….
GE 279j: Not only caves, but SWIMMING in caves in Bermuda. Note the disruption in the halocline and the thermocline.
Dr. Koffman holds a piece of the iconic GISP2 ice core, sampled at the NSF Ice Core Facility in Colorado for an NSF-funded research project.
GE 254 students conquering a large boulder, Maine, fall 2022.
Structural Geology (GE 231) field trip to Pemaquid Point, Fall, 2024
Elana Alevy (‘24), Dr. Juliane Gross, and Professor Dunn visit the Apollo moon rocks at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX.