The Department of Geology encourages interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the Earth. The mission of the department is to provide high-quality undergraduate and graduate education, to achieve excellence in research, and to interact with society and industry. On average the department annually accepts about 30 bachelor and 10 master students in geology and engineering geology. Our students and geoscientists study the properties of minerals, rocks, soils, sediments and water, using multiple fields: stratigraphy, paleontology, petrology, geochemistry, gemology, mineralogy, sedimentology, tectonics, economic geology, engineering geology and planetary sciences. Their work help to evaluate natural hazards (such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, sinkholes, subsidences, weathering of historical and building stones and floods), petroleum reservoir subjects (exploration, extraction, carbonate sequence stratigraphy, and geomechanics issues), civil project problems (engineering geology of dam, tunnel, road, building and construction materials and etc.), mining issues, paleoclimatology, water source contaminations and surface and groundwater management, and potential of clay deposits for ceramic industries.