Established in 1982, the Centre is one of the largest graduate teaching and research institutes of Earth Sciences in Canada, and represents the combined expertise of the Departments of Earth Sciences at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa. The Centre offers programs leading to M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees with emphasis in environmental geoscience, isotope geochemistry, petrology, geomathematics/computing; mineral and petroleum resource geology, sedimentary systems and basin analysis, tectonics, geodynamics, seismic engineering and seismology and physical geography.

Earth Sciences provides a broad spectrum of research opportunities. As a graduate student you may carry out field work in a remote wilderness area in Canada; work aboard a research vessel studying ocean sediments in climate change related research or sea-floor mineralization studies; study rocks from the Himalayas, Africa or Hawaii; become part of a sophisticated world-wide seismic data acquisition and seismic risk assessment program; or collaborate with industry scientists in a mining camp, the petroleum industry or an urban water resource program. During the course of your academic program and research, depending on your interests, you will have opportunities to master techniques and instruments in a highly specialized laboratories and/or work with state of the art computing facilities. 

The size of the Centre and our location in the nation's capital offer unique opportunities for collaborative research projects among members of the two departments, with staff at the Canadian Museum of Nature and Geological Survey of Canada, located minutes away from Carleton. The university campuses are only fifteen minutes apart by complimentary inter-university transport and within a short distance of most federal research facilities.