Many different types of scientists can categorize themselves as geoscientists, regardless of whether they work primarily with fossils, predict the weather or study earthquakes. The wide range of jobs in geoscience means that no matter what your particular scientific interests are, you’re sure to find a career that suits you.
With that in mind, let’s look at the following types of geoscience careers.
Petroleum Geologists
Many geoscientists work in the petroleum industry. Geoscientists in this line of work are primarily concerned with finding reserves of oil and natural gas and extracting these natural resources from the Earth. Petroleum geologists may also work on developing and applying new technologies in the industry.
Many of the old, previously reliable deposits of oil and natural gas have begun to run out of these crucial natural resources. This increases the demand for petroleum geologists to identify new reserves using technologies and tools such as cartography, aerial photography, survey equipment, geological maps and geographic information systems (GIS). Because petroleum is only very rarely found in metamorphic and igneous rocks, petroleum geologists primarily study sedimentary rock layers.
Oceanographers
As the job title implies, oceanographers study the planet’s oceans and how they interact with other ecosystems. The oceans are incredibly vast, so it stands to reason that oceanography would have many specialty subfields — which it does. These specialties include the following:
- Marine biologists: These are oceanographers who specialize in the study of marine ecosystems and the creatures that inhabit them.
- Physical oceanographers: These professionals study the oceans’ movements, including currents and tides.
- Chemical oceanographers: A chemical oceanographer specializes in the chemical composition of the oceans; they may also study issues such as pollution.
- Geological oceanographers: These experts study structures such as the tectonic plates, undersea volcanoes and deep oceanic trenches.
Like other jobs in geoscience, oceanography typically requires a mix of office and field work. Oceanographers may have to travel considerable distances, spend time in submersibles and on ships, run experiments in labs and write up their findings in scientific reports.
Paleontologists
It’s often thought that paleontologists only study dinosaurs. Although some certainly do specialize in dinosaurs, paleontologists actually study all sorts of life forms that once existed on Earth but are now long extinct. Essentially, a paleontologist is like a historian of natural science.
Paleontologists generally study life forms that went extinct at least 12,000 years ago. However, many of the plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms they may study lived on Earth millions of years ago. In fact, some of the oldest fossils ever discovered are ancient stromatolites, which are several billion years old and existed on Earth even before the atmosphere contained oxygen.1
Although paleontologists study Earth’s ancient history, their work has implications for modern society. Many of them focus on developing a better understanding of past extinction events; this knowledge may prove crucial for establishing the environmental protections that are necessary to prevent future environmental catastrophes.
Meteorologists
Arguably, the most well-known type of geoscientist is the meteorologist. A meteorologist studies the Earth’s atmosphere. These professionals collect meteorological data, analyze the data and issue predictions and warnings, such as flash flood warnings or lightning storm warnings. Because of this, meteorologists can play an important role in protecting the safety of the public.
Many meteorologists work for media outlets, such as TV stations, where they share their weather predictions with the public. Others work for governmental agencies, such as the National Weather Service. Some meteorologists predict the weather for various branches of the military.
