The mission of the Geology Department and New York State Geological Survey (NYSGS) is to conduct geologic research, evaluate mineral resources and geologic hazards of the State of New York, and make the data and advice derived from that research available to State agencies, the educational community, and the public for the health, safety, and economic welfare of the citizens of the State. Responsibilities of the Department/NYSGS include maintaining a comprehensive inventory of the geologic resources, conducting research into the characteristics of, and processes operating in, the earth’s crust, and making the resulting geologic knowledge readily available. The guiding principles require that the work of the Department/NYSGS be synoptic and comprehensive throughout the State, be applicable to addressing the geologically related issues facing the citizens of the State, and be assembled in useable formats. Descriptions of various aspects of the State’s geology are presented in the Museum Bulletin, Memoir, Map & Chart, Miscellaneous Publications, and Circular series publications.

Geology

Research Staff

News Articles

NYSM's State Survey Geologists join federal partners in collaborative Aerial Mapping Project in Northwestern, New York 

Published September 29, 2023 | Geologic Mapping

Geologists within the New York State Museum have been conducting geological mapping in partnership with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) for 40 years. This long-standing collaboration has helped the State Museum study and map the distribution of rocks and sediments across New York’s...

Finger Lakes Terrain

Science Tuesday: Deepest Continuous Cores of Glacial Sediments Ever Collected from Cayuga Lake Basin

Published March 11, 2021 | Quarternary Landscape Materials (QLM)

The layers of rock and sediment on the Earth's surface represent both a time capsule and vessel of stored resources. Geologist at the New York State Museum recently completed deep drilling exploration investigations near Ithaca, New York, to investigate Ice Age history. Over the last 2.8 Million...

New York State Museum Scientists Conduct Fieldwork in Tompkins County this Fall

Published October 18, 2019 | Geology

This fall State Museum scientists will join staff from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and Cornell University to conduct fieldwork into the Ice Age landscape of the Ithaca, NY area.

The scientists will core as deep as 700 feet underground and...

rock collections

New Acquisition to the Mineralogy Collection

Published November 30, 2016 | Mineralogy

The Museum's mineralogy collection constitutes the world's largest and most complete array of New York State minerals. However, the collection also contains thousands of non-New York specimens, including minerals from Europe, Africa, Asia, and North and South America. 

A recent...

Marian Lupulescu in the mineral collection

Behind the Scenes in the Mineralogy Collection

Published January 14, 2016 | Mineralogy

From rocks to gems to minerals, there are thousands of specimens in the Museum's mineralogy collection. "Every mineral can tell you a story," says Dr. Marian Lupulescu, curator of geology at the State Museum.

Many New York pegmatite rock minerals (igneous rocks with large crystals) are...

Jamborite detail

First occurrence of Dissakisite-(Ce) and Jamborite in New York

Published August 11, 2015 | Mineralogy

Dissakisite-(Ce) - Ca(Ce,REE)(Mg,Fe2+)(Al,Fe3+)2Si3O12(OH) - the magnesium analogue of the more common allanite (Ce), was found in a specimen from the Henry Rudy Farm, in Orange County. It occurs as millimeter-size pink crystals...

Collections

Geology Collections

Geological Collection