ANU Research School of Earth Sciences

RSES fieldtrip.
RSES fieldtrip.

Take your curiosity from the classroom to the field and learn to understand our dynamic planet.

Study Earth sciences
earth_hands
earth_hands

From Earth’s deepest interior to its changing surface, we reveal how our planet works and help shape a more resilient future.

Discover our research
RSES 50th staff.
RSES 50th staff.

Our diverse, collaborative community brings together curious minds to explore Earth and tackle the challenges of tomorrow.

Meet our people
RSES Facilities
RSES Facilities

World-class laboratories, instruments and computational capability turn bold questions into transformative discoveries.

Explore our facilities

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Discover our degree programs and courses.

Bachelor degrees

Our programs equip students with the scientific, technical, problem-solving and communication skills they will need to successfully pursue a career in earth sciences.

Masters degrees

Advance your career with a postgraduate qualification from the Research School of Earth Sciences.

PhD & MPhil

Make an original contribution to human knowledge, research and development with a postgraduate research degree.

UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee recently expressed utmost concern about the current state of the Great Barrier Reef. Darkydoors/Shutterstock

Will surging sea levels kill the Great Barrier Reef? Ancient coral fossils may hold the answer

In the 20th century, global sea level rose faster than at any other time in the past 3,000 years. It’s expected to rise even further by 2100, as…
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Location of the Australian small‐aperture spiral‐arm arrays used in this study. The squares in panel b indicate their geographic locations. The side panels show a 16‐element, three spiral‐arm array configuration for western Australia spiral array (WAspa) in western Australia (a) and southern Queensland spiral array (SQspa) in Queensland (c). The configuration of the WAspa array deviates from the logarithmic three‐arm spiral more significantly than the SQspa array because of the field conditions and access c

Stormy waves traversing the Earth’s core provide new hints into future planetary exploration

The detection of energy signals from strong winter storms in the North Atlantic Ocean which travel through the Earth’s core could enhance…
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Ferruaspis brocksi is the first fossil freshwater Australian Smelt to be found in Australia. Photo: Salty Dingo

Scientists discover 15 million-year-old Australian fish fossil

A new species of fish that lived in Australian freshwater lakes and rivers about 15 million years ago has been named after the researcher from The…
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Amber and Jochen
Wednesday, 19 Aug 2026

Algae explosion 650 million years ago is why we're here today, ANU researchers say

Researchers say they have solved one of the biggest questions in science — how did humans and animals appear on Earth?

Surprisingly, the answer comes down to algae.

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Oldest colour
Wednesday, 19 Aug 2026

ANU scientists discover the world’s oldest colours

Scientists from ANU have discovered the oldest colours in the geological record, 1.1 billion-year-old bright pink pigments extracted from rocks deep beneath the Sahara desert in Africa.

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Lost World
Wednesday, 19 Aug 2026

Scientists discover ‘lost world’ of our earliest ancestors - 08 Jun 2023

The discovery of a "lost world" of ancient organisms that lived in Earth's waterways at least 1.6 billion years ago could change our understanding of our earliest ancestors.

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