Department of Geosciences, Geotechnology, and Materials Engineering for Resources

   The demand for resources in the world is predicted to increase in the future, in spite of the effort to control the consumption of natural resources. The greatest task facing humans in the 21st century will be to find means to deal with the increasing demand for resources, and at the same time, to find a solution to the earth's environmental problems caused by this huge consumption. In relation to these problems, recycling of resource materials is of importance to both the saving on the earth's resources and the conservation of the earth's environment.

   This department is composed of research fields concerning exploration and development of the earth's resources, preservation of the environment, and recycling of profitable resource materials. These research fields are directly related to the problems of harmonization of human activity and nature. A further distinctive feature of the department is that it considers the development of resources and the resulting environmental problems in an integrated global approach. This department aims to produce talented researchers and engineers who possess a kind of broad knowledge and high speciality who will be in demand in future society. To achieve this end, the department has three divisions of 1) Earth Sciences, 2) Technology for Resources and Environment, and 3) Environmental and Resource Recycle Technology. Each division has individual teaching and research programs, though cooperating programs are also available between the divisions.  

Division of Earth Sciences

   The research of this division focuses on the genesis, exploration and evaluation of energy and mineral resources, and igneous petrology with close relations to these natural resources. The energy resources include petroleum, coal, natural gas, and geothermal energy. The mineral resources cover metal and non-metal ores including deep-sea manganese nodules and active sea-floor hydrothermal deposits. As a basis for study on these natural resources, emphasis is placed on such fundamental earth sciences as petrology, mineralogy, stratigraphy, paleontology, historical geology, volcanology, structural geology, marine geology, solid earth geophysics, and geochemistry. In adddition to these studies, prevention of disasters caused by volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and landslides, as well as environmental geology and urban geology are studied. This division consists of three fields of instruction and research: 1) Resource Geology, 2) Igneous Petrology, and 3) Geothermal Energy and Geophysics.

Division of Technology for Resources and Environment

   The principal research subjects in this division are technologies for resource development and the assessment of that development’s influence on the earth's environment. To meet this purpose, the division is organized into two fields of instruction and research: 1) Resource Development with Environment Sustenance and 2) Crust-Marine Engineering.

   The research fields in Resource Development with Environment Sustenance cover the development of such energy resources as oil, coal, natural gas and geothermal energy, ore excavation, water resources including geochemical cycles, and Cenozoic volcanic activity. The Crust-Marine Engineering section includes transport technology for resource materials, multiphase flow technology, rock mechanics, utilization of underground spaces, and technology for the development of submarine resources.

Division of Environmental and Resource Recycle Technology

   The principal educational and research subjects in this division are environmental technologies related to mineral and material processing, environmental technology including recycling, synthesis of new substances based on molecular design, waste water treatment, and air pollution control. A systematic and global education is conducted on the following three topics:

1. Mineral processing, ferrous, nonferrous, precious and rare metals metallurgy and recycling processes including minerals and municipal solid wastes, waste water treatment and soil remediation for environmental protection.
2. Process design related to chemical engineering and the development and analysis of adosorbents, catalysts and new materials that are important for environmental control.
3. Synthesis of new materials and material chemistry related to materials engineering for resources and environments.

 

Division	Earth Sciences
Field of Instruction and Research	Quality	Faculty Member	Instruction Subject
Resource Geology	Genesis of ore deposits and their timespatial variations based on analyses of kinetic processes such as atom diffusion within minerals, crystal growth of sulfide minerals, and ore textures.		Genesis of Mineral Resources
	Metallogeny with special reterence to the evolution of the Earth.	Prof. Akira Imai	Advanced Geology of Ore Degosits
	Genesis of mineral deposits based on the chemistry of ore-forming fluid, especially by fluid inclusion and stable isotope studies.	Prof. Daizo Ishiyama	Advanced Geochemistry of Hydrothermal Solution
	Stratigraphy, micro palenotology, and paleo-environments as a basis for the genesis and exploration of energy resources such as petroleum, coal and natural gas.	Prof. Tokiyuki Sato	Advanced Stratigraphy
	Calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy, sedimentology, and historical geology as a basis for the exploration of petroleum and natural gas.	Associate Prof. Makoto Yamasaki	Advanced Micropaleontology
	Modes of sediment transportation, formations of sedimentary layers and sedimentary petrology.	Prof. Takashi Uchida	Sedimentology
	Quaternary stratigraphy, sedimentology, geomorphology and tephrochronology as a basis for the history of Quaternary environmental changes.		Advanced Quaternary Geology
Igneous Petrology	Geochemical and isotope characteristics of magmatic materials and circulation of elements in the earth's interior.	Prof. Tsukasa Ohba	Geotectonics
	Petrology and Sr-isotope geochemistry of volcanic rocks and mantle xenoliths, with special reference to Quaternary volcanism in the northeast Honshu arc, Japan.	Associate Prof. Masatsugu Yamamoto	Geochemistry of Magma
	High temperature physical chemistry of element partitioning and accumulation in the Earth's interior.	Associate Prof. Toru Sugawara	Advanced Earth Material Science
	Petrology with special emphasis on the time-space characteristics of igneous rocks in relation to crustal evolution and tectonic developments.		Petrology of Volcanic Rocks
Geothermal Energy and Geophysics	Studies on the interior and outer layer of the earth and their history based on such geophysical methods as paleomagnetism, rock magnetism, and measurements and analysis of earth's magnetic and electric fields.	Prof. Tadashi Nishitani *2	Advances in Applied Geophysics I
	Research on subsurface velocity structures of active volcanoes and sedimentary basins by means of active and passive seismological methods.	Associate Prof. Tomoki Tsutsui	Advances in Applied Geophysics II
	Geological and geochemical applications for geothermal resource exploration the interpretation of thier, with special reference to alteration mineralogy, age determination and remote sensing.	Associate Prof. Yasumasa Ogawa	Advanced Geothermal Geology

Division	Technology for Resources and Environment
Field of Instruction and Research	Quality	Faculty Member	Instruction Subject
Resource Development with Environment Sustenance	Sustainable resource exploitation and its influence upon the environment in relation to natural material circulation.		Resources and Environment
	Cenozoic volcanic stratigraphy and geology of formations consisting mainly of volcanic products, especially in the region of back arc volcanism in the northeast Honshu arc, Japan.		Advanced Volcanic Stratigraphy
	Studies on system engineering for resource production and the underground environment.		Advanced Engineering for Resources Production and Underground Environment
	Theoretical and applied studies on the development of fluid energy resources, such as petroleum, natural gas and geothermal energy.	Prof. Hikari Fujii	Energy Resources Engineering
Crust-Marine Engineering	Analysis and design of economical, safe, and non-contaminate transportation systems of mineral resources.		Engineering of Hydraulic Transport Systems
	Mechanical properties of rocks and rock masses, and their evaluation.	Prof. Fumio Sugimoto *1	Advanced Rock Mechanics
	Mechanical design and control for the development of submarine mineral and energy resources.		Engineering for Submarine Resources Production Systems
	Studies on rock mechanics and tectonics for geological disasters	Prof. Tadao Imai	Advanced Mechanics for Geological Disasters
	Operation technology of suspension and multiphase flow in production and processing.		Multiphase Flow Technology

Division	Environmental and Resource Recycle Technology
Field of Instruction and Research	Quality	Faculty Member	Instruction Subject
Materials Processing and Recycling Engineering	Development of metallurgical processing and metal recycling for environments.	Prof. Takaho Otomo *1	Applied Technology of Process Metallurgy
	Development of mineral processing, resource recovery, waste water treatment and soil remediation.	Prof. Atsushi Shibayama	Applied Technology of Mineral Processing
Resource Processing Technology	Process design for the highly efficient resource cycles based on chemical engineering, reaction engineering, and system engineering.		Chemical Process Engineering
	Bioprocess design and optimization for the production and transformation of biological compounds and resources, using enzymes, microorganisms, and plant and animal cells.	Prof. Takeshi Gotoh	Bioprocess Engineering
	Fundamental design and development of environmental catalysts, and their application to chemical conversion and recycling of organic resources.	Prof. Takayoshi Shindo	Engineering of Catalytic Processes
	Development and applications of designing for heterogeneous separation systems	Associate Prof. Hiroshi Takahashi	Design for Separation Process
Material Engineering for Resources	Fundamentals and applications of interfacial phenomena to sustainable resource and chemical processing.		Applied Interfacial Technology
	Properties and processing of resource materials from the viewpoint of utilization and functional inorganic materials.		Applied Material Chemistry
	Physical chemistry (Equilibrium, structure and change) for energy- or environment-related materials systems	Associate prof. Kiyoshi Fuda	Applied Physical Chemistry

*1 This professor will retire by the mandatory retirement regulation in March 2015.
*2 This professor will retire by the mandatory retirement regulation in March 2016.