Geological Oceanographers use geophysical technologies to examine the makeup of the ocean bedrock and the natural processes of rock movement. Often times referred to as and Geophysical Oceanographers as well.

Geological oceanographers and marine geologists explore the ocean floor and the processes that form its mountains, canyons, and valleys. Through sampling, they look at millions of years of history of sea-floor spreading, plate tectonics, and oceanic circulation and climates.

Geological oceanography is one of the broadest fields in the Earth Sciences and contains many sub disciplines, including geophysics and plate tectonics, petrology and sedimentation processes, and micropaleontology and stratigraphy.