Alan Carroll and his students conduct research on sedimentary basins; thick accumulations of sedimentary rocks that contain all of the world's conventional geofuels (coal, oil, natural gas), and unconventional resources (oil sand, oil shale, and shale gas). Sedimentary basins also contain the only available records of climate change prior to the last million years, and are the most promising targets for geologic sequestration of CO₂. Specific topics of Carroll's research include ancient lake basins, oil shale, and the geology of sedimentary basins in the western U.S. and China.