Geodynamics

Catalog description

This course teaches the fundamentals of geodynamics to understand the structure and evolution of the solid Earth. The principles of stress and strain, elasticity and flexure, heat transfer, gravity, rock rheology, and fluid mechanics will be applied to understand Earth processes, including plate tectonics and mantle convection, mountain building, earthquakes and faulting, volcanic eruptions, and glacial flow and erosion. In this way, solid Earth processes will be quantified through a combination of observations and theory. The course will also explore the similarities and differences between the structure and dynamics of the Earth with that of the other planets and moons in the solar system.