Earth Materials

Catalog description

Materials of the solid Earth (minerals, rocks) record the formation and evolution of our planet and the solar systems. This course will prepare students to identify minerals, understand their significance as a record of fundamental processes for our planet, and other rocky worlds in the solar system. This course will introduce geochemical concepts that include: element formation in the solar nebula, thermodynamic and kinetic properties that control the formation and chemical diversity of minerals, the mineral and rock record of deep Earth and surface processes. The lectures will be complemented by labs where students will learn to identify minerals using crystallography and polarized microscopy techniques. The labs will also include an introduction to modern analytical methods such as Raman and infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, mass spectrometry, with hands-on projects where the students will collect and interpret their own data.