Introduction to Physical Geology

Catalog description

Earth is an amazing place, and for millennia cultures and civilizations have attempted to explain the various topics that relate to our understanding of our blue planet. From the various minerals, rocks, and resources found on it that power our cellphones and televisions to the dramatic features, such as mountains, volcanoes, canyons etc. that shape our landscape. From the consequential natural disasters such as earthquakes that we in California and people around the world deal with on an annual basis to the disproportionate effects of global climate change. In this course we build a fundamental understanding of these topics (and many more) by emphasizing the overarching Theory of Plate Tectonics, the processes that created the continents and the ocean basins, and the internal and external processes that change the landscape and impact the planet in a variety of ways we seek to put ourselves in the context of our planet.