Earth and Planetary Processes and Mechanics

Catalog description

This course will introduce you to the applications of solid- and fluid mechanics to understanding the workings of earth and planetary systems. We will explore the use of mass and momentum conservation, as well as rheological / constitutive equations to understand diverse phenomena, ranging from the mass balance of the hydrosphere, the transit of tsunamis across Earth's ocean basins, the flexing of Earth's crust under the weight of mountains and island chains, the transport and disaggregation of rock as it is transported in rivers, the motion of planets, radiative transfer and planetary equilibrium temperature, and the physical causes of global warming.