What is Geology?
- Means "study of the Earth"
- Earth materialsrocks and minerals
- Earth processes
- internal--rock formation, earthquakes, etc.
- external--landforms
- Earth History
- Relates to all of the Earth's problems
Gaia Figure
How is Geology studied?
- Observation and sample collection (field work)
- Sample analysis (laboratory)
- Computer modeling (office)
Why study Geology?
- Predict natural disasters: earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides,
floods
- Anticipate potential anthropogenic disasters
- Exploit natural resources
- Important academic questions: origin of Earth, life, humans
- Important to all problems (economy,civilization [e.g., geographic barriers],
health [e.g., asbestos]
Why should you study Geology?
- As a career (rough starting salaries)
- Environmental Geology: (B.S.), M.S. ~$30-35K per year
- Engineering Geology: B.S., M.S. ~$25-40K per year
- Petroleum Geology and Geophysics: M.S. ~$40-45K per year
- helpful to career (business [oil industry], law [environmental], etc.)
- to better understand your world
- be a better teacher (We are all teachers.)
Course Objectives
- recognize the features at the EarthÕs surface (in part a vocabulary
lesson) and understand their origin
- understand how the Earth works as a system
- rock cycle and crustal cycling
- impact on oceans and atmosphere
- develop problem solving skills (become geodetectives)