Earth & Space Sciences

This course presents basic concepts and information of plate tectonics and the tectonic history of the Asiatic continent and the Japanese islands, active faults and earthquakes, and volcanoes. The lectures include how past and recent environment influence human livelihood.

The course covers the following topics:
- Introduction of the course
- Basics of Plate tectonics
- Plate margin and Japan island arc
- Rock structure beneath surface
- Geology and natural resources
- History of earth and geological timescale
- Earthquake and active faults
- The Great East Japan earthquake
- Rheology of rocks and subduction zone earthquake cycles
- Volcanoes
- Advancement in geodynamics with space geodesy
- Advancement in geodynamics with InSAR and machine learning

This course introduces students to descriptive and analytical methods in structural geology. Geological maps are used to help students analyze structural features (e.g., folds, faults, contacts). 

This course introduces how to prevent or mitigate natural disasters, especially those related to a large earthquake. It discusses the mechanism of hazards (earthquakes and tsunamis) and the disasters caused by these natural phenomena as well as the limitations of disaster sciences or hardware preparedness such as sea walls. The course also discusses the importance of education and communication.  The course features a group research project and presentation on disaster prevention. 

This course examines the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to be able to investigate and report on the sustainability of proposed site-specific land-uses in the context of dynamic Earth surface system behaviors. Specific topics studied will include principles of landscape evolution; the use of remote sensing data and computer simulations to analyze and understand surface processes; geomorphological mapping; response of rivers to changing environmental conditions; and synthesis of knowledge and skills in technical report production. 

This course examines how magmatism has shaped Earth, how magma forms and evolves physically and chemically to make igneous rocks, and what controls its subterranean emplacement or volcanic eruption.

This course provides foundational knowledge, understanding and practical skills aligned to complex challenges of the modern era from an Earth Science perspective. It covers geoscientific data collection, analysis and visualization, hazard analysis, and spatial mapping.

This course covers the basics in geophysics, particularly the following three specific sub-areas: solid earth physics, fluid earth physics, and space physics. 

(1) Solid Earth Physics: Selected topics from seismology, volcanology, and plate tectonics for the purpose of learning basic knowledge on the structure and dynamics of the solid Earth. 

(2) Fluid Earth (atmosphere and ocean) Physics: Selected topics from meteorology, global warming, and physical climatology for the purpose of learning basic knowledge on climate change and related global environment problems. 

(3) Space Physics: Selected topics from solar physics, interplanetary physics, magnetospheric physics, and upper atmospheric physics for the purpose of learning basic knowledge on the electromagnetic environment of the Sun, the Earth, and planets.

This course focuses on the rise of the earth and life sciences as independent, professional disciplines during the modern period, along with ways in which these sciences were developed in industry to produce new technologies. During this period, practitioners in these fields managed to establish their sciences as indispensable to the industrialized nation state, invested with both economic and social capital and productive of significant results, both theoretical and practical. The course traces the development of the earth and life sciences from the Enlightenment period to the development of genetic biotechnologies.

This is a companion course to History of Modern Physical Sciences.

This course examines physical, chemical and biological processes and their co-dependencies in the global ocean system.

This course examines how and why volcanoes erupt and how to communicate this to diverse audiences. It explores local volcanoes on field trips, and  volcanoes in North Island NZ/Aotearoa and Iceland via virtual field trips. During the labs you will use microscopes, cooking, and explosions to describe volcanic deposits, understand lava viscosity, and explain volcanic hazards.