Earth & Space Sciences

Geographic information systems (GIS) are computer systems for the collection, storage, visualization, and display of geographically referenced information. A GIS can be used to ask and answer complex questions that have a spatial component. This course utilizes GIS to examine spatial data in relation to a range of environmental and socioeconomic issues. This course introduces GIS using a popular desktop package called ArcGIS 10.x. Students use this software and some additional programs, called ‘extensions,’ for vector and raster (grid-based) analysis. The course is problem-based. Students solve problems using the GIS and  demonstrate their new knowledge through homework projects, practical exams, and a research project.

This class is an introductory geology course to understand the fundamental issues of Earth Sciences.  The course addresses the basics of Mineralogy, Petrology, Volcanology, Geochemistry and Experimental Mineral Physics. Lectures will be given weekly by three Associate Professors and one lecturer. 

This course explores the origin and evolution of life and the universe, and man's place in it. 

This course examines fundamental concepts in geomorphology for geologists and physical geographers. Key aspects of geomorphology, sedimentology, and earth surface processes are introduced by studying the temporal and spatial development of coastal and river landforms. Applied techniques for earth and environmental sciences, including field, remote sensing, GIS mapping, and modelling.

This course offers an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the importance of our oceans as the driver of our climate, source of sustenance, and focus of domestic and international political, economic and legal negotiations. Students explore topics including but not limited to oceanic processes such as global and local currents and oceanic weather, marine life and marine biology, resources within our oceans, and the future and potential futures of the world's oceans as affected by humans and global warming.

This course examines sedimentology and stratigraphy as a record of Earth’s changing landscapes, depositional environments, and climates through time. It covers the principles of fluid flow, sediment transport, and sedimentary depositional environments and how these processes affect the texture and composition of sedimentary rocks; carbonate sedimentology and oceanography; the interpretation of carbonate environments; the interaction of biota with substrates; the preservation potential of different fossil groups; and sedimentary features.

This course examines the evolution of the Antarctic continent; the dynamics of polar ice; the drivers of weather and climate in Antarctica; the circulation of the Southern Ocean; and astronomy and human interaction with the polar region, including the history of exploration and intriguing legal issues.