Planet Earth...and You!

You will become familiar with the course, your classmates, and our learning environment. The orientation will also help you obtain the technical skills required for the course.

In the lectures for this week, we will consider what an earthquake is, how it occurs, how we can record and measure its size, and what we can do to mitigate damage.

In the early twentieth century, publication of the hypothesis on continental drift caused an uproar. Data collected in mid-century led geologists to reconsider the idea that continents could move. This robust theory encompasses many geological phenomena including earthquakes, volcanoes, ice ages, fossils, and mountains.

This week, you will learn how and where rocks can melt, and what happens when molten material of various compositions bursts out of the ground. The lectures cover different types of eruptions, rocks and mountains produced by them.

The video lectures examine various aspects of finding, extracting, and using resources such as metals and stones. You will utilize Google Earth to examine several mining sites around the world.

The video lectures cover various aspects of energy usage by modern civilization, especially our utilization of fossil fuels. Includes a Google Earth tour of energy-producing sites around the world.