Petrology/Earth Materials

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course brings together the wide-ranging fundamentals students need to understand rocks and minerals, and will illustrate how they relate to the broader Earth, materials and environmental sciences. An introduction and overview of key and basic geological concepts will be provided. Key concepts in mineralogy, including optical microscopy and igneous and metamorphic petrology are covered; these include origin and identification of these rocks within a plate tectonics framework. Geochemistry and petrography are used to investigate mineral equilibria, magma generation and crystallization, pressure and temperatures of deformation, and the interior of the Earth. Emphasis will also be placed on minerals of economic importance and selected resources of Earth materials, in particular those of significant value for emerging and renewable energies.