Quantifying Geologic Time

Undergraduate catalogue

This course explores the theory and application of the different ways that the vastness of geologic time is quantified and applied to understanding the rates and sequences of events in Earth history. It focuses on radiogenic isotope geochemistry and geochronology but also will cover other methods such as astrochronology and the geomagnetic polarity timescale. We apply these methods to understanding processes such as the origins of Earth and the Solar System; the causes of mass extinctions and climate change; plate tectonics, magmatism, and super eruptions; animal evolution; and archeology. Two 90-minute lectures.