The School of the Physical Universe · physics, chemistry, earth & sky
Geology & Earth Systems
Four and a half billion years of rock, read layer by layer — how the planet was assembled and how it still moves.
Minerals, rocks, and the processes that make and unmake them — the working vocabulary of the whole discipline.
Syllabus · 4 units · ~32 hours
Unit I — Earth's Materials
Minerals and how to identify them · The three rock families · The rock cycle · Reading a hand sample
Unit II — Igneous and Volcanic
Magma and crystallization · Intrusive versus extrusive rocks · Volcano types and eruption styles
Unit III — Sediment and Time
Weathering and erosion · Sedimentary rocks and their environments · Relative dating and stratigraphy · Unconformities: the gaps in the record
Unit IV — Heat, Pressure, and Maps
Metamorphism · Mountain building · Radiometric dating · Reading a geologic map
One theory that explains earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain ranges, and the shape of the sea floor.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~18 hours
Unit I — The Case for Moving Continents
Wegener and continental drift · Seafloor spreading and its evidence · Magnetic stripes on the ocean floor · The plates defined
Unit II — Boundaries at Work
Divergent boundaries and rift valleys · Convergent boundaries and subduction · Transform faults · Hotspots and the Hawaiian chain
Unit III — Consequences
Where earthquakes happen and why · Volcanic arcs · Mountain building · Supercontinents, past and future
Hardness, luster, cleavage, and context — enough skill to name most of what you pick up on a walk.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~12 hours
Unit I — The Identification Toolkit
Hardness and the Mohs scale · Powder color on the plate, luster, and why surface color misleads · Cleavage versus fracture · Density and other simple tests
Unit II — Common Minerals
Quartz and the feldspars · The micas · Calcite and the acid test · Ore minerals worth knowing
Unit III — Rocks in the Field
Naming igneous rocks · Naming sedimentary rocks · Naming metamorphic rocks · Building a small labelled collection
Four and a half billion years compressed to a readable story — eras, extinctions, and how fossils tell time.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~20 hours
Unit I — How Fossils Form and Date
Fossilization and its biases · Index fossils · The geologic time scale · Radiometric anchors
Unit II — Life's Long Ascent
Precambrian Earth and the first life · The Cambrian explosion · Life moves ashore · The age of reptiles
Unit III — Catastrophe and Recovery
The great extinctions · The end-Permian crisis · The K-Pg impact · Mammals and the recent ice ages
What faults and magma chambers actually do, how hazards are forecast, and which preparations genuinely help.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~14 hours
Unit I — Earthquakes
Faults and elastic rebound · Seismic waves and magnitude scales · Shaking, liquefaction, and tsunami · Early warning and building codes
Unit II — Volcanoes
Why eruptions differ · Monitoring: gas, deformation, and small quakes · Ashfall and lahars · Case studies: St. Helens, Pinatubo, Kilauea
Unit III — Living with Hazards
Hazard maps and probability · Forecasting versus prediction · Household preparation that actually works
How rock becomes soil, what makes one fertile, and how to read yours — texture, life, chemistry, and care.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~10 hours
Unit I — What Soil Is
From weathered rock to living soil · Horizons and the soil profile · Texture: sand, silt, and clay · The jar test
Unit II — The Living Fraction
Organic matter and humus · Soil organisms · Nitrogen and the nutrient cycles · pH and what it changes
Unit III — Soil in Use
Drainage and compaction · Erosion and how it is stopped · Amending honestly: compost and cover crops · Reading a soil survey