FALL 2024
Despite its volumetric insignificance on Earth, the continental lithosphere is an immensely important geochemical reservoir, hosts the terrestrial biosphere, and impacts plate tectonics and therefore mantle convection. This course surveys how and why continental lithosphere is formed, preserved, and destroyed throughout Earth history. We tap into datasets collected using structural geology, geochemistry and petrology, radiogenic and stable isotopes, seismology, gravity, and heat flow, all of which are used to inform numerical and theoretical models.
SPRING 2025
This course serves as an introduction to the processes that govern the distribution of different rocks in the Earth. We learn to make observations from the microscopic to continental scale and relate these to theoretical and empirical thermodynamics. The goal is to understand the chemical, structural, and thermal influences on rock formation and how this in turn influences the plate tectonic evolution of our planet.