Ancient to Modern Environments: Near and Far

Course Description

Summary

In this class we will do a group exploration of the history of Earth’s surface environment. Much of this material would have classically been included in an undergraduate Geology curriculum as “Historical Geology”. However, our current state of rapid human-caused climate change, coupled with unprecedented observation of planets both within and outside of our solar system give new perspectives to much of these old methods and knowledge. We will together read older materials to learn Geological methods and perspectives, and newer works disseminating the results of the Geology and Climate of planets other than Earth.