EPSC 233: Earth and Life History

The aim of this course is to provide an overview of phenomena, materials, processes, conditions, events, and the geologic history of the 4.6 billion-year-old Earth and the tools and techniques geologists use to read and interpret this history. The course will deal with both those events and processes that are cyclic (at many different time scales) over Earth's history, and those that brought about unidirectional changes to the Earth system, such as the segregation of the planet into a core, asthenosphere, and lithosphere, the oxygenation of the atmosphere, and of course, biological evolution. A key objective of the course is to instil an appreciation for the uniqueness of planet Earth. Naturally, I weave in anecdotes from my own experiences.

Very early Paleoproterozoic banded iron formation, Hamersley Range and Karijin National Park, Western Australia

I keep a regularly updated set of coarse notes and slides for this class. If you are interested in seeing these, please contact me.