Close
Stream Leader
Professor Pieter Vermeesch: p.vermeesch@ucl.ac.uk
Aims
The Geophysical Sciences stream focuses on the physical and chemical processes that drive the Earth’s engine and their manifestations at the surface. You will learn to apply physics and chemistry from quantum mechanics to continuum mechanics to understand what the Earth and planets are made of, what their properties are, and how they make the Earth such an active planet. You will apply your knowledge of physics, math and chemistry and become skilled with instruments, data collection and computational analysis.
Objectives
Students who complete this stream will understand:
- How the Earth came to be
- What is Earth made of? How do we know?
- What are the properties and behaviour of Earth materials, from rock to ice?
- What is the structure of the interior? How do we know?
- Earthquakes and seismology, Volcanoes and volcanology.
- Physics of oceans and atmospheres.
- Geofluids: water, ice, magma and hydrocarbons
- Geophysical data, computation, equipment and analysis
A comprehensive view of Earth’s system and its dynamical evolution
- Year 1
All Geophysical Sciences stream students take:
and must pick from one option from:
- From Petrology to Petrogenesis (GEOL0002)
- History of Life (GEOL0003)
- Surface Processes (GEOL0006) (includes a field trip)
- Year 2
All Geophysical Sciences stream students must take:
and choose 30 - 45 credits from:
- Earth Materials (GEOL0001)
- Geochemistry (GEOL0008)
- Sedimentology and Stratigraphy (GEOL0010) (includes a field trip during the Easter break)
- Igneous Petrology (GEOL0011)
- Principles of Climate (GEOL0013)
- Maps, Images and Structures (GEOL0015) (includes a field trip during the Easter break)
- Structural Geology and Tectonics (GEOL0016)
- Isotope Geology (GEOL0017)
- Numerical Methods for Earth Sciences (GEOL0018)
- Year 3
All Geophysical Sciences stream students majoring must take:
and choose 15 credits from:
Students majoring take 30 - 45 credits and students minoring take 0 - 15 credits of the following:
- Field Geophysics (GEOL0020) (field course)
- Crustal Dynamics, Mountain Building and Basin Evolution (GEOL0023) (field course)
- Earth Resources and Sustainability (GEOL0025)
- Groundwater Science (GEOL0027)
- Seismology II (GEOL0030)
- Metamorphism and Metamorphic Processes (GEOL0032)
- Statistics for Geoscientists (GEOL0061)
- Year 4
All Geophysical Sciences stream students must take:
- Independent MSci Project (GEOL0072) - Msci Research Project
- Earth and Planetary System Science (GEOL0039)
Students majoring can take 30 - 45 credits and students minoring can take 0 - 30 credits of the following:
- Ocean Physics and Climate Change (GEOL0022)
- Earth and Planetary Materials (GEOL0026)
- Advanced Geochemistry (GEOL0031)
- Physical Volcanology and Volcanic Hazard (GEOL0041)
- Tectonic Geomorphology (GEOL0043)
- Palaeoceanography (GEOL0044)
- Deep Earth and Planetary Modelling (GEOL0046)
- Statistics for Geoscientists (GEOL0061)
The Geophysical Sciences stream combines with: