Earth Science University of Glasgow

Award	Attendance	Study	Duration	Start	Domestic fees	International fees
BSc (Hons)	On-Campus	Full-time	4 years	September	find out	find out

Course overview

Earth science, including geology, is the study of the earth, past, present and future, revealed and forecast by rocks, minerals, fossils, ancient and modern landscapes and past geographies and climates.

What will I study?

Initially you will study the major themes of earth science. If you progress to Honours you will study a number of core courses together with a wide range of optional courses and learn about the vital professional skills of communication, team-building and problem solving.

If you progress to Honours you will study a number of core courses together with a wide range of optional courses.

Core subjects include: stratigraphy, metamorphic petrology, igneous petrology and geochemistry, sedimentary rocks, isotope geology, landscape evolution, structural geology, geological maps, geophysics and major earth processes.

Optional courses include: engineering earth science, crustal fluids, petroleum geology, environmental earth science, micropalaeontology, glacial geology, coastal processes, basins and orogens, economic and environmental mineralogy, environmental hazards, conservation, geographic information systems, palaeoclimates, sequence stratigraphy, geomorphology and fluvial systems.

Throughout the programme you will gain a rigorous understanding of the earth, the way it works, its properties and materials, its history, evolution and environment, and the interaction between the planet and its inhabitants.

How will I learn?

Teaching is delivered through a combination of lectures, laboratory work, discussion groups, seminars and extensive fieldwork.

Special features

Our intensive programme of fieldwork, both in the UK and abroad, allows you to acquire a core of professional-level field skills over a wide variety of locations and situations, supplemented by career-specific geological and other earth science skills.

At Honours level you will undertake two independent projects; one field-based geological mapping project and one laboratory-based research project. The latter involves the use of analytical facilities within the department such as state-of-the-art electron microscopes.

There are close links with the Geography degree programme in the areas of resource management, environmental planning and conservation, and a range of geography options are available within the Earth Science degree.

Notes