Geoscience majors are required take at least nine courses in the department. Students planning to attend graduate school should take at least a year each of college math, chemistry, and physics or biology, and should consider taking a summer field course.
There are no required courses for the major. However, students are required to distribute their departmental coursework both in course level and in subject area as outlined below. Please see the department’s Course Guide and Major Planning Worksheet and feel free to contact the department chair or any faculty member with questions.
Components of the Geosciences major
At least one and most two 100-level courses:
- Geosciences 100 Weather and Climate
- Geosciences 101 Co-evolution of Earth and Life
- Geosciences 102 An Unfinished Planet
- Geosciences 103 Global Warming and Environmental Change
- Geosciences 104 Oceanography
At least two 200-level courses from this group:
- Geosciences 201 Geomorphology
- Geosciences 202 Mineralogy and Geochemistry
- Geosciences 212 Paleobiology
- Geosciences 214 Mastering Geographic Information Systems
- Geosciences 215 Climate Changes
- Geosciences 255 Environmental Observation
At least two 300-level courses from this group:
- Geosciences 301 Structural Geology
- Geosciences 302 Sedimentology
- Geosciences 303 Igneous & Metamorphic Petrology
- Geosciences 324 Corals and Sea Level
At least one 400-level senior seminar:
- Geosciences 401 Global Tectonics and the Rise of Mountains
- Geosciences 404 Coastal Processes
- Geosciences 405 Geochemistry
- Geosciences 411 Geobiology
Enough courses from this group to bring the total to nine:
- Geosciences 205 Earth Resources
- Geosciences 206 Renewable Energy/Sustainable Campus
- Geosciences 217T Planetary Geology
- Geosciences 221T Climate Science and Politics
- Geosciences 226T Oceans and Climate
- Geosciences 312T Mass Extinctions
In addition, courses taken for the major must include at least two courses from each of the following three groups:
Climate and Oceans:
- Geosciences 100 Introduction to Weather and Climate
- Geosciences 104 Oceanography
- Geosciences 210 Oceanographic Processes
- Geosciences 215 Climate Changes
- Geosciences 255 Environmental Observation
- Geosciences 309 Modern Climate
- Geosciences 324 Corals and Sea Level
Sediments and Life:
- Geosciences 101 Co-Evolution of Earth and Life
- Geosciences 103 Global Warming and Environmental Change
- Geosciences 201 Geomorphology
- Geosciences 212 Paleobiology
- Geosciences 302 Sedimentology
- Geosciences 312T Mass Extinctions
- Geosciences 314 Analytical Historical Geology
Solid Earth:
- Geosciences 102 Unfinished Planet
- Geosciences 202 Mineralogy
- Geosciences 203 Field Methods and Structural Geology
- Geosciences 205 Earth Resources
- Geosciences 217 Planets and Moons
- Geosciences 220T Evolution of and on Volcanic Islands
- Geosciences 250T Tectonic Geomorphology and Landscape Evolution
- Geosciences 301 Structural Geology
- Geosciences 303 Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology