Building Planet Earth will explore the building blocks of Earth from the formation of the solar system to the present day. The module will focus on the materials of which the Earth is made, how they are distributed between core, mantle and crust, the evolution of the atmosphere and biosphere and how these have changed with time through the activity of plate tectonics and volcanism. The module will also explore how these deep time processes have resulted not only in the shape of the continents and the form of mountains but how they have led to the ocean-atmospheric circulation patterns that lead to the different climatic patterns and the distributions of plants and animals we experience across the Earth today.

*Course content subject to change