Course content

This course examines the geodynamic processes that shape the solid portions of our planet. In particular, we study the forces that drive mass and heat transport within our planet and the different styles of rock deformation that result from these forces. We apply our understanding to geological and geophysical processes such as faulting, plate flexure, mountain-building, plate tectonics, volcanism, mantle convection, gravitation, glacial flow, and sea-level change.

We will work on timescales ranging from seconds appropriate for landslides to billions of years for planetary evolution, and length scales ranging from microscopic deformation of rock crystals to planetary-scale convection. We will work within the soil, crust, lithosphere, mantle, oceans, and cryosphere of the Earth, and on other planets. We place an emphasis on problem-solving in order to apply physics-based concepts to real-world observations of geodynamic processes. In doing so, we gain a fundamental physical understanding of how geodynamics controls many of the geological features around us.

Learning outcome

When you have completed this course, you will be able to

  • describe mechanisms for rock deformation within planetary materials
  • explain processes for heat and mass transport within planetary interiors
  • relate the forces acting on rocky layers to patterns of geological deformation
  • analyze the Earth’s shape and gravitational field to infer its interior structure and dynamics
  • formulate conceptual and analytical descriptions of geodynamic processes such as faulting, volcanism, global tectoni