Geologic Skills
- 1. How Earth systems work and interact
- evolution of the atmosphere through geologic time
- hydrosphere: ocean, ice, surface water, groundwater
- lithosphere: rock cycle, deformation, structure, tectonics
- pedosphere/surface: geomorphic, erosion, and surface processes, landscape evolution
- biosphere: paleontology, ecosystems (and paleoclimate)
- natural resources, energy
- natural hazards
- 2. Processes
- geo-mechanics/stress state/rheology
- geological time/Earth evolution
- plate tectonics/geodynamics
- tectonic processes
- depositional processes
- crystallization processes
- geochemical cycles – C, H2O, N, P
- 3. Tools
- statistics/uncertainty/probability
- cartography
- geography and spatial thinking
- field methods
- remote sensing
- age dating
- analytical/numerical modeling
- seismology/geophysical sensing
- 4. Nonlinear complex systems
- size of systems – complexity of scale and interactions
- feedback loops, interactions, forcings
- implications and predictions
- 5. Conventional concepts of geologic time
- paleontology, superposition
- relative versus absolute age
- tools to determine absolute age (radioisotopes, stable isotopes, etc.), precision of data, limitations
- 6. Surface processes
- stream/river flow, morphology, deposition, erosion, effect of floods
- transport relationships (all surface processes)
- surface mechanical processes
- karst formation
- glacial till and overburden thickness
- 7. Earth materials
- how to measure, scale of measurement
- mechanical characteristics
- scales of heterogeneity
- processes and conditions of formation
- localizing mechanisims for deposits
- fluid dynamics, flow and fluid chemistry
- 8. Earth structure
- mechanical and compositional layers
- tools for defining Earth structure (seismic waves, analysis of earthquakes, etc.)
- stress and strain
- rock mechanics and deformation processes
- fractures, faults, folds, other structural features, etc.
- basin formation
- episodic nature, planning perspectives, uncertainty
- structural controls on resource accumulations so you will have the professional skills
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