EOS 408: Marine Geology

Attention

Course completed offered Fall 2025.

In this course, we will explore geological processes in a wide range of oceanic environments: mid-ocean ridges, mid-plate volcanoes and hot spots, coastlines, continental margins and abyssal plains. The lectures, readings, and your writing will cover seminal scientific works and recent journal publications.

This course is a science writing course. Clear writing is one of the most important skills in science as it clarifies our own understanding of a topic and provides a pathway to communicate our ideas to others. You will be required to submit writing and revisions to your writing almost every week. Your final grade in this course will largely reflect your ability to demonstrate your understanding of marine geology through your writing.

• Course outline
  • Course Description
  • Learning Outcomes
  • Weekly Calendar
• Lecture slides
  • Lecture 1: Course introduction
  • Lecture 2: Sea-floor depth, age, and heat flow
  • Lecture 3: Sea-floor depth, age, and heat flow
  • Lecture 4: Sea-floor depth, age, and heat flow
  • Lecture 5: Hot spots and seamounts
  • Lecture 6: Hot spots, seamounts, and ridges
  • Lecture 7: Hot spots, seamounts, and ridges
  • Lecture 8: Hot spots, seamounts, and ridges and Sea level
  • Lecture 9: Coastal Activity Wrap-up
  • Lecture 10: Sea level
• Workshop slides
  • Workshop 2: Fundamentals
  • Workshop 3: Structure and Openings
  • Workshop 4: Action
  • Workshop 5: Flow
• In class activity
  • Coastal geology exercise
• Readings