The course titles are (1) Planetary Physics and Global Tectonics, (2) Deep Earth and Planetary Mineralogy and Dynamics, (3) Lithosphere and Asthenosphere and (4) Solid Earth – Fluid Earth Interactions. Each course will be taught intensively in Oslo and give 5 ECTS upon completion. The students will be provided reading material in advance, they will all prepare and hold a presentation and after one week of lectures in Oslo they will be given a home exam. We will invite specialists within the field to give lectures.
Each course will be taught alternating every 2nd year starting with Planetary Physics and Global Tectonics this coming November 2016. We then continue with one course each semester. PhD students who have already signed an agreement and want to change their course plan to include the new courses should contact the administration at their university. This is usually easily done.
The four courses:
- Planetary Physics and Global Tectonics (GEO-DEEP 9100): The course will give an introduction to the physics and tectonic processes that govern the properties and evolution of the Earth and other planets.
- Deep Earth and Planetary Mineralogy and Dynamics (GEO-DEEP 9200): The course treats Earth and planetary differentiation to form core, mantle and crust and gives insights into the seismic structure, heat production, heat flow and convective dynamics of the Earth. The melting and subsolidus phase relations and mineral physics of silicate rocks and Fe-dominated alloys are central to our understanding of Earth and planetary dynamics and evolution. The identification of primordial, melt-depleted and deeply recycled crustal material by radiogenic isotope systematics will also be reviewed.
- Lithosphere and Asthenosphere: Composition and Evolution (GEO-DEEP 9300): This course deals with the composition and evolution of the crust, lithospheric mantle and asthenosphere. Seismic imaging techniques and interpretation of tomographic images in terms of composition and physical properties will be coupled with recent results in petrology, geochemistry and geodynamical modelling to review recent advances in our understanding of the evolution and present state of the continental as well as oceanic lithosphere.
- Solid Earth – Fluid Earth Interactions (GEO-DEEP 9400): This course addresses topics like material recycling across the geospheres and how mantle dynamics, volcanism, plate tectonics influences long-term, global environmental and climatic changes.