Natural Sciences

1. General Part: historical development of geological knowledge, origin of the Earth and the solar system, the geological time. 2.The rocks: general, the rock cycle, igneous rocks and processes, intrusive rocks, the effusive rocks, the metamorphism and metamorphic rocks, the sedimentary environments and the sedimentary rocks, the clastic rocks, siliciclastic sedimentation, carbonate rocks, carbonate sedimentation, dissolution and precipitation of carbonate, the evaporitic, phosphate and residual rocks, the organic rocks. 3. The structure of the Earth: the physical Earth, seismology and deep structure of the Earth, the Earth's gravitational field, the Earth's magnetic field, the internal heat of the Earth, the geometries below the surface (the seismic profiles). 4. The dynamics of the lithosphere: the continental drift, the seafloor, plate tectonics, the orogeny process, alternative theories to plate tectonics. 5. The interpretation of the stratigraphic series: stratigraphy, the sedimentary cycle, sedimentary sequences. 6. The deformations of the Earth's crust: Earthquakes, structural geology, mass wasting. 7. Historical and Regional Geology: the evolution of the continents, the geology of Italy, the Quaternary 8. Side activities: daily excursions, didactic exercises an identification of rocks and geological map reading

Basic knowledge of chemistry, physical geography, mineralogy, paleontology.

Casati Scienze della Terra Vol.1, Città Studi; Lupia Palmieri Parotto, Il globo terrestre e la sua evoluzione, Zanichelli; Bosellini, Mutti, Ricci Lucchi, Rocce e successioni sedimentarie, UTET; D’Argenio, Innocenti, Sassi, Introduzione allo studio delle rocce, UTET. Press and Siver, Capire la Terra, Zanichelli. Accordi, Lezioni di Geologia stratigrafica, CISU; Guide Geologiche regionali 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, Soc. Geol. It.

The profit evaluation will be done through a written test with open answers and an oral exam involving the identification of rock samples and reading geological maps.

Study material has been uploaded to the e-learning platform.

1. General Part: historical development of geological knowledge, origin of the Earth and the solar system, the geological time. 2. The structure of the Earth: the physical Earth, seismology and deep structure of the Earth, the Earth's gravitational field, the Earth's magnetic field, the internal heat of the Earth, the geometries below the surface (the seismic profiles). 3. The dynamics of the lithosphere: the continental drift, the seafloor, plate tectonics, the orogeny process, alternative theories to plate tectonics. 4. The rocks: general, the rock cycle, intrusive and effusive rocks, the metamorphism and metamorphic rocks, the sedimentary rocks (properties and classification), composition and texture of siliciclastic and carbonate rocks, evaporitic rocks, siliceous rocks, phosphate and residual rocks, organic rocks, sediment transport and sedimentary structures, sedimentary environments of terrigenous and carbonate rocks. 5. The interpretation of the stratigraphic series: stratigraphy, the sedimentary cycle, sedimentary sequences, classification of stratigraphic-depositional units (facies, sequences, Walther law), sea level fluctuations, transgression and regression, processes controlling the sedimentary dynamics, brief overview of sequence stratigraphy. 6. The deformations of the Earth's crust: Earthquakes, structural geology, mass wasting. 7. Historical and Regional Geology: the evolution of the continents, the geology of Italy, the Quaternary, sea level oscillations, glacio-eustatic contribution 8. Side activities: daily excursions, didactic exercises on identification of rocks and geological map reading.

Pre-requisites: Basic knowledge of chemistry, physical geography, mineralogy, paleontology.

Suggested textbooks: Casati Scienze della Terra Vol.1, Città Studi; Lupia Palmieri Parotto, Il globo terrestre e la sua evoluzione, Zanichelli; Bosellini, Mutti, Ricci Lucchi, Rocce e successioni sedimentarie, UTET; D’Argenio, Innocenti, Sassi, Introduzione allo studio delle rocce, UTET. Press and Siver, Capire la Terra, Zanichelli. Accordi, Lezioni di Geologia stratigrafica, CISU; Guide Geologiche regionali 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, Soc. Geol. It.

7 hours per week, divided into 4 hours of lectures and 3 of exercises

The profit evaluation will be done through a written and oral tests to verify the knowledge acquired during the whole course, including the identification of rock samples and reading geological maps.

The course will be organized in a series of lectures accompanied by laboratory activities for the recognition of rocks and the reading of geological maps. This activity will be complemented by two field excursions.