Catalogo dei Corsi di studio

The course aims giving to the students basic geological knowledge. This knowledge should allow the students knowing the origin of the main geological processes that led to the formation of rocks and their transformation also through catastrophic events such as earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions. This will make the students able to correctly interpret the geological context of a specific area and therefore reconstruct the processes that led to the current geological structures through the reconstruction of the processes illustrated during the course. The course will also provide the basic tools for reading geological maps that present a fundamental skill for the courses of the following years.

Programme

Geology is the basis of many of the phenomena that influence humanity. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods but also simply the presence of rivers or mountains is the result of geological processes which are essential to be known in order to correctly interact with the territory. With this course basic geological knowledges will be given in order to understand these phenomena trying to cover as wider spectrum as possible. The course also will include direct experiences such as:
• Excursion to the city of Rome on the theme "The geology of Rome and its influence on the city"
• Visit to the Museum of Earth Sciences (MuST)

The course program will be structured as follows:
Basic notes on the nature of Earth,
Materials composing the Earth's crust
Origin, classification and transformations of rocks
Plate tectonics
Deformation of the Earth's crust and associated geological structures.
Volcanism
Reading geological maps (outlines)
Notes on the Geology of Italy.

Adopted texts

Capire la Terra (Grotzinger - Jordan, Zanichelli)

Prerequisites

None

Exam modes

The exam will be structured as follows:
1. Brief reading of a geological map or recognition of the type of rock through visual analysis.
2. Illustration of a topic of your choice among those covered during the course.
3. Questions about the course topics.
The average duration of the whole exam is about 25-30 minutes.
The final score reflects the student's analytical, verbal, quantitative and interpretation skills, evaluating aspects such as observation skills, logical reasoning, and technical language properties.