Earth Science 100 Hours Certificate Course

There are 9 lessons:

1. Structure and Forces

• Scope and Nature of the Earth and it's Structure
• Continental and Oceanic Crust
• Continental Drift
• Sea Floor Spreading
• Plate Tectonics
• Plate Boundaries; divergent boundaries, convergent boundaries
• Transform Faults
• Volcanoes; shield volcanoes, cinder cones, composite conesmagma, pyroclastic flow

2. Rocks and Minerals

• Definitions
• Mineral Properties; crystaline form, luster, colour, streak, hardness, light transmissioncleavage, fracture, etc
• Mineral Groups
• Silicates
• Nonsilicate Minerals
• Rocks; formation, texture
• Sedimentary Rocks; derital, chemical and biochemical rocks
• Metamorphic Rocks

3. Surface Changes

• Introduction
• Weathering
• Mass Wasting
• Erosion
• Glaciers
• Streams; birth of a stream, stream flow, deposited stream sediment
• Ground Water and Land Subsidence
• Aquifiers and Confining Beds
• Soil; parent materia, time, climate, life forms, slope
• Soil Profile, horizons

4. The Oceans

• Scope and Nature of Oceans
• Sea Water
• Currents
• Coriolis Effect
• Geostrophic Flow
• Land Scale Currents
• Convergence and Divergence
• El Nino
• Waves
• Tides
• The Ocean Floor
• Shorelines
• The Marine Food Chain

5. Air and Weather

• The Hydrological Cycle
• The Atmosphere
• Atmosphere and Circulation of Essential Elements
• Structure of the Atmosphere, Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Seasons
• Solar Radiation
• The Greenhouse Effect
• Weather
• Temperature Control
• Air Pressure
• Wind; Local Winds, Wind Erosion, Wind in Arid Climates
• Thunderstorms
• Tropical Cyclones
• Tornadoes

6. The Greenhouse Effect

• Introduction
• Global Warming
• Anthropomorphic Changes to Global Climates
• Ozone Layer and Ozone Destruction
• Atmospheric Pollutants

7. Global Weather Patterns

• Climate
• Climate Classification; Tropics, Dry Climates, Humid Mid Latitude and Mild Climates, Polar Climates, etc

8. Geological Time

• Geological Time Scale
• Relative Dating
• Inclusion
• Correlation
• Types of Fossils
• Radiometric Dating; radiocarbon dating, radioactivity, half life
• Geological Time

9. Modern Environmental Issues

• Balance of Nature
• Major Current Environmental Events
• Resource Depletion
• Conservation Issues
• Pollution and Waste