Practical Geology

Learning how to read rock samples like the pages of a book.

Learning the five major influences on landscape formation.

Professor Cotter gives tips on safety, maps, tools, and techniques for field geology.

Seeing how rivers are the key to understanding why many landscapes look the way they do.

Visiting the beach; learning how to see it through the eyes of a geologist.

Learning how sedimentary rocks form; the rich stories they tell about the past.

Exploring alluvial fans, washes, dunes, and other features typical of arid regions.

Diging into the physics of glaciers: how they develop and the forces they exert.

Checking out limestone, one of nature's most amazing rocks; its medical and economic benefits.

Learning how to look at a cliff face; how to read the strata like an adventure.

Looking at the many different ways nature has of preserving fossils.

Going fossil hunting with Professor Cotter; getting prepared with regulations, strategies, and more.

Discovering why soil may be the most important geologic resource on the planet.

Digging into the mystery of groundwater; exploring groundwater pollution.

Considering the healthful and harmful effects of geologically sourced substances.

Learning what it is like to walk on barely cooled lava from an active volcano.

Surveying common minerals; learning how to identify them through simple tests.

Turning to igneous rocks that cool deep underground over the course of millions of years.

Exploring foliated metamorphic rocks, which geologists use to reconstruct ancient mountain ranges.

Surveying a selection of non-foliated metamorphic rocks that include marble and soapstone.

Exploring the shifting categories of precious and semi-precious gems.

Discovering how to prospect for gold using the process perfected by the Forty-Niners.

Tracing the history of oil exploration and recovery.

Considering how to put the knowledge of geology to use in issues faced by the community.