Undergraduate Courses – Imperial College London

Stratigraphy and Geomaterials (Year 1) Teaching lead: Prof. Peter Allison An introduction to the key principles of stratigraphy and palaeontology, using examples from the geological history of Great Britain, and develops skills in recognising and describing minerals and rocks.

Deforming the Earth (Year 1) Teaching Lead: Dr. Alex Whittaker Introduction to tectonics and structural geology, teaching students how present-day rock geometries evolve and how they can be decoded to reveal the geological past. The course covers geological maps, how rocks break and deform, folds and faults and large-scale structural geology.

Graphics Workshop (Year 1) Teaching Lead: Dr. Mark Sutton Basic skills in photographic image manipulation (GIMP) and generation of vectorised diagrams (Inkscape), skills essential for any futue work in research.

Surface Processes (Year 1) Teaching Lead: Dr. Dylan Rood This module develops practical and theoretical understanding of physical and surface processes. The course introduces students to the processes that shape Earth’s surface, and how these lead to the formation of landscapes and sedimentary deposits.

Global Geophysics (Year 2) Teaching Lead: Prof. Jenny Collier The module provides a broad understanding of the structure of the earth and plate tectonics, as derived from seismology and mineral physics. The evolution of plate tectonic theory from earthquake observations and marine magnetics is covered, as well as the acquisition, processing, modelling and interpretation of geophysical data.

Continental Tectonics (Year 3) Teaching Lead: Dr. Gareth Roberts The module begins by developing the tools required to describe and explain continental deformation quantitatively. It then applies these tools and ideas to the main large-scale deformational features that affect Earth’s continents. Practical teaching focuses on how to use coding tools (Python) to apply geophysical tools to tectonic problems.

Applied Geomorphology (Year 4) Teaching Lead: Dr. Dylan Rood This module provides students with hands-on training in the collection and analysis of field data that allows for the understanding of past and contemporary processes at the Earth’s surface, and considers the impact of human interactions with the landscape. Teaching focuses on developing computational skills (ArcGIS) necessary to tackle geomorphology research questions.