Back to Planet Earth...and You!
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Planet Earth...and You!

Earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain building, ice ages, landslides, floods, life evolution, plate motions—all of these phenomena have interacted over the vast expanses of deep time to sculpt the dynamic planet that we live on today. Planet Earth presents an overview of several aspects of our home, from a geological perspective. We begin with earthquakes—what they are, what causes them, what effects they have, and what we can do about them. We will emphasize that plate tectonics—the grand unifying theory of geology—explains how the map of our planet's surface has changed radically over geologic time, and why present-day geologic activity—including a variety of devastating natural disasters such as earthquakes—occur where they do. We consider volcanoes, types of eruptions, and typical rocks found there. Finally, we will delve into the processes that produce the energy and mineral resources that modern society depends on, to help understand the context of the environment and sustainability challenges that we will face in the future.

Status: Environment
Status: Physical Science
BeginnerCourse42 hours

Featured reviews

SH

5.0Reviewed Sep 11, 2017

This is the second time that I took this course. It was more in depth in topics than the original course, and I enjoyed it. Good presentation. Thank you.

KW

5.0Reviewed Oct 2, 2020

Lesson content, especially the video lectures, is accessible and also adds on more to what I already learned about the geology.

NS

5.0Reviewed May 23, 2020

The professors make learning fun and fruitful. This course is interesting and provides great insights into Mother Nature and why we should protect the one and only home we have.

KS

5.0Reviewed Nov 15, 2017

Excellent course! Very informative without being tedious. Clear and concise delivery and illustrations. Would recommend!

SH

5.0Reviewed Feb 12, 2022

G​reat course, really, really useful to me. I have a general interest in Geology and want to know about the world around me.

EC

5.0Reviewed Jun 16, 2020

very insightful with enthusiastic lecturers! Easy to follow even for people with very basic geographic knowledge such as myself.

EN

5.0Reviewed Jul 31, 2020

A great course! It is easy to follow and complete it. Good for students who are interested in geology but have no prior knowledge about it.

TI

5.0Reviewed Mar 15, 2020

Really enjoyed the course and will be able to use many of the things I learned to refresh some of my teachings in my classroom

JH

4.0Reviewed Jul 18, 2021

The course was great, except for the broken links and some out of date material. The core material was good and the lectures were excellent. The Google Earth labs need to be updated.

DS

5.0Reviewed May 10, 2020

I am very grateful to this course and also to the instructors that share their vast knowledge about geology to students of this course. Thank you

WV

5.0Reviewed Jul 20, 2020

very interesting course and both profs are extremely interesting! love that they provide a transcript for the videos as well.

MN

5.0Reviewed Oct 8, 2020

Highly appreciate his course. Well explain different topics related to Earth Sciences and design tough assignments which are very effective in learning.

All reviews

Showing: 20 of 100

İbrahim Karimov
5.0
Reviewed Aug 12, 2020
Sebastian Perez-Lopez
5.0
Reviewed Jul 23, 2017
Megan Cheah Shi Ying
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Reviewed Jun 25, 2020
ELSON NG WEILONG
5.0
Reviewed Jan 15, 2021
Ng Yong Ze Sam
5.0
Reviewed May 24, 2020
Suzan Hann
5.0
Reviewed Sep 12, 2017
Amber Brown (Keekat Kittiana)
2.0
Reviewed Aug 13, 2017
Leonardo Mercatanti
5.0
Reviewed May 6, 2020
Mariusz K
5.0
Reviewed Oct 11, 2017
J H
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Reviewed Jul 19, 2021
Prajval Verma
3.0
Reviewed Aug 2, 2023
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Reviewed Dec 12, 2020
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Reviewed Jul 27, 2020
Felipe Nascimento
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Reviewed May 24, 2019
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Aljosa Veljovic
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Reviewed Jan 25, 2022
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Reviewed May 23, 2020
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5.0
Reviewed Sep 7, 2021