Geology and Physics

University of Aberdeen

Geology offers you the chance to find out how the Earth works and when you combine Physics with this subject you get a real sense of energy and matter and their interaction. This is a joint degree programme combining approximately 50% Geology and 50% Physics courses of study.Geology - studying the Earth beneath our feet and it’s fascinating 4.5 billion years of history, from volcanoes and earthquakes to dinosaurs and ancient rivers - is central to our transition to a sustainable future. Geology provides you with the skills you need to explore the processes that have shaped the Earth and its surface and subsurface environments through time, equipping you with powers to address the major modern world challenges, from climate change to sustainable energy, and from water security to natural disasters.This programme teaches and utilises the latest fieldwork, digital and technological skills and techniques to show you how to extract valuable information recorded in Earth’s rocks, minerals and fossils: an archive that holds the keys to many of the issues we face today such as climate change, water management, natural hazards and transition from fossils fuels to geothermal energy and other sources of renewable energy.You will examine the origin, structure and composition of the three major rock groups igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary, learning about the most fascinating and important geological events and how we date them, and developing the professional geological skills needed to gather and interpret data in the field.Physics challenges our imaginations with concepts like relativity and string theory and leads to great discoveries about how the world works. Physics is the most fundamental of sciences. At its most basic, it is about explaining and predicting what happens in the physical universe. This covers topics so vast they don’t get much bigger, such as "How the universe has evolved into its present state?" to topics of daily importance such as "Will the car I’m in stay on the road as it corners?" or "Will an artificial hip joint last as long as the patient?"Physics encompasses the study of the Universe from the largest galaxies to the smallest subatomic particles and is the basis of many other sciences, including chemistry, oceanography, seismology, and astronomy. Discoveries in Physics make possible technological innovations like transistors and the microchip, computers and lasers which in turn change our lives.

School of Geosciences