About a Geology degree
Kinlochleven mylonites, picture by Aga Stefanowicz
About
Geology is about better understanding the Earth surface and interior. This includes unravelling the history of the Earth, going back to Earth's formation 4.5 billion years ago.
During this degree you will discover everyhing from plate tectonics, the origin of the Earth and the formation of oceans and continents, to natural disasters, the rock cycle and the processes behind climate change.
Geology is a very broad subject encompassing a multitude of more specialized topics. This makes it an ideal degree if you are unsure of what speciality is best for you, as you will learn all the basic skills allowing you to diverge to any option within geosciences.
"Path to the Past" by sjrankin, CC BY-NC 2.0
As a geologist, you will spend time in the field, in the lab and in the office. This makes it particularly exciting as you will allways be changing your work environment!
If you are interested in understanding the history of the Earth as well as the processes at play in the subsurface, then geology is the subject for you!
"Subduction-en", Wikipedia commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Field Work
Field work is a key component in geology. Some may argue that geological research cannot be done without proper fieldwork. During a geology degree, you will go on a multitude of field trips. First to learn the basics, then to get experience in more independant work before finally designing your own fieldwork project. These projects are often month-long exploration anywhere around the world! Such project are the closest you get to adventure during an university degree!
UoE geology students during a field trip in Inshnadamph, Scotland, picture by Miryam Helmi
As a geology student, you will learn to see the world with different eyes. When outside, you will be able to grasp the main features as well as reconstruct the history of the area, just by looking at the landscape.
Working in the field is amazing training for your obseravion skills, a highly sought skill when applying for work!
Scotland is lucky to host world renown locations like Siccar Point, Hutton's Section, the Ballachulish and Barrow Zones and even the Ordovician to Silurian boundary, which is defined worldwide at Dob's linn in Scotland.
Wind-blown sandstone cliffs, Canada, picture by Leonluca Klein
UoE geology students during a field trip in Spain, picture by Aga Stefanowicz
UoE geology students during a field trip in Spain, picture by Nils Van Weelderen
Laboratory Work
Laboratory work in geology can be conducted independantly, but is more commonly realised in relation to fieldwork.
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After collecting samples in the field, the usual approach is to cut the rocks into a very thin section (30 microns) as to allow light to shine through it, and to observe them under a petrographic microscope. Knowing how to use these microscopes is an easy to learn, hard to master skill, allowing you to use a method that is more poverful that one would think.
"Petrographic section, Hillhouse gabbro" by Jonathan Wilkins, CC BY-SA 2.0
Other more powerfull instruments for observation are then used if deemed necessary. You might very well be using techniques like SEM, μCT, XRD, XRF, EPMA and mass-spectrometers throughout your university degree.
Laboratory work can also be done without prior fieldwork. I this case, the aim is often to test hypothesis by producing results in a controlled environment that can then be compared to field observations. This kind of laboratory work is widley different as it does not focuses on observations, but more in recreating extreme conditions and see what happens! This can lead to the design of some cool projects where for example, a lab-prepared sample of rock can be squeezed between diamonds and heated up by lazers, in order to recreate conditions close to the centre of the Earth! Other projects look at how mountains move or lava flows behave.
μCT at UoE, pictures by Nils Van Weelderen and Leonluca Klein
Topics within Geology
Geology is a broad degree that allows specifications in a lot of different fields:
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Volcanology looks at anything from how volcanoes form, magma evolves, predicting eruptions and how people live with volcanoes.
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Sedimentology looks at how rocks record events like mountain building, oceans forming, deserts evolving and such.
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Metamorphic geology looks at the processes in the deep Earth, trying to understand what the Earth's interior is like and how these processes affect the surface.
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Structural geology focuses on how rocks deform. This leads to a better understanding of how mountains formed and how earthquake happen for example.
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Hydrogeology studies at the behaviour of water in the ground. This ranges from creating sustanable access to groundwater and tracking contaminants, to using the heat of the Earth as geothermal energy.
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Ore geolgy focuses on the range of processes that could precipitate, mobilise and concentrate elements and materials to satisfy the ever-growing demand. Materials will allways be necessary, especially for the high-tech required for a sustainable future. This leads to a key aspect that has been introduced in ore geology during the last decades being the sustainability of ore extraction.
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Geochemistry looks at the composition of rocks and crystals and how it is interlinked with its environment. This include chemestry of fluids as well as solid-state chemistry in extreme conditions. This allows the developpement of methods that can find out from age of crystals to the history of whole provinces just by looking at the chemestry of rocks.
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Space geolgy looks at evidences for geological processes outside of the Earth. For example, studies in this field discovered that there had been water on Mars. Ongoing research looks at samples that have been brought back from the moon in order to see how we could make a moon base, or looks at asteroids and how we could extract resources from them, and other research even tries to find a new habitable planet. If you want to be part of a sci-fi project, this is it!
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It is important to note that cross-overs between geoscience subjects give rise to very intersting discoveries, and it is thus perfectly fine to mix geology with another field.
Imaggeo-Scientist_and_lava_flows, CC BY 3.0
Cross-beddings on cliff, CC BY-SA 2.0
​Folded_serpentinite, CC0 1.0
One day in the life of a geology student
During the semester you will be attending lectures, tutorials and lab-sessions. While experiencing university life (a radical change from school), you will be learning about the history of the Earth along with the evidence for it, as well as the sections of physics, chemistry, math and biology that you will need. During the first years in a geology degree, you will only learn the parts that you need from other STEM subjects, while having pure geology courses where you apply your broad knowledge.
Over the years, the emphasis will shift from integrating STEM subjects to more problem-solving geology courses.
Geology tutorial, University of Calgary, by Leonluca Klein
On a field trip, you will learn how to make accurate, repeatable observations, and how to record them. There, you will also get experience in adapting the perfect, theorethical models to the outside world. Here is where your true problem solving skill come into play, as what you find in the field is never excactly like the textbook models.
UoE geology students during a field trip in Spain, picture by Nils Van Weelderen
During a mapping project, you will learn how to design a project from start to finish. Mapping projects are often part of any geolgy degree and consist of you designing and realizing a project in an area of interest, in order to anwser or confirm a research question. It may look daunting at first, but after realising one myself, I can say that going and expedition with a friend during 2 months in the Swiss Alps was an amazing experience! It is a demanding but exciting adventure, a way to do thrilling exploration, even in the 21st century! When you come back, you will analyse your own samples and contribute to the overal knowledge of this area.
Mapping dissertation in the Swiss Alps with Leonluca Klein, UoE, picture by Nils Van Weelderen
Additional useful links
Further Geology degree information:
Geology description by environmentalgeoscience.org
Geological society of London Geology degree informations
University of Edinburgh Geology degree description
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Related careers:
Geological society of London geological careers
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Interesting blogs:
UK Rad-waste: Deep Geological Disposals
Using laboratory experiments to illuminate volcanic processes
What the frack? – What is Fracking
Lava flows: Theory, lab experiments and field data