Geology is among the most mind-blowing courses to undertake. And getting the best lecture to take you through it adds more to that interest besides enhancing your career. edx, Coursera, and Futurelearn are online platforms that offer you the opportunity to build your career in geology online. They are available at a fee (verified track), but you can also access their free option (audio track) but with limited learning resources.
1. The History of Ancient Environments, Climate and Life
This 8-week course examines rocks from several field locations globally to determine the co-evolution of Earth’s environment dating from 2 billion to 500 million years ago. It combines many lectures, interviews with experienced geologists, and virtual field trips.
Excerpt
- Aspects of rock and fossil record over Earth’s early history
- Interactions between ancient life and Earth’s early environments
- Making inferences about the depositional environment
People from these regions cannot enroll. The verified track goes for $ 99. Enroll here and get to know your instructors.
2. Planet Earth…and You!
Are you always excited about volcanoes, landslides, floods, life evolution, mountain building, ice ages, and earthquakes? Well, this course requires approximately 42 hours to teach you all that and how they have interacted over the years to sculpt our dynamic earth.
Excerpt
- Earthquakes
- Plate tectonics
- Volcanoes
- Energy, Rocks, and Mineral resources
It’s offered by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign. Financial aid is available if you can’t afford the fee for the paid option. Register here
3. Geosciences: the Earth and its Resources
By the end of this course, you should be able to predict the nature and behavior of earth sciences! Going for an estimated 3-week period, it takes you on a voyage through the earth to explore the earth’s interior and the processes underlying mountains and sedimentary basins.
Excerpt (among others)
- Basics of plate tectonics
- Processes underlying the formation of mountains and sedimentary basins
- Geology of geothermal energy
Its verified track goes for $139 with video transcripts in English and Espanol.
Click here to enroll.
4. Mountains 101
Offered by the University of Alberta, it’s an online mountain adventure that gives you a broad and integrated view of the mountains. It takes approximately 18 hours to complete, and besides English, it’s available in other languages.
Expect to Learn
- Physical, biological, and human dimensions of mountains
- Geological origins of mountains
- Role of Mountains in biodiversity and water cycles, and cultural significance
Click here to enroll and learn about its instructors and financial aid.
5. Extreme Geological Events
This 3-week course might be of particular interest to those students seeking to study earth sciences. Cardiff University developed it and explores how the vast floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions have impacted our planet earth and how they continue to shape it.
Excerpt (in a nutshell)
- Key events for the formation of the earth
- Processes underlying extreme geological events
- Possibility of these events in the future and mitigating them
Click here to register, and know your educators and ways to enroll.
6. Reservoir Geomechanics
It’s an interdisciplinary course that addresses a wide range of geomechanical problems associated with the exploitation of oil and gas reservoirs. It focuses on practical issues such as the estimation of hydrocarbon column heights and fault seal potential.
Excerpt
- Predicting pore pressure
- Determining optimally stable well trajectories
- Changes in reservoir performance during depletion
- and others
Instructed by Mark D. Zoback, its verified track goes for $ 129.
7. The Science of the Solar System
Offered by Caltech institution, it’s an advanced-level course that teaches the science behind the current exploration of our solar system. Its quizzes and final exam are rather challenging because it intends to make you think critically about what you’ve learned.
Expect to Learn
- Latest information from mars
- Comprehending the outer solar system
- Habitability near-earth planet and beyond
It requires approximately30 hours to complete. Enroll and learn about its financial aid and instructor here.
8. Oceanography: A Key to Better Understand our World
Offered by the University of Barcelona and the Barcelona Foundation for Ocean Sailing, it’s a 29-hour course that takes you on a voyage through the Southern Indian and South Pacific Oceans and the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.
It’s available in other languages besides English.
Excerpt
- Foundations of the Science of Oceanography
- Classification and formation of the ocean floor
- The Chemistry of the oceans and processes behind their formation
Enroll and learn about its financial aid, and instructor here.
9. Hurricane Tracking with Satellite Data
This 5-week course teaches you how to process and interpret satellite data that tracks hurricanes. Hurricanes are intense storms that cause major global destructions. We can use space-enabled data to observe, monitor, and manage them from a safer distance. Skilled data analysts are required to make use of satellite data. Therefore this course combines geology with data analysis.
Excerpt
- Hurricanes(Formation, preparedness, damage control)
- Satellites and their applications
- Datasets
- Python
Enroll and learn more about its instructors and requirements here.
10. Antarctica: From Geology to Human History
Antarctica is the coldest, driest, windiest continent on earth. This instructor-based course takes you on a virtual trip to understand its geology and history. It’s a 5-week course that explores Antarctica’s past climate and what it reveals about the future.
Excerpt
- Chronology of Antarctic geology and human activities
- Role of Antarctic Paleoclimate research in understanding present and future climate change
- Significance of key geographic features of the Antarctic continent and Ross island
Its verified track goes for $ 49. Enroll here and find out your instructors and ways to take it.
