The study of natural processes shaping the Earth’s surface

Earth Surface - Track Earth, Economics & Sustainability

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Would you like to know more about the influence of natural processes on the evolution and dynamics of the landscape?

During the minor several aspects will be treated in detail, such as the influence of climate, tectonics and vegetation on the evolution and dynamics of the landscape. In addition, the interaction of the different components of System Earth will be considered, including the oceans, atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and biosphere. The role of humans is also an important topic in this minor.

Related VU master’s programmes:

Climate Science

The land, oceans and atmosphere form a coupled system that interact to give a certain climate and type of weather. This course focuses on the interactions between the atmosphere and the oceans.
Geobotany

Lectures on evolution of the plant Kingdom, the application of biological proxies that are being employed for palaeoenvironmental and climate reconstructions and the excursion aims at integration of the world of the plants and vegetation communities with the abiotic components in the landscape.
Sediment Dynamics

The goal of this course is to characterize, classify and interpret a selected number of terrestrial and marine sedimentary environments in terms of their processes, facies distribution, morphology and stratigraphy.
Electives

In period 2 you choose one of the following electives:

Sociale Geografie I (Dutch), Biogeosciences, Wis- en natuurkunde (Dutch), Water Management in the Netherlands

In period 3 you choose one of the following electives:

Geochemie (in Dutch) or Land Use Change

Check the study guide for details about the courses.

Earth Surface - Track Earth, Economics & Sustainability

Overview courses

Climate Science

Geobotany

Sediment Dynamics

Electives

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