PHS 185 - Introduction to Earth Science

AA Approved

STANDARD CREDIT TYPE
3 credit(s)

Explores the physical elements and processes that make up the environment. Focuses on Earth functions as one closed system with the hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere interacting to form daily patterns in life. Various Earth processes are discussed: heating and pressure of air, winds, storms, climates, and causes, the role of the oceans, landform processes of plate tectonics, mountain building, volcanism, gradation and fluvial processes, and glaciations.

Course Learning Outcomes
1. Identify and apply key concepts in geology, including material identification, the rock cycle, and their interconnections with other branches of Earth Science.

2. Explain major geological processes such as radiometric dating, plate tectonics, mountain formation, volcanism, and glaciation, and analyze how these processes have shaped Earth’s history.

3. Describe and interpret atmospheric and hydrospheric processes, including weather, climate, the water cycle, and oceanic dynamics, and explain their influence on Earth’s systems.