Rather foolishly – in retrospect, I joined another MOOC – a massive open on-line course, not realising that when it was due to take place I would be away in Kent, then the Netherlands, then in Bath for a couple of days and Manchester for a couple of days… So I am very late starting, ten days late in fact… but I will try my best to catch up on a subject I’ve become very interested in, geology.
The course is Extreme Geological Events and here is what has been covered in the first week and a half, and will be covered in the remaining one and a half weeks:
- In Week 1, we will retrace how Earth was formed 4.5 billion years ago and how it evolved to become a habitable planet. We will explore some of the extreme events our planet experienced along the way.
- In Week 2, we will investigate some of the most extreme types of events our planet has experienced. We will examine some of the largest floods, tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
- In Week 3, we will consider how our understanding of extreme geological events has developed over time. We will explore the risks and hazards they present us today, and how we should prepare for future events.
Thank goodness I have never experienced an extreme event, but going to Iceland a couple of times I was able to see the remains of volcanoes, as well as dormant ones sending out wisps of steam. Living where we do in south-west England we are probably fairly safe from natural events… but there was a tsunami here in 1607!!
