Earth Sciences (Geology)

The Earth Sciences are changing rapidly in scope and nature. The course at Oxford reflects these changes, and aims to provide earth scientists with a sound and broadly based scientific training. Earth Sciences courses at Oxford train students in the unique skills required for the interpretation of rock materials and geological phenomena as well as applying theory and techniques from Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science and Biology to the study of the Earth and the environment.

The Earth Sciences Department at Oxford has an international research reputation, and houses state-of-the-art laboratories and computing facilities within a recently completed building (officially opened in May 2011). The department is a lively place, an active laboratory in fact, where students, teachers and visitors, many from overseas, mix and work together. Offices and teaching labs are close together but with plenty of shared open space, so you will very quickly get a sense of being part of a vibrant community where everyone knows each other. This makes for a very good atmosphere in which a student can not only learn the basics of the subject, but also get some feel for the discoveries emerging from current research.

As an undergraduate you can find yourself on a field trip being taught how to make geological maps by a structural geologist whose other field area is high up in the Himalayas; in a lecture course on ocean circulation given by an oceanographer whose field area is the Arctic; in a lecture course on climate change given by a geochemist who analyses the isotopes of uranium and strontium in stalagmites to measure the annual fluctuations of the climates of the recent past; in a seminar given by an American visiting professor on the imaging of Earth’s interior with seismic waves; having tutorials with a volcanologist whose research involves measuring emissions from active volcanoes; or in a practical class supervised by a palaeobiologist whose research is seeking to understand the explosion in morphological diversity in fishes since the last major mass extinction event, at the end of the Cretaceous period.

Earth Sciences is part of the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division, which also contains Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, Materials, Mathematics,         Physics and Statistics. In the first year, it may, in principle, be possible to change to another degree course, subject to the availability of space on the course and to the consent of the college.

Typical destinations for Earth Sciences graduates include the energy industry, the environmental sector, and engineering/ technical consultancies. Some enter professions unrelated to their subject, such as finance, in which the analytical and problem-solving skills they have developed are highly sought after. Around 40% continue to study, developing their interests through a PhD or further Masters course. Recent Earth Sciences graduates include a data analyst for a media organisation, a tax accountant, and a hydrogeologist.

Rachael, who graduated in 2007, works for BP as a Geoscientist. She says: ‘I am currently working as an Operations Geologist in London for a project based in North Africa. In the last four years my job has taken me to London, Aberdeen, Algeria, Libya and America. My degree gave me the technical basis for my career, but more importantly it taught me how to think out complex issues from basic principles and to motivate myself to produce the best results I can.’

Students interested in this course might also like to consider Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Geography, Human Sciences, Materials Science or Physics.