3 credits
Fall 2026 Lecture Upper Division
This course will provide students with a first order understanding of geophysical processes by developing analytical solutions to a variety of geophysical and planetary thermo-mechanical problems. Topics will include stress and strain, rheology, elasticity and flexure, faulting, and conductive heat transfer, and fluid mechanics. We will develop governing analytical equations based on first order principles, such as the conservation of mass, energy, and momentum, and solve these equations for a number of boundary conditions.
Learning Outcomes1Solve first-order analytical thermo-mechanical problems in geophysics and planetary science.
2Understand the basis for more complex numerical solutions of thermo-mechanical problems in geophysics and planetary science.
3Investigate the factors that control a variety of thermo-mechanical geophysical and planetary processes.
Restrictions
made by Purdue students.