Class Central is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

The Great Courses Plus

The Origin and Evolution of Earth: From the Big Bang to the Future of Human Existence

via The Great Courses Plus

Go to class Write review
Corporate Finance Institute Ad

Learn Excel and Financial Modeling the Way Finance Teams Actually Use Them

Learn More → Coursera Ad

AI, Data Science & Cloud Certificates from Google, IBM & Meta

Learn More →

Overview

Google, IBM & Meta Certificates – 40% Off
One plan covers every Professional Certificate on Coursera.
Unlock All Certificates
Explore the frontiers of science with this revolutionary course that rewrites the history of our planet as a single, compelling story involving the coevolution of rocks and life.

Syllabus

  • 01: Mineralogy and a New View of Earth
  • 02: Origin and Evolution of the Early Universe
  • 03: Origins of the Elements-Nucleosynthesis
  • 04: Ur-Minerals, First Crystals in the Cosmos
  • 05: Presolar Dust Grains-Chemistry Begins
  • 06: Coming to Grips with Deep Time
  • 07: The Birth of the Solar System
  • 08: The Early Solar System-Terrestrial Planets
  • 09: Hints from the Gas Giants and Their Moons
  • 10: Meteorites-The Oldest Objects You Can Hold
  • 11: Mineral Evolution, Go! Chondrite Meteorites
  • 12: Meteorite Types and Planetesimals
  • 13: Achondrites and Geochemical Affinities
  • 14: The Accretion and Differentiation of Earth
  • 15: How Did the Moon Form?
  • 16: The Big Thwack!
  • 17: The “Big Six” Elements of Early Earth
  • 18: The Black Earth-Peridotite to Basalt
  • 19: Origins of the Oceans
  • 20: Blue Earth and the Water Cycle
  • 21: Earth and Mars versus Mercury and the Moon
  • 22: Gray Earth-Clays and the Rise of Granite
  • 23: Earth's Mineralogy Takes Off-Pegmatites
  • 24: Moving Continents and the Rock Cycle
  • 25: Plate Tectonics Changes Everything
  • 26: Geochemistry to Biochemistry-Raw Materials
  • 27: Biomolecules-Select, Concentrate, Assemble
  • 28: Why Reproduction? World Enough and Time
  • 29: Eons, Eras, and Strategies of Early Life
  • 30: Red Earth-The Great Oxidation Event
  • 31: Earliest Microbial and Molecular Fossils?
  • 32: Microbial Mats and Which Minerals Can Form
  • 33: Earth's Greatest Mineral Explosion
  • 34: The Boring Billion? Cratons and Continents
  • 35: The Supercontinent Cycle
  • 36: Feedback Loops and Tipping Points
  • 37: Snowball Earth and Hothouse Earth
  • 38: The Second Great Oxidation Event
  • 39: Deep Carbon-Deep Life, Fuels, and Methane
  • 40: Biominerals and Early Animals
  • 41: Between Rodinia and Pangaea-Plants on Land
  • 42: Life Speeds Up-Oxygen and Climate Swings
  • 43: From the “Great Dying” to Dinosaurs
  • 44: Impact! From Dinosaurs to Mammals
  • 45: Humans and the Anthropocene Epoch
  • 46: The Next 5 Billion Years
  • 47: The Nearer Future
  • 48: Coevolution of Geosphere and Biosphere
  • By This Professor

Taught by

Robert M. Hazen

Reviews

4.6 rating at The Great Courses Plus based on 122 ratings

Start your review of The Origin and Evolution of Earth: From the Big Bang to the Future of Human Existence

Go to class

Never Stop Learning.

Get personalized course recommendations, track subjects and courses with reminders, and more.

Sign up for free
Someone learning on their laptop while sitting on the floor.