2020 Faculty Courses School of Science Undergraduate major in Earth and Planetary Sciences
Introduction to History of the Earth
- Academic unit or major
- Undergraduate major in Earth and Planetary Sciences
- Instructor(s)
- Akira Ishikawa / Romain Alexis Gilbert
- Class Format
- Lecture (Zoom)
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 7-8 Tue (I2-318, Ishikawadai Bldg. 2, 318 room) / 7-8 Fri (I2-318, Ishikawadai Bldg. 2, 318 room)
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- EPS.A203
- Number of credits
- 200
- Course offered
- 2020
- Offered quarter
- 2Q
- Syllabus updated
- Jul 10, 2025
- Language
- Japanese
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
This course will examine the history of the Earth and life. In the chapter "Hadean", origin of the planet and the formation of the atmosphere and ocean will be examined. In the chapter "Archean", record of Earth's early biological activities and basics of geology and tectonics will be examined. In the chapter "Proterozoic" onset of oxygenic photosynthesis, redox evolution, and continental growth will be examined. In the chapter "Phanerozoic", appearance of metazoan, mass extinction and climate change will be examined.
Course description and aims
Understand the history of the Earth from the planet formation to present. Learn basic concepts of various geosciences for decoding Earth's history. Understand what is the evidence for several key hypothesis. Also, this course will provide information for choosing further specific research field in geosciences.
Keywords
History of the Earth and Life
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
Student should submit attendance report every time as well as final report at the end of this course.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Introduction: Geologic Time Scale | Understanding phenomena occurred in various geologic time scale. |
| Class 2 | Hadean 1 - Planet Formation and Differentiation | Understanding how the Earth formed and chemically differentiated into modern state. |
| Class 3 | Hadean 2 - Primitive Atmosphere and Ocean | Understand the initial state of the Earth's atmosphere and ocean. |
| Class 4 | Archean 1 - The Oldest Rock Record | Geology of the Earth's oldest rocks |
| Class 5 | Hadean 3 - The Origin of Life | Problems to understand origin of life on Earth. |
| Class 6 | Archean 2 - Earth's Early Life | Understand how to decode biological activities in the Archean based on geological record. |
| Class 7 | Archean 3 - Early Earth's Environment | Understand chemistry of atmosphere and ocean in the Archean. |
| Class 8 | Archean 4 - Basics of Plate Tectonics | Understand the geological phenomena occurred at the three types of plate boundaries. |
| Class 9 | Proterozoic 1 - Continental Growth | Understand solid Earth evolution. |
| Class 10 | Proterozoic 2 - Redox Evolution of Earth's Atmosphere and Oceans | Learn how the atmosphere and ocean oxygenated. |
| Class 11 | Proterozoic 3 - Snowball Earth | Learn global scale change in environment. |
| Class 12 | Proterozoic 4 - Emergence of Photosynthesis and Eukaryote | Learn when and how oxygenic photosynthesis and eukaryote emerged. |
| Class 13 | Phanerozoic 1 - Emergence of Metazoan | Understand the biological evolution through Proterozoic/Phanerozoic transition. |
| Class 14 | Phanerozoic 2 - Mass Extinctions | Learn "Big Five" extinction events in Phanerozoic. |
| Class 15 | Phanerozoic 3 - Climate Change | Understanding the cause of climate change in Phanerozoic. |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
None
Reference books, course materials, etc.
Geochemistry, Sadao Matsuo
Evaluation methods and criteria
Student performance will be assessed by attendance report or small test every time (50%) and by final report (50%).
Related courses
- EPS.A334 ： Biogeoscience
- EPS.A202 ： Introduction to Earth and Planetary Sciences
- EPS.A201 ： Introduction to Material Sciences of Earth and Planet
Prerequisites
None