2025 (Current Year) 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)
- Yuichiro Ueno / Kazumi Ozaki
- Class Format
- Lecture
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - Class
- -
- Course Code
- EPS.A203
- Number of credits
- 200
- Course offered
- 2025
- Offered quarter
- 3Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 19, 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 | Understand phenomena occurred in various geologic time scale. |
| Class 2 | Planet Formation and Differentiation | Understand how the Earth formed and differentiated. |
| Class 3 | Origin of life | Understand hypotheses for the origin of life. |
| Class 4 | Formation of the ocean and the atmosphere | Understand the formation of the ocean and the atmosphere. |
| Class 5 | Faint Young Sun Paradox | Understand the stability of the climate. |
| Class 6 | Primitive ecosystem | Learn the evolution of chemotrophs and anoxygenic photoautotrophs. |
| Class 7 | Oxidation of the ocean-atmosphere system | Learn the oxidation history of the ocean-atmosphere system. |
| Class 8 | The Great Oxidation Event | Learn what a Great Oxidation Event is. |
| Class 9 | Snowball Earth events | Learn climatic upheavals in the geological past. |
| Class 10 | Evolution of eukaryotes during the Proterozoic | Learn the evolution of life during the Proterozoic. |
| Class 11 | The Paleozoic | Understand the evolution of the Earth system during the Paleozoic. |
| Class 12 | The Mesozoic | Understand the evolution of the Earth system during the Mesozoic. |
| Class 13 | The Cenozoic | Understand the evolution of the Earth system during the Cenozoic. |
| Class 14 | Anthropocene and future projection | Understand the causes of climate change. |
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
History of life and Earth, Shigenori Maruyama, Yukio Isozaki
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