JEO 204E - Petrography of Magmatic Rocks

Course Objectives

Rocks and their building blocks, minerals, are found ~2900 km from the surface. igneous rocks make up almost all of the Earth's crust and mantle. We obtain a significant portion of the raw materials from these rocks to which we owe our civilization. Therefore, igneous rocks are of great importance to earth scientists. This course aims to teach second-year students the classification, formation, composition, origin, and evolution of rocks formed by igneous processes from the depths of the mantle to the Earth's surface. In particular, the course focuses on the identification and classification of igneous rocks and their origin and distribution in the mantle, lithosphere, and Earth's surface. igneous rocks are the basic materials that make up the Earth's crust and mantle up to the core-mantle boundary. As such, they form and exist under a wide variety of conditions and can contain important information about these conditions. Basic petrographic knowledge of igneous rocks is essential for geoscientists, and especially for geological engineers because only this knowledge can provide them with vital information about nomenclature and rock classification, basic terminology, and some other important topics, such as understanding their origin, the tectonic setting in which they formed, and their geologic evolution. Thus, the petrographic knowledge and terminology that will be covered in this course are used in every discipline of the earth sciences.

Course Description

Basic knowledge of the petrography of igneous rocks is very important for geoscientists and especially for Geological Engineers as it can provide vital information about the nomenclature and classification of various igneous rocks, basic terminology, and some other important topics such as understanding the origin of minerals and rocks, the tectonic environment in which they formed and their geological evolution, which the course covers.