Geology – A Level

“The future of humanity and indeed all life on Earth depends on us” (Attenborough, 2001). Our planet is rapidly approaching a climatic tipping point where global warming will lead to irreversible changes to our planet. For us to tackle what is arguably the largest challenge in human existence, we must first understand how Earth works.

Geology is a practical science where we will journey through the last 4.5 billion years, using evidence from the rock and fossil record to reconstruct the key events that have occurred. We will reconstruct past climates, as Earth has experienced regular greenhouse and icehouse conditions, to identify the triggers of climatic change. By understanding the climatic changes of the past, we may be able to predict what will happen in the future and try and implement strategies to reduce the impacts of climate change.

The UK is aiming to be at the forefront of the green and sustainable revolution but in order to do this we need more people with geological knowledge and understanding. We need people to be able to locate the resources we will need to create the green technology; we will need people to engineer the environment to protect us from extreme weather events, coastal erosion and flooding. This means we need geologists more than ever before.

Geology also allows you to discover the organisms that have evolved and become extinct throughout Earth’s history. The lifeforms we will study range from bivalves/brachiopods to dinosaurs and even human evolution. We will study the causes of the five mass extinction events and try and predict if we are about to enter the sixth mass extinction.

Billions of people around the world are at risk from volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis. Studying geology will provide you with an understanding of the causes of these natural hazards and where natural disasters are likely to occur. By obtaining this fundamental understanding of natural hazards you will be able to conclude if natural disasters can be predicted and how we can limit the destruction caused by them.

Geology is different to many other subjects you can choose at A Level as it focusses on practical skills. You will be taught the fundamentals in the classroom, but you will then be given lots of opportunity to utilise your knowledge in a practical setting. There will be regular lab-based practicals and the use of virtual/augmented reality combined with fieldwork. We offer optional and compulsory fieldwork opportunities – there will be compulsory residential fieldwork in your first and second year of study situated in the UK. There may even be the possibility to utilise your geological skills abroad, with a visit to Iceland.

If you are somebody that wants to understand our planet and join the fight to mitigate climate change, then this is the course for you. Only through more people having knowledge of our planet can we hope to tackle the challenges ahead.