Core Courses - University of Houston
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Core Courses

Atmospheric Science

Students seeking M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Atmospheric Sciences are required to take at least one course from the three Atmospheric Sciences Graduate Core Categories - 1) Atmospheric Dynamics and Physics, 2) Atmospheric Chemistry, and 3) Atmospheric Measurement and Modeling. Most Core courses are offered every other year, either in the Fall or Spring Semester.

Category 1 (Atmospheric Dynamics and Physics)

  • GEOL 6337 - Atmospheric Physics
  • GEOL 6336 - Boundary Layer & Turbulence
  • GEOL 6330 - Dynamic Meteorology
  • GEOL 6327 - Atmospheric Radiation
  • GEOL 6397 - Mesoscale Meterology

Category 2 (Atmospheric Chemistry)

  • GEOL 6321 - Aerosols and Climate
  • GEOL 6332 - Air Pollution Meteorology
  • GEOL 6334 - Atmospheric Chemistry
  • GEOL 6370 - Integrated Biogeochemical Studies

Category 3 (Atmospheric Measurement and Modeling)

  • GEOL 6325 - Remote Sensing
  • GEOL 6326 - Remote Sensing for Atmospheric Sciences
  • GEOL 6335 - Atmospheric Numerical Modeling
  • GEOL 6329 - Atmospheric Instrumentation & Measurements
  • GEOL 6328 - Atmospheric Data Analysis & Statistics
  • GEOL 6397 - Deep Learning Big Data Analytics

Geophysics

Students seeking M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in geophysics are required to take the following four core classes.

  • GEOL 7324 - Rock Physics
  • GEOL 7330 - Potential Field Methods
  • GEOL 7333 - Seismic Wave and Ray Theory
  • GEOL 7341 - Geophysical Data Processing

Geology

Courses listed in categories 1 through 4 will satisfy core requirements for the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Geology. Students seeking these degrees must satisfactorily complete a minimum of one course from three of the four categories below. These three courses must be included within the minimum of 30 approved degree hours for a Masters degree and the 60 approved degree hours for a Ph.D. Most of these courses are offered in Fall or Spring semesters in alternate years.

Category 1 (Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology/Geochemistry)

  • GEOL 6339 - Igneous Petrology
  • GEOL 6340 - Metamorphic Petrology
  • GEOL 6341 - Geochemistry I
  • GEOL 6374 - Radiogenic Isotope Geochemistry
  • GEOL 6386 - Igneous Petrogenesis and Plate Tectonics

Category 2 (Sedimentary Geology/Stratigraphy)

  • GEOL 6358 - Terrigeneous Depositional Systems
  • GEOL 6363 - Carbonate Sedimentology
  • GEOL 6366 - Hydrogeology
  • GEOL 6376 - Adv Tect and Sedimentation
  • GEOL 6380 - Sequence Stratigraphy

Category 3 (Structure/Tectonics)

  • GEOL 6349 - Geodynamics
  • GEOL 6350 - Advanced Structural Geology
  • GEOL 6378 - Basin Analysis for Petroleum Exploration
  • GEOL 6352 - Microtectonics
  • GEOL 6382 - Plate Tectonics

Category 4 (Applied/Analytical)

  • GEOL 6325 - Remote Sensing
  • GEOL 6347 - Sandstone Petrography
  • GEOL 6372 - Intro to Petroleum Geochemistry
  • GEOL 6381 - Petroleum Geology
  • GEOL 6388 - Geospatial Analysis and Applications