LibGuides: OER: Open Educational Resources: Geology

Textbooks

Environmental Biology by Matthew Fischer (2019): Open Oregon Educational Resources.

This college-level open textbook covers the most salient environmental issues from a biological perspective. This open textbook covers the most salient environmental issues, from a biological perspective. The text is designed for an introductory-level college science course. Topics include the fundamentals of ecology, biodiversity, pollution, climate change, food production, and human population growth.

Physical Geology (2nd Edition) by Steven Earle (2019): BCcampus.

Physical Geology is a comprehensive introductory text on the physical aspects of geology, including rocks and minerals, plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes, glaciation, groundwater, streams, coasts, mass wasting, climate change, planetary geology and much more. It has a strong emphasis on examples from western Canada, especially British Columbia, and also includes a chapter devoted to the geological history of western Canada. The book is a collaboration of faculty from Earth Science departments at Universities and Colleges across British Columbia and elsewhere.

An Introduction to Geology by Chris Johnson, Matthew D. Affolter, Paul Inkenbrandt, & Cam Mosher (2019):
OpenGeology.

This text is designed to give you a comprehensive introduction to Geology at no or very nominal cost. It contains both written and graphic text material, intra-text links to other internal material which may aid in understanding topics and concepts, intra-text links to the appendices and glossary for tables and definitions of words, and extra-text links to videos and web material that clarifies and augments topics and concepts. Like any new or scientific subject, Geology has its own vocabulary for geological concepts. For you to converse effectively with this text and colleagues in this earth science course, you will use the language of geology, so comprehending these terms is important.

Historical Geology by Callan Bentley, Karen Layou, Russ Kohrs, Shelley Jaye, Matt Affolter, and Brian Ricketts (2020):
OpenGeology.

A book outlining geological studies from a historical perspective. The planet you live on has some stories to tell. Earth has had 4.5 billion years to rack up experiences that range from ordinary to unimaginably violent. Through a variety of rock-forming processes, Earth has written her autobiography. Historical Geology is the science of reading that autobiography. But in order to read it, we first need to understand the language in which it is recorded.

OpenGeology

Courses

Geology (Lumen)
This survey course covers the fundamentals of geology and earth science, helping students understand how the Earth was formed and the forces shaping its continued evolution. It also introduces students to how geological resources are used in human civilization. Key topics include rock and mineral formation; weathering and soil formation; plate tectonics; Earth’s interior; crustal deformation; earthquakes and volcanoes; mass movement; hydrology; and applications of geological resources for human use.
Deserts: Geology and Resources (USGS)
An overview of deserts - formations, examples, dunes, types of deserts, aridity, mineral resources in desert lands, and desertification.
The Atmosphere, The Ocean, and Environmental Change (Open Yale)
This course explores the physical processes that control Earth’s atmosphere, ocean, and climate. Quantitative methods for constructing mass and energy budgets. Topics include clouds, rain, severe storms, regional climate, the ozone layer, air pollution, ocean currents and productivity, the seasons, El Niño, the history of Earth’s climate, global warming, energy, and water resources.

Additional Resources

Encyclopedia of Life (EOL)

Geology and Geophysics Books (IntechOpen)

Geosciences (LibreTexts)

Lab Manual for Introductory Geology (University of West Georgia)

Sustainability: A Comprehensive Foundation (CNX)