Geoscience & Geology 2016

What geophysics modules have you taken and to what level (1st, 2nd, 3rd year etc)?

I'm only a first year so I don't have a huge amount of experience (introduction to seismology, gravity, fluid mechanics and meteorology/physical oceanography), but it's probably enough to be of use to an AS student.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 481

FlyHigh_er

10

Original post by acepo

Hey guys! I am an EU student and I hold unconditional offers from all universities I've applied to. However, I can’t really decide whether I should go to Manchester or Southampton university. They both seem pretty good, I don’t really care about the cities, although I guess I like Manchester a little bit more. So, any advice?

Hi. I study geology at Southampton and I applied to Manchester so if you have any specific questions just ask. But btw, the unis focus on research in the geology part of the university isn't marine. The focus of NOCS is oceanography. The geology dept here is very strong, there is research on everything apart from engineering geology and geotechnics. Unless you want to do that Southampton is great for anything you want to go into. I would say Machester is slightly better for petroleum geology, since they have a course on it.

Reply 482

Plagioclase

21

Just wanted to share this cool resource with everyone! You can have a look at thin sections of lots of different minerals under PPL and XPL and it even has a functioning rotating stage (you click on the red rotating icon things)...

It also has virtual hand specimens.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 483

NimbleNeil

10

Original post by Plagioclase

Just wanted to share this cool resource with everyone! You can have a look at thin sections of lots of different minerals under PPL and XPL and it even has a functioning rotating stage (you click on the red rotating icon things)...

It also has virtual hand specimens.

Love the Moon / Mars stuff, hopefully there are specialisations into planetary geology available in the UK

Reply 484

ClaireFad

4

Original post by NimbleNeil

Love the Moon / Mars stuff, hopefully there are specialisations into planetary geology available in the UK

Manchester does Planetary Geology :smile:

Reply 485

GeoPaul

Original post by ClaireFad

Manchester does Planetary Geology :smile:

So does UCL. I imagine there are a lot of places that at least offer it as a stream

Reply 486

Xetter

7

Original post by Plagioclase

Just wanted to share this cool resource with everyone! You can have a look at thin sections of lots of different minerals under PPL and XPL and it even has a functioning rotating stage (you click on the red rotating icon things)...

It also has virtual hand specimens.

Thanks Man, I'll save that as a bookmark! :smile:

Reply 487

MountKimbie

18

Original post by Plagioclase

Just wanted to share this cool resource with everyone! You can have a look at thin sections of lots of different minerals under PPL and XPL and it even has a functioning rotating stage (you click on the red rotating icon things)...

It also has virtual hand specimens.

Good share, I've used this many times throughout the years.

Reply 488

Yammy

15

Hi guys, sorta new here...Just wondering if anyone can help me understand the differences between ChemENG and Geophysics? I heard Chemeng is mostly maths and physics, but geophysics seems more interesting, and both can end up working for oil and gas?

Reply 489

GeoPaul

Original post by muchensmile

Hi guys, sorta new here...Just wondering if anyone can help me understand the differences between ChemENG and Geophysics? I heard Chemeng is mostly maths and physics, but geophysics seems more interesting, and both can end up working for oil and gas?

Well, they are just completely different subjects. chemical engineering and geophysics both would probably require the knowledge of similar subjects, i.e. maths, physics. You could also consider just geology if you prefer subjects with less math. These would all potentially lead to careers in the oil and gas industry. It's not a great industry to go in right now though. It's incredibly competitive and the long-term prospects aren't looking great.. Also, it sounds like you are just looking for subjects that would fit your idea of going in to oil and gas, which isn't necessarily the best approach

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 490

Yammy

15

Original post by GeoPaul

Well, they are just completely different subjects. chemical engineering and geophysics both would probably require the knowledge of similar subjects, i.e. maths, physics. You could also consider just geology if you prefer subjects with less math. These would all potentially lead to careers in the oil and gas industry. It's not a great industry to go in right now though. It's incredibly competitive and the long-term prospects aren't looking great.. Also, it sounds like you are just looking for subjects that would fit your idea of going in to oil and gas, which isn't necessarily the best approach

Ah many thanks. Apart from oil and gas, would a geophysics/geology degree still do well in career prospects compared to say other STEM degrees? I know that some engineering grads go to finance, so I assume that might also be possible for geophysics due to it being more maths based... Personally, geophysics looks pretty interesting to me, as I still quite like maths. Also, are Scottish unis such as Edinburgh and St Andrews good for geophysics/geology? I'm from Scotland so will likely to apply to mostly Scottish unis :biggrin:

Sorry for all the questions!

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 491

GeoPaul

Original post by muchensmile

Ah many thanks. Apart from oil and gas, would a geophysics/geology degree still do well in career prospects compared to say other STEM degrees? I know that some engineering grads go to finance, so I assume that might also be possible for geophysics due to it being more maths based... Personally, geophysics looks pretty interesting to me, as I still quite like maths. Also, are Scottish unis such as Edinburgh and St Andrews good for geophysics/geology? I'm from Scotland so will likely to apply to mostly Scottish unis :biggrin:

Sorry for all the questions!

Geophysics and Geology are applied subjects, so you will develop a lot of transferrable skills. Because of this, geologists/geophysicists are really sought after. There's plenty of opportunities to work within geology and in other areas such as finance when you graduate. Plenty of unis in Scotland are good for geology and geophysics. St Andrew's, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow are probably the best.

Reply 492

Plagioclase

21

Original post by muchensmile

Ah many thanks. Apart from oil and gas, would a geophysics/geology degree still do well in career prospects compared to say other STEM degrees? I know that some engineering grads go to finance, so I assume that might also be possible for geophysics due to it being more maths based... Personally, geophysics looks pretty interesting to me, as I still quite like maths. Also, are Scottish unis such as Edinburgh and St Andrews good for geophysics/geology? I'm from Scotland so will likely to apply to mostly Scottish unis :biggrin:

Sorry for all the questions!

You can go into finance with most numerate degrees so yes it's certainly a potential option if you did Geophysics. There are plenty of areas outside of the Oil Industry for geoscience graduates (particularly if you're graduating in something like geophysics).

As far as I know, St. Andrews and Edinburgh are both very good for Earth Sciences :smile:

Reply 493

Yammy

15

Original post by Plagioclase

You can go into finance with most numerate degrees so yes it's certainly a potential option if you did Geophysics. There are plenty of areas outside of the Oil Industry for geoscience graduates (particularly if you're graduating in something like geophysics).

As far as I know, St. Andrews and Edinburgh are both very good for Earth Sciences :smile:

Original post by GeoPaul

Geophysics and Geology are applied subjects, so you will develop a lot of transferrable skills. Because of this, geologists/geophysicists are really sought after. There's plenty of opportunities to work within geology and in other areas such as finance when you graduate. Plenty of unis in Scotland are good for geology and geophysics. St Andrew's, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow are probably the best.

Thank you both for the help! I'm actually a medical applicant this year, but since rejections are coming through it looks like I will probably do a gap year. I guess that's good because I really need to figure out what I want to study since I enjoy all sciences equally :biggrin:

Tomorrow my school will host a careers fair, maybe can find out more about geophysics there!

Reply 494

NimbleNeil

10

Doing A2 evel fieldwork on 21st March in Dorset, anybody know which fossils / landforms / main characteristics of rocks are down there? I've been able to identify portland stone, Cretaceous chalk, greensand and gault clays but don't really know what these names mean

Reply 495

Plagioclase

21

Original post by NimbleNeil

Doing A2 evel fieldwork on 21st March in Dorset, anybody know which fossils / landforms / main characteristics of rocks are down there? I've been able to identify portland stone, Cretaceous chalk, greensand and gault clays but don't really know what these names mean

Only thing I know about Dorset is that it contains folding from farfield effects of the Alpine Orogeny in the Cenozoic and that there are some large hydrocarbon basins but have a look at this page from the University of Southampton (particularly the links at the bottom) which seems to have a wealth of information.

Reply 496

GeologyMaths

2

Is anyone doing A Level Geology?

Reply 497

GeologyMaths

2

Original post by NimbleNeil

Doing A2 evel fieldwork on 21st March in Dorset, anybody know which fossils / landforms / main characteristics of rocks are down there? I've been able to identify portland stone, Cretaceous chalk, greensand and gault clays but don't really know what these names mean

Yeah i went there 3 weeks ago, probably the worst place i've been. There are microfossils such as ostrocods in limestone obvs and other macrofossils...