Geology and Geophysics

Entry requirements

2020 entry:

A UK undergraduate degree, or its international equivalent, in a related subject.

We may also consider your application if you have other qualifications or experience; please contact us to check before you apply.

2021 entry:

A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in a related subject.

We may also consider your application if you have other qualifications or experience; please contact us to check before you apply.

Months of entry

Anytime

Course content

The research degree in Geology and Geophysics draws on expertise from the School’s Earth and Planetary Science Research Institute.

The Earth and Planetary Science Research Institute studies the physical and chemical properties, origin and history of the Earth, and encompasses the major disciplines of geology, geochemistry, geodynamics, meteorology and geophysics.

We bring together hitherto separate fields to understand the way in which the Earth’s subsurface works: from atoms to plates, and on timescales ranging from seconds to billions of years.

Expertise

We have special expertise in:

• mineralogy
• igneous, metamorphic and experimental petrology
• palaeontology
• sandstone and carbonate diagenesis
• tectonics
• rock physics and chemistry
• petroleum geoscience
• seismic imaging
• seismic sequence stratigraphy

Research areas

Our research is applied to areas as diverse as carbon capture and storage and the examination of diamonds from the lower mantle.

The Edinburgh Earth Observatory, part of the Earth and Planetary Science Research Institute, is a multidisciplinary research unit, which provides a strategic focus and support base for the University’s expertise in the geosciences. Its main research focus is on understanding the Earth and its environment through the effective exploitation of both in situ and remote observations.

The Earth and Planetary Science Research Institute grouping, and the associated new joint Graduate School established by the Edinburgh Regional Partnership in Engineering and Mathematics, now contains Europe’s largest grouping of subsurface research geologists and specialist geophysicists in a single city.