Earth Sciences

Program Description

Why study Earth Sciences at VU Amsterdam?
Understanding how planet Earth works is important for everyone. This is what Earth Sciences is all about. VU Amsterdam offers you a range of specializations that will help you become a geoscientist who is keenly aware of the crucial and intriguing interrelations of System Earth. The programme is a varied mix of lectures,
tutorials, and practicals. There is also a strong emphasis on fieldwork and lab work aimed at developing practical skills.

STRUCTURE OF THE PROGRAMME
The two-year Master's programme starts with a set of core courses, followed by optional courses and two large research projects that can be combined with company traineeships, fieldwork, lab work, and/or computer modelling. This programme gives you the opportunity to choose a specialization, but selecting one does not mean that you are restricted to a single area.

SPECIALIZATIONS
• Geology and Geochemistry: a specialization focused on the solid earth and planets that combines knowledge of sedimentology, igneous and metamorphic petrology, tectonics, isotope geochemistry, and planetary science.
• Earth Surface Processes, Climate and Records: take a broad programme focusing on the Earth’s surface, and learn how to account for the interaction between climate and marine/terrestrial ecosystems by studying the geological past.
• Earth Sciences and Economics: learn how to keep our economies healthy using scientific knowledge about the Earth.

Highlights

• International in scope - Many international staff members and students
• Interdisciplinary - VU Amsterdam is renowned for combining all Earth Sciences specializations with other subject areas. Why limit yourself to being just a geologist or a geographer? Become a true Earth Scientist, with far-reaching background knowledge that allows you to really make the most of your future.
• Small-scale - The programme’s excellent reputation is partly due to the fact that it is small enough to facilitate personal contact between all participants but large enough to encompass the full range of pecializations.

What`s Included

The programme gives you the opportunity to choose a specialization, but selecting one does not mean that you are restricted to just that one subject. You have the option of exploring every aspect of one specific area in great detail if you want to, but you are also free to choose your own subjects for up to a quarter of the required credits.

Here is a small selection of the subjects we offer:
• Sedimentary Environments: Dynamics and Climate Change Recorders
• Building Tectonic Models
• Advanced Geochronology
• Contaminant Hydrogeology
• Magmatic Processes
• Soil Vegetation Atmosphere Exchange