Origin and Evolution of the Earth

Big Bang; origin of elements; early Solar System objects; bulk Earth composition; comparison of Earth and other Solar System objects; core-mantle differentiation; composition of the terrestrial mantle; mantle melting and geochemical variability of magmas; major, trace element and radiogenic isotope geochemistry; redox evolution of the mantle; evolution of the atmosphere and biosphere.

References

• Charles H. Langmuir and Wally Broecker, How to build a habitable planet, Revised and expanded edition, Princeton University Press, 2012
• Alan P. Dickin, Radiogenic Isotope Geology, Cambridge University Press, 1995
• John D. Winter, Principles of Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology, 2nd edition, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2010