Class Schedule
This information is provided for your convenience. Course schedules are subject to change. Official course schedules are published on Schedule Builder and the Course Search Tool.
Geology classes are great for GEs!
Check out the class voted the best GE in 2024: GEL 025, Geology of National Parks!
Scheduling tools
Undergraduate course offerings
Geology major courses by quarter
Marine and Coastal Science major courses by quarter
Graduate Course offerings
See https://eps.ucdavis.edu/students/grad/handbook for graduate program course requirements. EPS grad students can also take Upper Division (#100-199) classes for credit towards their degree.
Prior year Geology course offerings
2023-2024 | 2022-2023 | 2021-2022 | 2020-2021 | 2019-2020 | 2018-2019 | 2017-2018
Academic Year 2024-2025
- Fall 2024 | Graduate
GEL 232: Oceans and Climate Change | Palmer
Graduate course breadth area: #4
This graduate course looks at the connections between oceans, earth, and climate systems. Topics vary by year and are selected by students and faculty. Recent topics have included reconstruction of past climates of western North America through the Holocene, and the history and future of oxygen minimum zones in the ocean. Class is structured to feature peer reviewed literature as well as including elements of public science communication on oceans and climate change.
GEL 290: Seminar | TBD
Does not count as a breadth or general course for graduate degree requirements.
Description coming soon.
GEL 298: Geochemistry of Natural Waters | Atekwana
CRN: 34047
3 units
Graduate course breadth area: #2
Course Description: Geochemistry of natural waters (surface and groundwater); sampling and analyses, water quality, chemical thermodynamics; carbonate system and pH, clays and ion exchange, adsorption, kinetics, redocx reactions; organic carbon.
Course objective: To understand the geological processes that control the chemical composition of natural waters. Learn the main classes of reactions that control the behavior of major chemical species in natural waters. Learn to use some geochemical “tools” (including sampling and analyses equipment, software, etc.) to study major reactions in natural waters i.e., perform simple geochemical modeling.
Students will acquire a basic understanding of the main classes of reactions, knowledge of the factors regulating chemical processes in natural waters, as well as the ways in which these processes influence the behavior of the major chemical species. Knowledge of a few basic pieces of information concerning the system of interest (e.g., pH, redox conditions, soil/sediment/rock composition, etc.) should allow students to readily apply that understanding to new situations in order to make reasonable predictions about the chemical composition of natural waters and about the transport and fate of chemical species in natural waters.
Course Format: Theory – lectures, discussions, occasional short readings, and/or writing assignments and Laboratory exercises which will include sample collection and analyses, data processing, modeling, and report writing.
GEL 298: Regional Synthesis of Geophysical & Geological Data for Geodynamic Modeling | Billen
CRN: 34034
3 units
Graduate course breadth area: #3
Students will learn about the global and regional data sets that provide the framework for constructing and testing geodynamic simulations. Time will be spent reading the papers associate with global data sets, conducting literature and online searches for regional data sets, and synthesizing data in maps and cross sections. Students should have some familiarity with python and will be learning to use PyGMT for synthesizing data sets for a specific region using maps and cross sections. They will start by using provided PyGMT scripts to create maps for individual data sets for the Cascadia subduction zone. Students will also choose a region of interest for themselves, and concurrently modify the provided script to create maps and cross sections for their region. A final project will include a descriptive report of the region of interest using the synthesis maps and cross sections created throughout the quarter. This report mimics the introduction/background section of research article using numerical simulations to understand tectonics. The course format will include 1 hour of lecture/paper discussion each week; 1-2 hours of coding office hours with the instructor available to answer questions, and 6 hours of independent work time (on average).GEL 390: Methods of Teaching Geology | Billen
Taught as GEL 298 for 1 unit. CRN: 34059
Does not count as a breadth or general course for graduate degree requirements.
Description coming soon.- Winter 2025 | Graduate
- GEL 281: Instrumental Techniques | Yin
Graduate course breadth area: #2
Description coming soon.
GEL 290: Seminar | TBD
Does not count as a breadth or general course for graduate degree requirements.
Description coming soon.
GEL 298: TBD | Griffin
CRN: 24750
Number of units TBD
Graduate course breadth area: #TBD
Description coming soon.
GEL 298: An Introduction to Subduction Geodynamics Modeling | Billen
CRN: 24749
3 units
Graduate course breadth area: #3
Students will learn about the fundamental physical processes that govern subduction on Earth by building a 2D geodynamic model for a specific subduction zone or to explore a specific process using the software ASPECT and Geodynamic WorldBuilder. Students will also learn how to use Paraview and Python for visualizing and analysing model results. A final project will include a descriptive report of the region or process of interest, present the model design and explain choices made based on data or numerical tests, and describe the dynamics present in the models completed. This report mimics the methods and results sections of research article using numerical simulations. The course format will include 1 hour of lecture/paper discussion each week; 1-2 hours of coding office hours with the instructor available to answer questions, and 6 hours of independent work time (on average).
GEL 390: Methods of Teaching Geology | Billen
Taught as GEL 298 for 1 unit. CRN: 24774
Does not count as a breadth or general course for graduate degree requirements.
Description coming soon. - Spring 2025 | Graduate
- GEL 205: Advanced Field Stratigraphy | Sumner
Graduate course breadth area: #1
Topic: Snowball Earth Stratigraphy in Eastern California. Meets about 4 times winter quarter, fieldwork over spring break, and meets about 4 times spring quarter.
GEL 230: Geomorphology | Pinter
Graduate course breadth area: #1
CRN: 55556
Description coming soon.
GEL 290: Seminar | TBD
Does not count as a breadth or general course for graduate degree requirements.
Description coming soon.
GEL 298: Translating geoscience basic research to an applied geoscience career | Montanez
CRN: 42542
3 units
Thursdays 1-4 in Earth and Physical Sciences 1119
Graduate course breadth area: #2
This course will expose geoscience graduate students to a range of unconventional career prospects that provide opportunities to apply basic scientific principles and field, analytical, coding and/or modeling skills to careers focused on solving real-world problems. The course, which meets weekly (Thurs. 1 to 4 pm) will introduce the students to a series of professionals, with advanced geoscience degrees, who will speak about their paths to successful careers in small to international-scale nonprofits, for profit start-ups, non-fossil fuel corporations, government agencies, and in academia. These professionals will provide strategies for identifying and developing future careers in their work sector. Participants in the class will engage one-on-one with the speakers and will develop skills for how to best prepare and promote themselves to potential employers through a series of verbal and written exercises over the academic quarter.
Last updated May 2024
Academic Year 2025-2026
- Fall 2025 | Graduate
- GEL 214: Active Tectonics | Oskin
Graduate course breadth area: #1
Description coming soon.
GEL 219: Fracture and Flow of Rocks | Billen
Graduate course breadth area: #3
This course is designed to provide students, with diverse undergraduate backgrounds, with a strong foundation in the mechanical properties of rocks throughout the lithosphere and mantle. We start by establishing a common understanding of terminology and phenomena, review/introduce stress and strain (including the concept of tensors) and elastic deformation. We then shift to understanding modes of failure including fracture and rate-and-state friction, with applications to earthquake processes. We then introduce viscous deformation and relate this to other deformation processes through the concept of a strength-depth profile as both a time-dependent and spatially variable view of the lithosphere. Finally, we finish with a microscopic view of viscous deformation (plasticity) and its relationship to seismic observations in the mantle and long-term tectonics. Targeted paper discussions will occur at key junctures in the course to help synthesize the topics and learn how to critically read papers establishing or applying to rheological concepts. Each student will also complete a literature review based term project on a specific type of rheology of relevance to their own research.
GEL 290: Seminar | TBD
Does not count as a breadth or general course for graduate degree requirements.
GEL 298: Numerical Climatology | Sun
Graduate course breadth area: 1
CRN: 33585
3 units
Description coming soon.
GEL 390: Methods of Teaching Geology | Billen
Required for first-year students; Does not count as a breadth or general course for graduate degree requirements.
1 unit
Description coming soon. - Winter 2026 | Graduate
- GEL 290: Seminar | TBD
Does not count as a breadth or general course for graduate degree requirements.
GEL 390: Methods of Teaching Geology | Billen
Required for first-year students; Does not count as a breadth or general course for graduate degree requirements.
1 unit
Description coming soon. - Spring 2026 | Graduate
- GEL 230: Geomorphology & River Management | Pinter
Graduate course breadth area: #1
Description coming soon.
GEL 290: Seminar | TBD
Does not count as a breadth or general course for graduate degree requirements.
GEL 298: TBD | Griffin
Graduate course breadth area: TBD
CRN: TBD
3 units
Description coming soon.
GEL 298: Geochemical Modeling | Watkins
Graduate course breadth area: #2
CRN: TBD
3 units
This course provides a hands-on study of modeling in the earth sciences, with emphasis on geochemical problems. Students will learn how to manipulate and solve differential equations numerically and to interpret the solutions for a variety of geological applications. The emphasis is on applications as opposed to a deep understanding of underlying theory. This course is intended to give upper level undergraduates and graduates the tools needed to recognize key assumptions and communicate ideas quantitatively across a range of sub-disciplines.
Last updated June 2025