Course Description

Earthquakes, EART 11

What is the probability of experiencing a big earthquake? Where will it occur and what can we do to be prepared? This course will investigate the causes and effects of earthquakes. It will address why and where they occur, how they are measured, mitigated, and predicted. The course explores tectonic plate motion, frictional faulting, earthquake triggering, wave propagation, earthquake damage, earthquake-related hazards, human-induced earthquakes and much more.

Key Information

Credit: 5 quarter units / 3.33 semester units credit
UC Santa Cruz, Earth and Planetary Sciences

Course Credit:

Upon successful completion, all online courses offered through cross-enrollment provide UC unit credit. Some courses are approved for GE, major preparation and/or, major credit or can be used as a substitute for a course at your campus.

If "unit credit" is listed by your campus, consult your department, academic adviser or Student Affairs division to inquire about the petition process for more than unit credit for the course.

UC Berkeley:
Unit Credit

UC Davis:
General Education: SE, SL.

UC Irvine:
Unit Credit

UC Los Angeles:
General Education: Physical Science (non-lab)

UC Merced:
Unit Credit (see your Academic Advisor)

UC Riverside:
Course Equivalence: UCR GEO 8 - EARTHQUAKE COUNTRY

UC San Diego:
General Education: TMC 1 course toward Physics GE Natural Science requirement or 1 course toward lower division disciplinary breadth if noncontiguous to major; Warren - May be counted depending on major/PofC; Sixth - 1 Analytic Methodologies, Seventh - 1 course towards Alternatives - Natural Sciences and Engineering; Revelle one course towards Natural Science by petition; Muir: 1 course in a Natural Science theme in "Chemistry, Physics, and the Environment"

UC San Francisco:
Unit Credit

UC Santa Barbara:
Course Equivalence: Likely equivalent to Earth 9 after petition
General Education: Area C - Science, Mathematics, and Technology

UC Santa Cruz:
General Education: MF (Mathematical and Formal Reasoning)

Course Creators

Susan Schwartz

Susan Schwartz is a Professor in the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department at UC Santa Cruz. She teaches 2 different classes designed for non-science majors, Geology of National Parks and Earthquakes. In addition, she teaches a class for undergraduate Earth Science majors called “Geologic Hazards” and a variety of graduate classes in her specialty of seismology and geophysics. Her research addresses problems in earthquake and glacier mechanics. Much of her research is accomplished through the design and implementation of field experiments. This work has taken her to many interesting places including Costa Rica, New Zealand, Alaska and Antarctica. 

Susan Schwartz is a Professor in the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department at UC Santa Cruz. She teaches 2 different classes designed for non-science majors, Geology of National Parks and Earthquakes. In addition, she teaches a class for undergraduate Earth Science majors called “Geologic Hazards” and a variety of graduate classes in her specialty of seismology and geophysics. Her research ...

Susan Schwartz is a Professor in the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department at UC Santa Cruz. She teaches 2 different classes designed for non-science majors, Geology of National Parks and Earthquakes. In addition, she teaches a class for undergraduate Earth Science majors called “Geologic Hazards” and a variety of graduate classes in her specialty of seismology and geophysics. Her research addresses problems in earthquake and glacier mechanics. Much of her research is accomplished through the design and implementation of field experiments. This work has taken her to many interesting places including Costa Rica, New Zealand, Alaska and Antarctica. 


Thomas Goebel
Thomas Goebel was a research seismologist and lecturer at UC Santa Cruz and is now a professor at the Center for Earthquake Research and Information at the University of Memphis. His research focuses an earthquakes and the mechanics of faulting from centimeter-scale lab experiments and human-induced earthquakes to large earthquakes in California and Oklahoma. He enjoys thinking about the earthquake problem at the scale of tiny cracks, to earthquakes that are 100 km long.  His research uses a wide variety of seismic, geodetic, hydrological and lab data, in areas such as California, France, Switzerland, and El Salvador. Thomas Goebel was a research seismologist and lecturer at UC Santa Cruz and is now a professor at the Center for Earthquake Research and Information at the University of Memphis. His research focuses an earthquakes and the mechanics of faulting from centimeter-scale lab experiments and human-induced earthquakes to large earthquakes in California and Oklahoma. He enjoys thinking about the ...

Thomas Goebel was a research seismologist and lecturer at UC Santa Cruz and is now a professor at the Center for Earthquake Research and Information at the University of Memphis. His research focuses an earthquakes and the mechanics of faulting from centimeter-scale lab experiments and human-induced earthquakes to large earthquakes in California and Oklahoma. He enjoys thinking about the earthquake problem at the scale of tiny cracks, to earthquakes that are 100 km long.  His research uses a wide variety of seismic, geodetic, hydrological and lab data, in areas such as California, France, Switzerland, and El Salvador.

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