Università Roma Tre

Planet Earth: shape and size of the Earth, the main movements of the Earth (rotation and revolution) and other long-term movements, the representation of the earth's surface, the geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude), orientation, time and its measure, the celestial environment.
The shape of the relief: the modelling of the terrestrial relief, the reading of the topographic maps, the marine hydrosphere, the continental hydrosphere, the cryosphere.
The materials of the Earth: minerals, the lithogenetic processes, the lithogenetic cycle, the magmatic rocks, the sedimentary rocks, the metamorphic rocks, the bedding and the deformation of the rocks.
Volcanic phenomena: magma and volcanic activity, the main types of eruptions, shape of volcanic buildings, products of volcanic activity, the geographic distribution of volcanoes, volcanoes and man (the volcanic risk).
Seismic phenomena: the theory of elastic rebound, the seismic cycle, types of seismic waves and their propagation and registration, the force of an earthquake (scales of intensity and magnitude), the geographic distribution of earthquakes, the seismic activity and the man (seismic risk)
Plate tectonics: the internal structure of the Earth, the structure of the crust, the Earth's magnetic field, Earth’s internal heat, the convective mantle, from the hypothesis of the drift of the continents to the formulation of the theory of plate tectonics.
The Earth as an integrated system: interaction between the different systems of the planet (biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, cryosphere), the earth's atmosphere, climate and meteorological phenomena, renewable and non-renewable natural resources.

Capire la Terra
J.P. Grotzinger, T-H Jordan
(Terza edizione italiana condotta sulla settima edizione americana)

Il Globo Terrestre e la sua evoluzione
E. L. Palmieri e M. Parotto
Sesta Edizione (2008)

Educational material distributed during the course