We offer a variety of structure-related courses at the graduate and undergraduate level. In addition to the courses listed below, we regularly run one-off topic seminars for graduate students, often in association with a department-supported field trip.
Undergraduate Courses
Introduction to Geologic Structures (GEOL 202)
This course teaches students to work with geologic maps and cross sections with the goal of achieving fluency in 3D visualization of structures.
Structural Geology (GEOL 455)
This course is the foundational course for structural geology at UW Madison. We cover geometries of geologic structures (folds, faults, shear zones), strain theory, stress theory, and rheology. We finish the semester with applications to regional tectonics.
Graduate Courses
Advanced Structural Geology
This graduate course is a deep dive into structural geology data types, mathematical representations of strain, and statistical analysis of quantitative structural data.
Field Analysis
This graduate course provides training on how to organize and work with complex field data, how to perform geometric analysis, and how to make stress and strain interpretations using kinematic and dynamic analysis.
Structural Petrology
This course provides a foundation for students analyzing structures at the thin section scale. Thin sections provide a wealth of petrological and structural information, including relative timing of deformation or mineral growth and deformation conditions.