Geology Major (B.Sc.) (66 credits)
Offered by: Earth & Planetary Sciences (Faculty of Science)
Degree: Bachelor of Science
Program credit weight: 66
Program Description
The program curriculum provides a rigorous foundation in the fundamental earth science subjects and in advanced subjects relevant to exploration for energy resources, industrial and ore minerals, and to environmental geosciences. The program meets the academic requirements shared by the professional orders for geologists and environmental geoscientists in Canadian provinces.
Degree Requirements — B.Sc.
This program is offered as part of a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree.
To graduate, students must satisfy both their program requirements and their degree requirements.
- The program requirements (i.e., the specific courses that make up this program) are listed under the Course Tab (above).
- The degree requirements—including the mandatory Foundation program, appropriate degree structure, and any additional components—are outlined on the Degree Requirements page.
Students are responsible for ensuring that this program fits within the overall structure of their degree and that all degree requirements are met. Consult the Degree Planning Guide on the SOUSA website for additional guidance.
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Required Courses (30 credits)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| EPSC 210 | Introductory Mineralogy. | 3 |
Introductory Mineralogy. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Elementary crystallography, chemistry and identification of the principal rock-forming and ore minerals, in hand specimens and using optical microscopy. Demonstrations of other techniques applied to the identification of minerals and to the analysis of their composition and structure. Optional 2-day field trip. | ||
| EPSC 212 | Introductory Petrology. | 3 |
Introductory Petrology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A survey of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks and the processes responsible for their formation. The laboratory will emphasize the recognition of rocks in both hand-specimen and thin section using optical microscopes. | ||
| EPSC 220 | Principles of Geochemistry. | 3 |
Principles of Geochemistry. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Basic concepts in geochemistry and the application of geochemical principles of chemistry to geological subdisciplines. Particular emphasis on origin of elements, controls on their distribution in Earth and cosmos, isotopes, organic geochemistry and water chemistry. Application of phase diagrams to geology. | ||
| EPSC 231 | Field School 1. | 3 |
Field School 1. Terms offered: Summer 2025 Geological mapping of selected areas, preparation of maps, reports from field notes, aerial photographs, etc. | ||
| EPSC 233 | Earth and Life Through Time | 3 |
Earth and Life Through Time Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Interpretation of stratified rocks; history of Earth with special emphasis on the regions of North America; outline of the history of life recorded in fossils. | ||
| EPSC 240 | Geology in the Field. | 3 |
Geology in the Field. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Lectures and field-based exercises, held locally on campus and in the Montreal area, introduce students to the reading and interpretation of a topographic map, the basic description of a stratigraphic section and the inference of its depositional environment, the nature of intrusive contacts, and the field measurement of some structural features and geophysical properties. Students plot geological information on a map, identify landforms in aerial views and learn the tectonic features diagnostic of plate margins. By the end of the course, the students relate a geological map to the geological history of Quebec. | ||
| EPSC 303 | Structural Geology. | 3 |
Structural Geology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Primary igneous and sedimentary structures, attitudes of planes and lines, stress and strain, fracturing of rocks, faulting, homogeneous strain, description and classification of folds, foliation and lineation, orthographic and stereographic projections. | ||
| EPSC 320 | Elementary Earth Physics. | 3 |
Elementary Earth Physics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Physical properties of Earth and the processes associated with its existence as inferred from astronomy, geodesy, seismology, geology, terrestrial magnetism and thermal evolution. | ||
| EPSC 340 | Earth and Planetary Inference. | 3 |
Earth and Planetary Inference. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Introduction to modern techniques for combining geological, geophysical, and geochemical measurements with theoretical knowledge about Earth and other planets. Use of tools from time series analysis and inverse methods to build models and test hypotheses within the Earth and Planetary Sciences. | ||
| MATH 222 | Calculus 3. | 3 |
Calculus 3. Terms offered: Summer 2025 Taylor series, Taylor's theorem in one and several variables. Review of vector geometry. Partial differentiation, directional derivative. Extreme of functions of 2 or 3 variables. Parametric curves and arc length. Polar and spherical coordinates. Multiple integrals. | ||
Complementary Courses (36 credits)
15 credits of advanced earth science
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| EPSC 355 | Sedimentary Geology. | 3 |
Sedimentary Geology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The origin, classification, diagenesis and economic importance of sedimentary rocks. The physical properties of sedimentary rocks, the processes by which sediments are transported and deposited, and the environments in which they accumulate. Introduction to techniques for describing and analyzing sedimentary rocks in thin section, hand specimen, and on the outcrop. | ||
| EPSC 423 | Igneous Petrology. | 3 |
Igneous Petrology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Physical properties, nucleation, crystallization, differentiation and emplacement of magmas. Integrated studies on various rock suites. | ||
| EPSC 425 | Sediments to Sequences. | 3 |
Sediments to Sequences. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Advanced techniques for interrogating the sedimentary record. Exploration of both descriptive and quantitative approaches to describing and interpreting the stratigraphic record, including sedimentary facies analysis, seismic stratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy, and chemostratigraphy. Other topics include methods for dating and age-calibrating the stratigraphic record and approaches to analyzing sedimentary cycles. | ||
| EPSC 445 | Metamorphic Petrology. | 3 |
Metamorphic Petrology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The origin, classification and petrological significance of metamorphic rocks, from the point of view of theory, experiment and field observations. | ||
| EPSC 452 | Mineral Deposits. | 3 |
Mineral Deposits. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A systematic review of the nature and origin of the major types of metallic and non-metallic mineral deposits; typical occurrences; geographic distribution; applications to exploration. Emphasis on magmatic ores, massive sulfides, iron formations. | ||
| GEOG 272 | Earth's Changing Surface. | 3 |
Earth's Changing Surface. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Introduction to the study of landforms as products of geomorphic and geologic systems acting at and near the Earth's surface. The process geomorphology approach will be used to demonstrate how landforms of different geomorphic settings represent a dynamic balance between forces acting in the environment and the physical properties of materials present. | ||
3 credits of environmental and ore-forming processes
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| EPSC 519 | Isotopes in Earth and Environmental Science. | 3 |
Isotopes in Earth and Environmental Science. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The theory and application of stable and radioactive isotope measurements in the Earth and environmental sciences, including applications in geology, hydrology, climatology, biogeochemistry, and ecology. | ||
| EPSC 325 | Environmental Geochemistry. | 3 |
Environmental Geochemistry. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The basic concepts and calculations needed to quantitatively understand the geochemical processes occurring between minerals and waters in Earth’s near-surface environment. The important concepts of thermodynamics and kinetics will be exemplified using examples that concentrate on reactions between minerals and water and their impact on the environment. | ||
| EPSC 549 | Hydrogeology. | 3 |
Hydrogeology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Introduction to groundwater flow through porous media. Notions of fluid potential and hydraulic head. Darcy flux and Darcy's Law. Physical properties of porous media and their measurement. Equation of groundwater flow. Flow systems. Hydraulics of pumping and recharging wells. Notions of hydrology. Groundwater quality and contamination. Physical processes of contaminant transport. | ||
| EPSC 561 | Ore-forming Processes. | 3 |
Ore-forming Processes. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Physicochemical controls of hydrothermal mineral deposition. Discussion of fluid inclusion theory and application; stable isotope systematics, wall-rock alteration; ore mineral solubility and speciation; and mechanisms of mineral deposition. | ||
| EPSC 590 | Applied Geochemistry Seminar. | 3 |
Applied Geochemistry Seminar. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Seminar course devoted to field case studies that illustrate the applications of geochemical principles to solving geologic problems. Each student will prepare and lead a class devoted to a geochemical subject of their own choosing. | ||
| GEOG 305 | Soils and Environment. | 3 |
Soils and Environment. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Discussion of the major properties of soils; soil formation, classification and mapping; land capability assessment; the role and response of soils in natural and disturbed environments (e.g. global change, ecosystem disturbance). | ||
18 credits of other specializations can be drawn from the categories above or from:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| EPSC 331 | Field School 2. | 3 |
Field School 2. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Two week field studies in selected branches of the geosciences. | ||
| EPSC 334 | Invertebrate Paleontology. | 3 |
Invertebrate Paleontology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Preservation of fossils; the fossil record of invertebrates; use of fossils in stratigraphy and paleoecology; fossils in evolutionary studies. Fossils of invertebrates are studied in the laboratory. | ||
| EPSC 470D1 | Undergraduate Thesis Research . | 3 |
Undergraduate Thesis Research . Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Research project, designed by a student in consultation with a departmental faculty member, leading to a thesis. | ||
| EPSC 470D2 | Undergraduate Thesis Research. | 3 |
Undergraduate Thesis Research. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. See EPSC 470D1 for description. | ||
| EPSC 482 | Research in Earth and Planetary Sciences. | 3 |
Research in Earth and Planetary Sciences. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Research project designed by a student in consultation with a departmental faculty member of Earth Planetary Sciences. | ||
| EPSC 501 | Crystal Chemistry. | 3 |
Crystal Chemistry. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Discussion of crystal structures and compositions of important mineral groups, especially oxides, sulphides and silicates. Solid solution. Relation of structure to morphology and to chemical and physical properties of the rock-forming minerals. | ||
| EPSC 520 | Earthquake Physics and Geology. | 3 |
Earthquake Physics and Geology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. What are earthquakes and how do we study them? Fundamental mechanics of faulting and earthquake source processes are explored from theoretical and observational perspectives. The lectures cover concepts of earthquake source mechanism, including seismic waves, earthquake energy budget, fracture and friction mechanics, earthquake cycle deformation, earthquake triggering and prediction, and seismic hazards. This is complemented by in-class discussion on recent major discoveries and challenges in the field. Students learn to investigate earthquake source process by using seismic, geodetic and geological data in computer labs and course projects supervised by the instructor(s). | ||
| EPSC 522 | Advanced Environmental Hydrology. | 3 |
Advanced Environmental Hydrology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Traditional and emerging theories of dominant runoff generation processes. Streamflow generation. Surface and near-surface solute and contaminant transport. Concentration-discharge relationships. Geochemical mixing models. Dyes and biological tracers of water. Isotope ecohydrology. Water source and water age estimation approaches. Development, execution, and evaluation of process-based watershed models. Case studies from forested, agricultural and periurban watersheds. | ||
| EPSC 525 | Microbiology of the Earth System. | 3 |
Microbiology of the Earth System. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Examination of microbes that have influenced the earth’s elemental cycles that sustain life on the planet, their interactions with the goal of understanding the diversity, dynamics and function of microbes in shaping our environment. Topics include global biogeochemical cycling, marine microbiology, microbe-metal interactions, bioremediation, astrobiology and the impact of climate change on microbial processes. | ||
| EPSC 530 | Volcanology. | 3 |
Volcanology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The physical mechanisms which drive volcanoes and volcanic activity are presented. Descriptive, practical and theoretical approaches to the study of volcanoes are discussed. | ||
| EPSC 547 | Modelling Geochemical Processes. | 3 |
Modelling Geochemical Processes. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Modelling will be applied to construct equilibrium and transport models that quantitatively investigate geochemical processes occurring on Earth and other planets. Topics include, but are not restricted to: box modelling of the transport of elements between geochemical reservoirs, chemical reactions of components during flow through systems, interactions between multiple, competing reactions and/or processes. Model applications will vary from the core and mantle of planets to their surface environments and humans' impact upon them. | ||
| EPSC 548 | Igneous Petrogenetic Mechanisms. | 3 |
Igneous Petrogenetic Mechanisms. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Investigation of the primary mechanisms causing the diversity of igneous rock compositions on the Earth, other planets, asteroids, and meteorite parent bodies. | ||
| EPSC 567 | Advanced Volcanology. | 3 |
Advanced Volcanology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An in-depth approach to physical and chemical processes associated with volcanic systems. Examination of magma chamber dynamics, magma behaviour in conduits, and eruption mechanisms. Study of eruptive products including pyroclastic deposits, lava flows and lava domes, and volcanic gases. Volcanic-tectonic and magma-hydrothermal interactions. | ||
| GEOG 201 | Introductory Geo-Information Science. | 3 |
Introductory Geo-Information Science. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An introduction to Geographic Information Systems. The systematic management of spatial data. The use and construction of maps. The use of microcomputers and software for mapping and statistical work. Air photo and topographic map analyses. | ||
| GEOG 322 | Environmental Hydrology. | 3 |
Environmental Hydrology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Quantitative, experimental study of the principles governing the movement of water at or near the Earth's surface and how the research relates to the chemistry and biology of ecosystems. | ||
Other ATOC, EPSC, ESYS, GEOG, MATH and MIME courses may also be used, with the permission of the Director of undergraduate studies, if they meet the academic requirements of professional orders in most Canadian provinces.