Lessons (32h)
Introduction -geology, economy and sustainable development; natural reserve and resources; geologic hazard and risk; global changes and local catastrophes; the Italian territory's fragility from hazard to risk; Hydrogeological instability, and the role of forest vegetation for soil and water conservation.

An overview on geologic time and its measure – the geologic record, the scientific method, the principles of geology; the Age of the Earth, the geological time scale, radiometric methods of rock dating; The Precambrian, origin, and evolution of the Earth system, planetesimals and planetoids, differentiation of the Earth's core, mantle and crust, the giant impact and the origin of the moon, the evolution of the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere; The Phanerozoic, the fossils and the relative dating, chronostratigraphic and geochronological units; the broad subdivision of geological time and mass extinction events, the International Commission on Stratigraphy and the International Chronostratigraphic Chart (ICS).

Earth as a system of interacting dynamic components - Earth's shape and surface (hypsographic curve); the Earth's layered structure; driving forces (internal heat, external solar input), Earth's rotation and Coriolis effect; the big Eart's cycles (atmospheric and oceanic circulation; hydrologic cycle, mantle convection and plate tectonics, the rocks cycle, the geochemical cycle); the biosphere (geobiological events in Earth's History); the cryosphere, albedo and land use; balancing the geosystems; (trigger effects and feedback).

Exploring Earth's Interior - astronomical data; direct observations: surface data and deep boreholes (Kola borehole); seismic waves and seismology; internal layering and their composition; seismic tomography; Earth's gravity field, the geoid; Earth's internal heat and temperature; heat flow; the geothermal gradient; the Earth's magnetic field and its variations; paleomagnetism; Thermoremanent Magnetization (TRM), Depositional Remanent Magnetization (DRM ); magnetic stratigraphy, the paleomagnetic time scale, chrons, and sub-chrons.

Seismic hazard and risk - Elastic rebound theory, fault rupture during Earthquakes, seismographs and seismogram; seismic wawes (P-Wawe, S-Wave, surface wave); hypocenter and epicenter; Richter magnitude scale; moment magnitude; modified Mercalli intensity scale; earthquake and capable fault, Itahca Project (ITaly HAzards from CApable faulting – ISPRA); earthquakes and tsunamis; seismic classification of the national territory; earthquake recurrence interval, Parametric Catalogue of Italian Earthquakes (INGV); Catalogue of the Italian Tsunamis (INGV); seismic microzonation (regional data).

Minerals as the building blocks of the rocks - Minerals and crystals definitions, amorphous and crystalline minerals; crystals morphology and symmetry (systems, classes; and space groups); chemical classes of minerals; the atomic structure of minerals; physical and chemical properties of the most common rock-forming minerals; minerals and rocks main structures and textures.

Introduction to the study of rocks an overview - the main groups of rocks (igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic); origin, occurrence, and basic principles of their classification; the rocks in the legend of geological maps (lithostratigraphic units), the technical classification of rocks (the relationship between lithology, geomorphology, hydrogeology, and pedology).

The Hydrologic cycle and groundwaters - the distribution of waters on Earth; water cycle and hydrogeological balance; water flow through soils and rocks (permeability and porosity); the groundwater table (vadose and phreatic zone); the main types of aquifers and springs; Hydrothermal waters; salinization, pollution, and the crisis of water resources.

Plate tectonics and orogenic processes – plate tectonics the unifying theory; the engine of plate tectonics; the mosaic of plates; continental and oceanic crust; shields, orogens, basins (foreland basin, forearc, and backarc basin), large igneous provinces, rift zones, mid-ocean ridge (MOR), hot spots, trenches, passive margins; plate tectonic and orogenic processes (subduction and continental collision); orogenic systems (thrust belt, foreland basin, wedge top basin, foredeep, forebulge, backbulge), orogenic cycle (Wilson cycle); the geological evolution of Italy an overview.

Mapping geologic units and structures – the deformation processes of the rocks; the measuring of strike and dip; rock’s deformation structure (nomenclature of the main types of folds and fault), thrusts, horst, and graben; the geologic maps legend, stratigraphic units; geologic cross-sections; tectonic units; structural maps; introduction to reading geological maps; the 1:100,000 Geological Map of Italy; The CARG project and the 1: 50,000 geological and geothematic maps of Italy; The Geological Survey of Italy Geoportal, (geomapviewer and WebGIS applications).

Igneous rocks and processes: magma consolidation and magmatic differentiation processes; the chemical and mineral composition of igneous rocks, common minerals in igneous rocks; intrusive bodies; volcanoes (eruptive styles); the main igneous rocks types (basic textures, structures, geometry, and landforms); intrusive and hypabyssal (subvolcanic); Pyroclastic; Lavas - hydrothermal activity and deposits; igneous activity and plate tectonics; volcanic hazards and risk in Italy.

Sedimentary rocks and processes - sedimentary environments; sedimentary processes – sedimentary stage of the rock cycle (weathering, erosion, transportation, deposition, burial, and diagenesis); sedimentary basins; classification of sedimentary rocks (clastic, chemical/evaporite, biochemical, organic/carbon compounds); sedimentary structures and facies; the principles of stratigraphy and the Italian Guide to Stratigraphic classification and terminology.

Metamorphic rocks and processes - causes of metamorphism; type of metamorphism: regional, contact, burial, seafloor (hydrothermally altered), impact, cataclastic; grade of metamorphism, metamorphic facies; metamorphic structures and textures (fabric); classification of low-grade metamorphic rock by protolith (-meta, -ortho, -para); classification of metamorphic rocks by texture (foliated, granoblastic, porphyroblastic rocks), by bulk chemical composition; (pelitic /clay-aluminous minerals, quartzo-feldspathic, calcareous, mafic, magnesian, ferruginous, manganiferous); classification of metamorphic rocks by mineral composition (qualifier terms); plate tectonics and metamorphism

Marine and coastal environment, processes and deposits - coastal environment (coastal forms, coastal erosion problems); tidal and subtidal environments, continental shelf environment; evaporite environment (Messinian salinity crisis); terrigenous-siliciclastic environment (turbidites deposits); carbonate environment (platform, reef, barrier reef, mound, atoll); deep-sea environment.

Weathering - the main factors controls on weathering; chemical weathering (hydrolysis, dissolution, oxidation), carbon dioxide, weathering, and the climate system; physical weathering and erosion; the residue of weathering eluvial deposits, soil formation; plate tectonic, erosion cycle and planation surfaces.

Mass Wasting (gravitational processes) deposits and landform: deposits produced primarily by gravitational processes (debris cone and talus), landslides, mass movements classification (Cruden & Varnes, 1996), the IFFI Project (Italian Landslide Inventory) landslide hazard and risk.

Slope deposits and landform made by gravity and running water: floods and instability phenomena related to the action of surface waters; rain splash and sheet erosion, rill, and gully erosion, accelerated soil erosion, soil loss, badlands, colluvial deposits, fan cone, alluvial fan, mud fan, soil creep and solifluction.

Stream deposits and landform: drainage network, drainage basin; drainage patterns, stream valley, and channels types; stream waters flow (laminar and turbulent); sediment erosion, transport (bed load, suspended load, saltation) and deposition ( grain size, velocity relationship graph); primary sediment bedforms (dunes and ripples); deltas types (lobate, estuarine, arcuate, bird’s foot); the longitudinal profile, graded stream, and base levels concept; alluvial fan; fluvial terraces; continental carbonate deposits (calcareous tufa), lake deposits; stream discharge; flood; flood recurrence interval; flood hazard and risk.

Wind deposits processes environments, and landforms - wind as erosion, transport, and deposition agent; wind belts and atmospheric circulation; wind strength; wind sediments particle size, windblown dust, sand; loess; sandblasting and deflation; desert pavement; desert landforms; the wind environment (hot desert, glacial outwash plain, coast affected by predominantly onshore winds), major desert area in the world; desert weathering; playa lakes and evaporite; desert landscape, pediment; soil loss and desertification.

Karst deposits, forms, and processes - karst and pseudokarst processes; factors affecting karst processes; sketch of a typic karst system (exokarst, epikarst endokarst, vadose and saturated zone) main karst landforms (karren, limestone pavement, sinkhole/doline, uvala, Poje, Foibe, Cockpit, karst towers, hum disappearing or sinking streams/dry valley, blind valley, ponor, caverns/caves); the cycle of erosion in a karst topography; karst deposit/speleothems (stalactites stalagmites, columns); karst landscape and inventories (caves and sinkholes) in Italy, hazard and risk in karst areas.

Glacial processes, landscape, and deposits: ice as a rock; valley glaciers, continental glaciers; glacial budgets (accumulation and ablation); glacial flow, plastic flow, basal slip, valley glaciers, glacial erosional landforms (U-shaped valley, cirque, horn, arete, hanging valley, fjord, roche montonee, glacial striations); glacial deposits (till, moraine), outwash plain and water-laid deposits and landforms (karner, kettles, eskers, drumlins, varve); permafrost; glaciation and sea-level change; glaciation and graded stream profile change. The geologic record of glaciations, proxy data.
Climate change – climate forcing, components of the climate system: internal (plate tectonics, orogen, volcanic activity, seafloor spreading, greenhouse gases and aerosols, atmospheric and oceanic circulation, biotic and anthropic factors, albedo) and external (solar forcing/solar input – solar activity and Milankovitch cycles,), radiation balance, and long term climatic variations; climatic proxies; timing and extent of Proterozoic glaciations; catastrophic climate change (deep impacts, supervolcano eruptions, continental food basalts/traps); major Phanerozoic mass extinctions; interactions between the plate tectonic and climate system; greenhouse and icehouse oceanic circulation; quaternary glaciation; climate change during the Holocene, the younger dryas; the little ice Age (LIA); greenhouse effect and climate changes induced by anthropic.

Exercises (16 h)
During the course theoretical/practical exercises will be carried out on:
Acquisition and management of geological data: notes on territorial information systems and open source GIS; the INSPIRE Protocol, the national geoportal, and the regional portals.
-Reading the forms of the survey through the topographical maps of the Military Geographical Institute (IGM) and the Regional Technical Maps (CTR)
- Macroscopic recognition of the main types of rocks;
- Examples of representation on geological maps of the main types of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks and the main tectonic elements;
- Construction and interpretation of topographic and geological profiles;
- Use topographic, geological, and geothematic maps to frame the physical characteristics of a limited territorial portion.

Presentations of the lessons and supplementary teaching material
All the presentations of the lessons, lecture notes and other supplementary teaching materials can be downloaded from the moodle platform. The material is protected by a password that will be provided to students attending the course (the password to open the files can be requested at any time from the teacher by sending an email to sermad@unitus.it specifying year of attendance, matriculation and course)

Recommended texts

GROTZINGER J., JORDAN T.H, PRESS F., SIEVER R. - Understanding Earth - W.H Freeman and Company New York
GISOTTI G.- Le unità di paesaggio - Analisi geomorfologica per la pianificazione territoriale e urbanistica- Dario Flacovio Editore
ISTITUTO GEOGRAFICO MILITARE - Italia - Atlante dei Tipi Geografici Editore: Istituto Geografico Militare Edizione: 2004 Scaricabile gratuitamente dal sito: http://www.igmi.org/pubblicazioni/atlante_tipi_geografici/index.php .
MINISTERO DELL’AMBIENTE- I Quaderni Habitat - Collana - 24 volumi scaricabili gratuitamente dal sito: https://www.minambiente.it/pagina/i-quaderni-habitat-collana
Progetto CARG - Cartografia geologica e geotematica -Linee guida per la realizzazione della Carta Geologica e Geotematica alla scala 1:50.000 Quaderno n1 e n 3 scaricabile gratuitamente dal sito: http://www.apat.gov.it/site/it-IT/Progetti/Progetto_CARG_-_Cartografia_geologica_e_geotematica/Linee_guida/