The Earth Sciences are changing rapidly in scope and nature. The course at Oxford reflects these changes, and provides sound and broadly based scientific training. Students are trained in the skills required for the interpretation of rock materials and geological phenomena as well as applying theory and techniques from physics, chemistry, materials science and biology to the study of the Earth and the environment. The department has an international reputation, and houses state-of-the-art laboratories and computing facilities. Students, teachers and visitors mix and work together. Offices and teaching labs are close together but with plenty of shared open space, so you will become part of a vibrant community. This creates an atmosphere in which a student does not only learn the basics, but also gets some feel for the discoveries emerging from current research. The diversity of the subject is reflected in the range of courses which cover processes from the Earth’s interior, as mapped by seismic waves, to the evolution of the Earth’s crust documented in the rocks at the surface, to ocean and atmospheric circulation, through to the evolution of life on Earth.