Earth and Planetary Science - UC Berkeley

18/04/2025

Join the Berkeley community for a week of inspiring events (April 21-25) focused on sustainability, climate justice, and collective action — all hosted by the Student Environmental Resource Center and campus partners.

Events are happening both on campus and online — tap the link in bio to explore the full lineup! 🌎 🌱 💚

18/04/2025

This summer, take 8 weeks to learn about The Planets with EPS Professor Burkhard Militzer! 

UC Berkeley, Summer Session C, The Planets, Class #12218 , June 23 - Aug. 15, 2025. 

A tour of the mysteries and inner workings of our solar system. What are planets made of? Why do they orbit the sun the way they do? How do planets form, and what are they made of? Why do some bizarre moons have oceans, volcanoes, and ice floes? What makes the Earth hospitable for life? Is the Earth a common type of planet or some cosmic quirk? This course will introduce basic physics, chemistry, and math to understand planets, moons, rings, comets, asteroids, atmospheres, and oceans. Understanding other worlds will help us save our own planet and help us understand our place in the universe. This course is web-based. 

Meets Physical Science, L&S Breadth Requirement

16/04/2025

This summer, take 6 weeks to learn about Earth’s Greatest Volcanic Eruptions with EPS Professor Stephen Self! 

UC Berkeley, Summer Session D, Earth’s Greatest Volcanic Eruptions, Class #14229 , July 7 - Aug. 15, 2025. 

A science-based course on the most significant eruptions Earth has produced. Most eruptions discussed will be from within historic time and will involve information from geology (volcanology), geography, archaeology, history, art, and paleoenvironmental records such as tree-rings and ice-cores. After a two-class introduction to volcanoes, volcanic activity, and volcanology, and the hazards vs benefits of eruptions, each class will feature one or more eruptions of different types from around the world. A science-based interpretation of the eruptions and effects on human-kind and the environment, will be presented. Class participants will learn about one type of natural hazard, its causes, and the variability of volcanism on Earth.

Meets Physical Science, L&S Breadth Requirement

14/04/2025

This summer, take 8 weeks to learn about The Water Planet! 

UC Berkeley, Summer Session C, The Water Planet, Class #13916 , June 23 - Aug. 15, 2025. 

An overview of the processes that control water supply to natural ecosystems and human civilization. Hydrologic cycle, floods, droughts, groundwater. Patterns of water use, threats to water quality, effects of global climate change on future water supplies. Water issues facing California.

Meets Physical Science, L&S Breadth Requirement

13/03/2025

TODAY is Big Give! 🌟Please visit our Big Give link to shine a lasting light on EPS, our students and programs. Help us unlock a special gift, our goal is to obtain 50 gifts 🎁. The link is in our bio.

16/09/2022

A new theory proposes that Saturn's rings are from a former moon and provide an estimate of how massive that moon was and why the moon got so close to the planet that it was torn apart.

The new proposal for how Saturn became “Lord of the Rings” in our solar system and how Saturn got its axial tilt will be published this week in the journal Science, with key contributions from EPS Professor Burkhard Militzer

Saturn has long been in a dance with Neptune, but that dance was interrupted when one of Saturn’s moons ventured too close and was shredded. Some of its remains ending up as the beautiful rin…

10/03/2022

Each gift makes a difference. We are committed to providing field equipment and outdoor wear for EPS students who need financial help to engage in geoscience education and experiences.

Photo: Professor Nick Swanson-Hysell with students in his geology field course.

Click our Big Give link https://tinyurl.com/EPSBigGive2022 to donate today 💛

Today is Big Give, the UC Berkeley community's annual opportunity to give back to the departments and programs closest to their hearts.

16/02/2022

What was the "Snowball Earth?" What caused the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period? An expert panel discusses the disasters of the distant past, and what the geological and fossil records tell us about the future.

Mass Extinctions and Ancient Climate Catastrophes

Public lecture on Wednesday, February 23, 2022 @ 5:00 PM with EPS Professors Nick Swanson-Hysell and Paul Renne.

Register in advance to attend the Zoom meeting:
https://ucbevents.wufoo.com/forms/p11zyuje0y20swh/

Basic Science Lights the Way, Spring 2022: https://basicscience.berkeley.edu/

26/01/2022

New space telescope launched a month ago will be used by professor emeritus Imke de Pater (EPS, Astronomy) and her research team to study Jupiter. “We hope to find out more about the dynamics in the Great Red Spot and the aurora over the South Pole, and the chemistry and physics of the troposphere and into the stratosphere,” she said.

This summer, after six months of commissioning, two UC Berkeley astronomers will be among the first to take the James Webb Space Telescope for a spin

18/01/2022

Check out the Winter 2021 issue of California for a feature on EPS Professor Jill Banfield and her pioneering research in geomicrobiology

In 1997, Jill Banfield was a young geologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who had become intensely interested in microbiology. Together with Ken Nealson, a microbiologist who had become interested in geology, she organized a groundbreaking geomicrobiology conference in Alta, Utah, inviti...

30/11/2021

EPS Professor Bill Boos provides insight on the mechanics of the North American monsoon that will have a major impact on forecasts in the region, both in short-term and long-term climate projections.

Supercomputer simulations show that the monsoons that drench the American Southwest and Mexico are generated when the jet stream collides with the Sierra Madre

29/11/2021

Welcome back to McCone Henge Mondays! Today we will be spotlighting Greywacke!

Type: Sedimentary Rock

Sandstones are considered to be siliciclastic rocks. ‘Silici-’ means it is made of silicate minerals such as quartz, feldspar, mica, pyroxenes and amphiboles. ‘-Clastic’ refers to there being small pieces, or clasts, of these silicate materials in the sandstone. In this sandstone, sand grains range from 0.06 to 2 millimeters in diameter and there is abundant matrix (the fine material between the sand grains) leading to it being classified as a greywacke The matrix of a rock like this Greywacke can be composed of smaller grains of the same minerals as the bulk rock or of different minerals such as clays.