Geophysics

Enrolment in the second year.

Layered structure of the Earth: Comparison with other planets.
Motion of the planet Earth: Rotation, precession and wobble.
Geochronology: Radioactive dating of rocks and organic material, theories of the origin and evolution of the Earth and other planets.

Gravity of the Earth: Gravimetry – measuring the gravitational acceleration, figure of the Earth – geoid, gravity anomalies, isostasy, tidal potential.

Geomagnetism: Main magnetic field of the Earth – dipole and non-dipole field, origin of the field and self-consistent dynamo theory, time variations of the field, magnetosphere – external sources of the field, paleomagnetism.

Physics of the lithosphere: tectonic plates and their motion, layered structure of the Earth, propagation of elastic (seismic) waves, body, head, and surface waves, free oscillations of the Earth, seismic methods.

Seismology: earthquake sources, magnitude and intensity.

F. D. Stacey and P. M. Davis, Physics of the Earth (4th edition), Cambridge University Press, 2008.
W. Lowrie, Fundamentals of Geophysics, Cambridge University Press, 1997.
P. Prelovšek, Geofizika, FMF skripta, 2000.

To acquire basic knowledge about physical properties of the Earth, in particular about the phenomena and processes in the solid Earth.

Knowledge and understanding:
The subject is meant as an introduction to the physical properties of the Earth and provides basics understanding of the phenomena and processes in the solid Earth.

Application:
The acquired knowledge serves the students to obtain a wider physical view of the Earth and is a foundation for future mathematically more in-depth study of geophysics and geophysical methods.

Reflection:
Usage of fundamental physical laws and mathematical methods for the description of the properties of the Earth.

Transferable skills – not related to a single subject:
Transfer of fundamental physical laws and mathematical methods to a particular concrete description of our Earth and the environment.

Lectures, exercising problem solving, consultations.

Written exam. Written exam can be skipped by passing the written problem solving tests during the year.
Oral exam
grading: 5 (fail), 6-10 (pass) (according to the Statute of UL)

prof. dr. Peter Prelovšek:
1) P. Prelovšek and B. Uran, Generalized hot wire method for thermal conductivity measurements,
J. Phys. E 17, 674 (1984).
2) J. Jaklič and P. Prelovšek, Lanczos method for the calculation of T>0 quantitites in correlated
systems, Phys. Rev. B 49, 5065 (1994).
3) P. Prelovšek and J. Bonča, Ground State and Finite Temperature Lanczos Methods,
in Strongly Correlated Systems - Numerical Methods, eds. A. Avella and F. Mancini (Springer
Series in Solid State Sciences 176, Berlin), p. 1 - 29 (2013).