Geo. 531: Basic geological concepts, Ecosystems, and Engineering Geology
A: Basic geological concepts: Key geological concepts, erosion, rock-forming processes, internal and external geologic processes, natural geological resources and their exploitation, groundwater, plate tectonics and relationship to seismicity, igneous activity, metamorphism, and mountain building.
B: Ecosystems: Definition, types of ecosystems (marine, desert, forest, etc.); terrestrial ecosystems (especially deserts) and the effect of unbalance; plant, animal, and man effects on ecosystems.
C: Engineering Geology: Engineering soils and rocks. Atterberg limits. Engineering classification of soils. Rock substance and rock mass engineering classifications. Mechanical properties of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks. Geologic structures and engineering problems. Treatment of expansive and collapsing soils. Failure and stability of slopes. Geology of construction materials.

Geo. 532: Pollution, Geological hazards, and Remote sensing
A: Pollution: Air pollution, land pollution, groundwater pollution, pollution related to extraction and exploitation of natural resources.
B: Geological hazards: Hazards (floods, mud flows, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, sand storms, etc.), causes, and mitigation.
C: Remote sensing: Concepts of remote sensing (energy sources, data acquisition, resolution, etc.). Platforms and satellites. Thermal and multispectral scanning. Microwave and radar sensing. Earth resource satellites. Digital image processing. Geographic information systems.
Postgraduate

Geo. 533: Geomorphology, Desertification, and Analytical techniques
A: Geomorphology: Concepts of geomorphology. Exogenic processes (weathering, mass wasting, fluvial geomorphology, arid land geomorphology, glaciers, karst geomorphology, and coastal geomorphology). Endogenic processes (diastrophism and volcanism). Extraterrestrial processes (fall of meteorites). Slope analysis.
B: Desertification: Definition, processes of desertification, methods of combating desertification.
C: Analytical techniques: Mineralogical analysis; chemical analysis (wet and XRF); analysis of major components, minor components, and trace elements; water analysis; air analysis.

Geo. 534: Practical exercises