Geoscience/Geoscientist
Geoscience (sometimes also called Earth Science) is a branch of science dealing with the study of the Earth and its planetary neighbours. It includes so much more than just looking at rocks – it also looks at processes that form the Earth’s interior and surface, and the natural resources that we use. Geoscientists are key to South Africa and Africa’s current and future economic development. They carry out important work in understanding, searching for, and extracting economic mineral resources.
Traditionally, geoscience includes the fields of geology (exploration and mining), geomorphology, hydrogeology, environmental geology, geophysics, geochemistry, geostatistics, soil science, economic geology, marine geology, palaeontology and planetary geology. Modern geoscience also incorporates aspects of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) science as well as geological modelling using Artificial Intelligence (AI), Spatial Statistics and Machine Learning.
Geoscience also incorporates aspects of mathematics and other sciences – palaeontology overlaps with biology, remote sensing and geophysics use physics to investigate the earth above and below ground, geological modelling uses software engineering to model Big Data using AI, and geochemists and mineralogists use chemistry to understand and explore for minerals.
Links
https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Geology-Career-Pathways/What-is-Geology/Subject-Areas
https://www.usgs.gov/youth-and-education-in-science/what-geoscience
https://www.wits.ac.za/course-finder/undergraduate/science/geological-sciences/
https://www.geoscience.org.za/
https://learninggeoscience.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-PbVAOyADc
https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Geology-Career-Pathways/What-is-Geology/Subject-Areas
https://www.youtube.com/@geologicalsocietyofsouthaf5504
https://www.youtube.com/@WitsGeosciences
https://www.youtube.com/@TheAusIMM
 |
 |
Where to study
Nelson Mandela University
North-West University
Tshwane University of Technology
University of Cape Town
University of Johannesburg
University of Pretoria
University of Stellenbosch
University of the Free State
University of the Western Cape
| University of the Witwatersrand |
|
University of South Africa
University of KwaZulu-Natal