Earth geological and climatic history

This course is a part of Cosmology and astronomy, a 4-course Topic series from Khan Academy.

What is the Earth made up of and how do we know? What causes the seasons? Are there longer-ranging cycles in Earth's climate?

This course contains 4 segments:

Plate tectonics

Is it a coincidence that Africa and South America could fit like puzzle pieces? Why do earthquakes happen where they do? What about volcanoes and mountains? Are all of these ideas linked? Yes, they are. This tutorial on plate-tectonics explains how and why the continents have shifted over time. In the process, we also explore the structure of the Earth, all the way down to the core.

Seismic waves and how we know earth's structure

How do we know what the Earth is made up of? Has someone dug to the core? No, but we humans have been able to see how earthquake (seismic) waves have been bent and reflected through our planet to get a reasonable idea of what is down there.

Earth's rotation and tilt

What causes the seasons? Even more, can Earth's climate change over long period just to "wobbles" in its orbit? This tutorial explains it all. You'll know more about orbits (and precession and Milankovitch cycles) than you ever thought possible. Have fun!

Moon phases and eclipses

Phases of the Moon, and solar and lunar eclipses.