The Origin and Evolution of Earth: From the Big Bang to the Future of Human Existence

This course chronicles the history of Earth and life on Earth from the point of view of the minerals that made it all happen. A major theme is how minerals and life coevolved, leading to the unprecedented mineral diversity on our world compared to the other planets in the solar system. Professor Hazen tells this epic story in 48 action-packed lectures that take you from the big bang to the formation of the solar system to the major milestones that marked the evolution of Earth and life. He also looks ahead at what to expect millions to billions of years in the future. It's easy to think that the green Earth dominated by life that we experience today is just as it's always been. But Professor Hazen introduces you to a succession of starkly different Earths, starting with the black, basalt-covered planet of 4.5 billion years ago, and progressing through blue, gray, red, and white phases as Earth, minerals, and life developed in concert. Major episodes covered in these lectures include the formation of the moon from the collision of a Mars-sized body with the early Earth; the Great Oxidation Event, which was sparked by the earliest photosynthetic life and is responsible for Earth's iron and other important mineral deposits; the formation of the first continents; the start of plate tectonics more than 3 billion years ago; the repeating cycles of supercontinent formation; the Cambrian explosion of life, resulting in the first animal shells, bones, and teeth; the great episodes of mass extinction, including the dinosaurs; and the rise of humans - along with much else. Most impressively, Professor Hazen is a pioneer in the study of mineral evolution, which is a unique lens through which to view the development of Earth. He tells the story with authority and with a rare gift for making you see the world in a new, intriguing way.

All Lectures:
1. Mineralogy and a New View of Earth
2. Origin and Evolution of the Early Universe
3. Origins of the Elements - Nucleosynthesis
4. Ur-Minerals, First Crystals in the Cosmos
5. Presolar Dust Grains - Chemistry Begins
6. Coming to Grips with Deep Time
7. The Birth of the Solar System
8. The Early Solar System - Terrestrial Planets
9. Hints from the Gas Giants and Their Moons
10. Meteorites - The Oldest Objects You Can Hold
11. Mineral Evolution, Go! Chondrite Meteorites
12. Meteorite Types and Planetesimals
13. Achondrites and Geochemical Affinities
14. The Accretion and Differentiation of Earth
15. How Did the Moon Form?
16. The Big Thwack!
17. The "Big Six" Elements of Early Earth
18. The Black Earth - Peridotite to Basalt
19. Origins of the Oceans
20. Blue Earth and the Water Cycle
21. Earth and Mars versus Mercury and the Moon
22. Gray Earth - Clays and the Rise of Granite
23. Earth's Mineralogy Takes Off - Pegmatites
24. Moving Continents and the Rock Cycle
25. Plate Tectonics Changes Everything
26. Geochemistry to Biochemistry - Raw Materials
27. Biomolecules - Select, Concentrate, Assemble
28. Why Reproduction? World Enough and Time
29. Eons, Eras, and Strategies of Early Life
30. Red Earth - The Great Oxidation Event
31. Earliest Microbial and Molecular Fossils?
32. Microbial Mats and Which Minerals Can Form
33. Earth's Greatest Mineral Explosion
34. The Boring Billion? Cratons and Continents
35. The Supercontinent Cycle
36. Feedback Loops and Tipping Points
37. Snowball Earth and Hothouse Earth
38. The Second Great Oxidation Event
39. Deep Carbon - Deep Life, Fuels, and Methane
40. Biominerals and Early Animals
41. Between Rodinia and Pangaea - Plants on Land
42. Life Speeds Up - Oxygen and Climate Swings
43. From the "Great Dying" to Dinosaurs
44. Impact! From Dinosaurs to Mammals
45. Humans and the Anthropocene Epoch
46. The Next 5 Billion Years
47. The Nearer Future
48. Coevolution of Geosphere and Biosphere