p>Beneath the inscrutable surface of our world lies an architecture both primordial and unfathomable. This introductory course invites the devoted scholar to examine the fundamental fabric of rocks and minerals—their intricate composition, covert origins, and the uncanny forces that drive their transformation. In the somber light of ancient inquiry, students will contemplate the relentless and inexorable processes that have sculpted the Earth’s visage through eons, from the unyielding exaltation of mountains to the secret, abyssal fractures below.

An obligatory laboratory component accompanies the lecture, wherein participants must endeavor, through empirical ordeal, to unmask the hidden geometries and silent histories encased within stone. For those who seek to trace the abyssal roots of geologic phenomena, prior study in general chemistry is advised, for the laws that govern the mineral kingdom are as inexorable—and as alien—as any encountered in the chthonic depths.