Thread: Is the study of geology viable and valuable in modern context?

Surely the Geology of Earth Structures and Systems are now well understood? Can a Career in Geology be justified for Young Students? With information at their fingertipsconcerning structural Geology maybe they would be better off specalising in another Discipline allied to Earth Sciences? Say, for example, speeding up the natural process of soil composition for food production?...westwind.

Oil petrology.....

Geophysics of earthquakes....

Precious metals exploration and extraction....

deeper understanding of geologic cycles....

And we have barely begun to understand geology of other planets. No, we are not in the "Golden Age of Geology".

Originally Posted by westwind

Surely the Geology of Earth Structures and Systems are now well understood?

No, not really.

The Earth has many secrets, secrets that do not respect scientific boundaries. It will take scientists from across the disciplines to solve the puzzles that the Earth presents us with. We understand a few things, but often that understanding raises more questions than it answers. There is a long road ahead for the Earth (and planetary) sciences yet.

Originally Posted by westwind

Surely the Geology of Earth Structures and Systems are now well understood?

Nope.

We still have a lot to learn about our planet and her mechanisms. If you're not interested in that, you can make a fortune working in the oil industry. Depending on how we fare transitioning to cleaner fuels, you could have a good career there. There is a demand in the global search for valuable resources as well. Anyone skilled with satellite mapping software could probably find a good career as well.

Geology is not a completed science. If you wanted to get a degree in Geometry, you might have a problem.