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Instructor: Dr. Laura Guertin

Course Structure: EARTH 105 is offered entirely online. The course consists of 12 lessons of study, completed at a rate of one lesson per week.

Offered by: Penn State's Department of Geosciences

Please Note: Courseware offered through OER is not eligible for credit towards any course, degree, or certificate offered by The Pennsylvania State University. This site does not provide access to the course faculty or to the University learning management system (for course communications, quizzing tools, assignment dropboxes, etc.). If you are interested in enrolling in this course, please contact Dr. Guertin at uxg3@psu.edu.

Welcome to EARTH 105: Environments of Africa . Please take some time to review the Course Syllabus to become familiar with the instructor, assignments, and course schedule. Begin the course when you are ready by viewing the Table of Contents below.

Please note that not all content will be available through the Open Educational Resources Initative.

Table of Contents

  • Lesson 0 - Course Introduction

  • Lesson 1: Africa in Context

  • Lesson 2: Africa Geologic History and Paleontology

  • Lesson 3: African Biodiversity and Conservation

  • Lesson 4: The Nile River - An Overview

  • Lesson 5: The Nile River - Finding the Source

  • Lesson 6: The Nile River - Where Does the Water Go?

  • Lesson 7: Climates of Africa - Forming of the Sahara Desert
  • Lesson 8: Climates of Africa - Egyptian Civilization and the Nile
  • Lesson 9: Climates of Africa - Saharan Climate

  • Lesson 10: East African Rifting

  • Lesson 11: Natural Resources

  • Lesson 12: Miscellaneous Cool Topics