Introduction to geomicrobiology, 7.5 credits

The course combines current knowledge of geological processes and microbial mechanisms as they determine(d) Earth evolution. The course includes a review of biological processes that are important in biogeochemistry of element cycling and in microbe-mineral interactions, as well as the major geomicrobiological processes shaping the Earth through geological time (e.g., microbialite formation, hydrothermal vent functioning, travertine precipitation, evolution of the atmosphere).