Applications of Continuum Mechanics to Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this course on continuum mechanics as applied to geological and planetary materials. The curriculum covers the stress tensor, infinitesimal and finite strain, and rotation tensors, building toward constitutive relations that describe how rocks and fluids deform elastically, viscously, brittlely, and plastically. Force balance is the organizing theme throughout, connecting abstract tensor mathematics to real deformation problems in the solid earth, oceans, and atmosphere. Materials include MIT's course notes, problem sets, and lecture content made available freely through OpenCourseWare, with no certificate offered. The course suits students who already have some background in vector calculus and want to apply continuum theory to geophysical and planetary systems, from fault mechanics to mantle flow, rather than to engineering structures.