Geology | Orange Coast College

What is Geology?

Geology is the scientific study of the Earth, its history, and the dynamic forces that continuously shape our planet. It's not just studying rocks -- geology investigates the complex interactions between the Earth’s crust, atmosphere, oceans, and life over billions of years. By decoding the clues left behind in landscapes, fossils, and minerals, geologists unravel the past to understand our present and predict the future. Geology is a forward-looking science that directly addresses how humans interact with the environment and provides the core framework needed to manage natural resources, adapt to a changing climate, and build safer, more sustainable communities.

View the Geology Program Catalog Listing

Contact Us

(714) 432-5846

mathscience@occ.cccd.edu

Lewis Center

Office Hours

Mon to Fri, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Sat to Sun, Closed

The Earth as Your Classroom: Field Course Opportunities

You do not just learn geology from a textbook—you experience it firsthand. Our courses feature immersive field trip opportunities that transform our region's dynamic landscapes into a geologic laboratory. Our excursions range from 3-hour trips to local parks right here in Orange County embedded within some of our lab-based courses to epic, 7 to 10-day expeditions exploring the Cascades, the Colorado Plateau, or Hawaii! These hands-on field-based experiences build data collection, team-building, and critical thinking skills that make our students highly competitive transfer candidates. Best of all, this "Earth literacy" is a universal asset. Even if you plan to major in business, law, data science, education (or anything else!) a foundational knowledge of how our Earth works will help you plan for your future.

For more information on our field course offerings, you can view the college catalog.

Starting Your Journey: Geology Careers

Our geology program is your access point to a valuable career tackling some of the most critical challenges facing Southern California. Our classes equip you with the foundational science, math, and spatial analysis skills needed to successfully transfer into a bachelor's program; our recent graduates have successfully transferred to prestigious regional colleges and universities, including CSU Fullerton, CSU Long Beach, San Diego State, and USC. In Orange County and beyond, geologists are in high demand to help address the "grand challenges" of our era, such as confronting the impacts of climate change, managing and sustainably developing key energy and mineral resources, addressing critical water resource issues like groundwater replenishment and pollution prevention, and mitigating local natural hazards such as coastal erosion and seismic fault lines, and lead the transition toward sustainable energy resources. Whether your ultimate goal is environmental consulting, public policy, or engineering geology, your path to a high-impact Earth science career starts right here at Orange Coast College!

For more information on career pathways in the Geosciences, visit the American Geosciences Institute's Geoscience Careers page.

Field Opportunities in Geology

The Geology Department just completed a 10-day field experience for students as part of its Cascade Range Field study course. As part of this class, students learned about active and recent volcanism in Northern California and Southern Oregon, explored underground lava tubes, and even straddled an active plate boundary!

For Fall 2026, we offer an additional opportunity to experience geology in the field: GEOL A139 (Eastern Sierra Nevada Field Study) includes a weekend trip to Mammoth Lakes, the Mono Basin, and the Long Valley Caldera. Register now!