The predecessor of the School of Earth Sciences (SES) was the Department of History and Geography founded in 1936 by the former President, Chu Kochen. SES has experienced the westward move during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggressions, the adjustment of departments and the merger of four universities. The school has experienced twists and turns but still grown and thrived. There are more than 30 academicians who have studied and worked here. Among them, there are founders of Chinese earth science, such as Ye Duzheng, Shi Yafeng, Chen Shupeng, Chen Jiyu, Zhou Zhiyan, Tu Changwang, Tan Qixiang, as well as the new generation of leaders in the earth sciences discipline of China, such as Ding Zhongli, Yang Wencai, Yang Shufeng, Peng Pingan, Zhang Hongfu, Xu Yigang, etc.

Nowadays, SES of Zhejiang University has developed into a comprehensive school. SES currently has three departments, i.e. Geology, Geography, and Atmospheric Sciences. Four research institutes are set in SES, i.e. Geology, Geophysics, Geography and Spatial Information, and Weather, Climate and Environmental Meteorology. SES also houses Research Center for Structures in Oil and Gas Bearing Basins, Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System of Zhejiang Province and Key Laboratory of Geoscience Big Data and Deep Resources of Zhejiang Province.

The school leads education simultaneously and has established a team of talents with international vision, innovative spirit, leading the development of disciplines and continuous optimization of structure which focus on education. There are three academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 155 faculty members, including 32 professors (senior level), 1 tenured professor, 4 tenured associate professors, 12 researchers of “ZJU100 Young Professor”, 29 associate professors (associate senior level), 52 doctoral supervisors and 31 master supervisors.

The school carries out the fundamental task of establishing morality and cultivating talents and focuses on cultivating future geologists and industry leaders who are morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and labor-fully well-developed, with a solid foundation in mathematics and physics, interdisciplinary potential, profound family and national feeling, and global competitiveness. Now we have three undergraduate programs: Geology, Geographic Information Science and Atmospheric Sciences. The school has post-doctoral research stations of geology and doctoral degree authorization points of first-level disciplines of geology. There are eight second-level doctoral degree authorization points of Structural Geology, Mineralogy, Petrology, Mineral Deposit Geology, Geochemistry, Quaternary Geology, Resource Exploration and Geophysics, Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System, Resources, Environment and Regional Planning, Earth Climate and Environment, and a professional degree authorization point of Resource and Environment. There are 328 undergraduate students and 298 graduate students now.

Facing the frontiers of international science and the major problems in the fields of resources, energy, disasters and the environment, the school adheres to the development concept of building world-class geoscience, introduces a new paradigm of big data, artificial intelligence, promote the interdisciplinary integration, construction of earth system science, to achieve a major breakthrough in key projects and state-level awards. It has won a number of national major projects of ten million level and two State Science and Technology Advancement Awards. The school made a series of original achievements in Tarim Large igneous provinces (LIPs) and deep dynamics, basin-mountain system tectonic process and oil and gas control around Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, distribution and circulation of volatiles in deep earth, biogeochemical constraints of source rock development, near-surface geophysics and resource and environment exploration, effects of carbon dioxide emissions on climate change and marine environment, cloud simulation and atmospheric radiation of atmospheric precipitation, large-scale spatio-temporal data modeling and its application, remote sensing image recognition and resource and environment application model, intensive land resource and tourism resource planning.

SES of Zhejiang University has undergone hard work and precipitation foundation, which is pioneering and embarking on a new journey of discipline construction now. Unswervingly guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the school will keep in mind the top priorities of the country and take the lead. By accelerating the construction of “Big Data and Earth System” scientific research highland and talent training base, the school will serve Chinese modernization with its geoscience strength and create a splendid future for the construction and development of the school.