EPSc 201 Earth and the Environment

Transcription

1 Instructor EPSc 201 Earth and the Environment Fall 2013 Lectures: T-Th, 10:00-11:30 AM, Rebstock 215 Lab Sections: Tu-W-Th-F (see below), Rudolph 204 Teaching Assistants Professor R.F. Dymek Teresa Wong (Tues) Daniel Bartz (Thurs) Rudolph 135, Rudolph 382, Rudolph 238, Office Hours: Wed 1-3 Office Hours: Mon, 1-3 Office Hours: Tues, 3-5 (or by appointment) Katherine Becker (Wed) Elaine Flynn (Fri) Rudolph 232, Rudolph 238, Office Hours: Mon, 11-1 Office Hours: Wed, 1-3 Course Description EPSc 201 is a one-semester course designed to introduce students to the study of the Earth as a dynamic, evolving planet, with emphasis on how internal and surface processes combine and continue to shape landscapes, landforms, and the environment. Themes will include: Earth history, global tectonics, mountain-building, formation of continents, earthquakes, and volcanic activity; Earth s interior as revealed by seismic waves; climate history, atmospheric and ocean circulation, ice ages, and human influence. Other topics such as the nature of minerals and rocks are covered to emphasize the fundamental importance of Earth materials. 1

2 Textbooks Tarbuck, E.J., Lutgens, F.K., and Tasa, D. (2013) Earth: An Introduction to Physical Geology, 11 th Edition. Boston, New York, etc: Pearson Publishing, 876 pp. (ISBN-10: , ISBN-13: ) Busch, R.M. and Tasa, D. (2011) Laboratory Manual in Physical Geology, 9 th Edition. Washington: American Geological Institute, 384 pp. (ISBN-10: , ISBN-13: ) Course Website Ares Password (under construction) Earth Lecture All lectures will take place in Rebstock 215, and a list of lecture topics is attached. As per College policy, lectures will begin promptly at 10:10 and end at 11:30. There will be a short (ca. 5-minute) break somewhere in the middle of each class. Regular attendance at class is expected, and questions are strongly encouraged. Each lecture will consist of slide presentations designed to cover said topic. In a couple of special cases, I may show videos as well. Lecture slides will be posted on ARES prior to each class (starting this Thursday). You are encouraged to download these slides to your laptop (or print them out beforehand) and bring them to class with you, which will make it easier to follow the flow of each lecture. In most cases, these slides will not contain notes or annotations. As such, reading them will not replace attending class and taking your own notes. Laboratory!! CHECK YOUR WUSTL REGULARLY!! (or forward your WUSTL to a place you check often) Lab sections will meet in Rudolph Hall 204 (Tues, 2:30-4:30; Wed, 3-5; Thurs, 2:30-4:30; Fri, 3-5). You are permitted and in some cases required to work in groups, but you must turn in each assignment written in your own words. Labs will involve a variety of exercises such as map reading and interpretation, rock and mineral identification, hands-on experimentation, and computer-based assignments. Some labs will involve simple math, but math will not appear on the exams (see below). Lab reports will be due in class one week after the exercise is completed. For each day a lab is late, you will be docked 10% but after 6 days, no credit will be given. We will drop your lowest lab grade. If there are significant differences in average lab grade among the four lab sections, we will normalize lab grades to the same mean. 2

3 Exams There will be two 1½-hour midterm exams (given during lecture time) on the dates indicated on the accompanying schedule. In addition, there will be a 2-hour final exam on the date and time specified by the College (see schedule). Conflicts with exam times and dates must be resolved in advance (see below). Due to the size of the class, it is not practicable to move the final exam to another slot. The first midterm will cover material presented in Lectures 1-9, and the second midterm will cover material presented in Lectures Part of the final will cover material from Lectures and part will be cumulative. The exams will comprise a combination of multiplechoice, fill-in-the-blank, and short-answer essay-style questions. Grades will be curved up if warranted. This course covers a range of topics with which most students have little to no prior experience. As such, I am sympathetic to the vast amount of new material covered during the semester. To compensate, for each exam, you may prepare and bring with you a study aid, comprising a single-sided 8½ x 11 sheet on which you can write down (or type) as much information as can fit. These sheets cannot contain any of the lecture slides, but you are free to draw in and utilize them in any way in preparing for the test. Field Trip There will be a mandatory, one-day field trip on a Saturday in October or early November to the scenic St. Francois Mountains region of the Ozarks in SE Missouri. The field trip will include about 4 stops to examine rock exposures at state parks in the area, some of which are classic geologic localities. You must prepare a write-up for the trip that is the equivalent of a lab exercise. Details of the field trip will be provided at a later time. If you have legitimate extracurricular, religious, or academic conflicts with this particular date, then please notify me by ASAP describing your conflict to learn how you can make up for your absence. (You will be asked to write a short term paper on a related topic.) Excused absences will only be granted prior to the field trip, or in the case of a documented illness/emergency. Grading Scheme 30% Labs and Field Trip 20% Midterm Exam 1 20% Midterm Exam 2 30% Final Exam For those taking the class on a Pass/Fail basis, a grade of C- or better is required to pass. 3

4 Make-Up Policy. If you need to miss a lab due to illness or due to a one-time unavoidable conflict, you must notify your TA in advance. If it is possible for you to attend lab on a different day, then pre-arrange that switch with both TAs in advance ( is fine). If you miss a lab and do not provide advance notice, then you must document the reason for your absence (like a doctor s note) in order to be allowed to make up the lab. If you have a legitimate conflict (see above) with either of the two midterm exams, you must notify me beforehand to arrange for some type of accommodation. All other exam absences will be handled in a way similar to the labs, on a case-by-case basis. Other Issues Please familiarize yourself with the academic code of conduct described by the College of Arts & Sciences regarding cheating, plagiarism, and other nefarious activities. One Last Item When you come to Rudolph Hall for your lab meetings, I invite you to take a few minutes to peruse our spectacular building. We have a modest mineral, gemstone, and meteorite museum; fossil and rock displays; and a very nice exhibit of fluorescent minerals (hidden away in a small room off the main ground-floor hallway). Also, posters describing research by various members of the EPS Department adorn the walls, and some folks just might be keen to describe their work for you. Finally, I love to talk geology, so feel free to stop by and speak with me if there s something you don t understand or would like to know more about. If my office hours are inconvenient then send me an to arrange an appointment (or just drop in if I m around, which is most of the time). Good luck to all of you as we look forward to an enjoyable semester! 4

5 Class Date Lecture Topic Lab Topic Readings Theme 1: Global Processes and Earth History 1(1) Aug 27 Welcome, Logistics, and No Lab Chapter 1 Introducing Geology 2(1) Aug 29 Geologic Time Chapters 9 3(2) Sept 3 Folds and Faults Stratigraphy and Chapter 10 Geologic Time 4(2) Sept 5 Earthquakes and Chapter 11 Earth Structure 5(3) Sept 10 Earthquake Hazards Topographic Maps Chapter 12 and Engineering and Navigation 6(3) Sept 12 Plate Tectonics Chapter 2 7(4) Sept 17 Extensional Tectonics Geologic Structures Chapter 13 and Ocean Basins 8(4) Sept 19 Convergent Tectonics Chapter 14 and Mountain Building 9(5) Sept 24 An Abbreviated View of EXAM REVIEW Chapter 22 Earth s Evolution 10(5) Sept 26 Midterm Exam # Theme 2: Earth Materials and their Behavior 11(6) Oct 1 Minerals Mineral Properties Chapter 3 and Identification 12(6) Oct 3 Igneous Processes Chapter 4-13(7) Oct 8 Volcanism Igneous Rocks Chapter 5 14(7) Oct 10 Volcanoes and Hazards (8) Oct 15 Sedimentary Processes Sedimentary Rocks Chapter 7 16(8) Oct 17 Weathering and Erosion Chapter

6 17(9) Oct 22 Metamorphism Metamorphic Rocks Chapter 8 18(9) Oct 24 Mass-wasting Chapter 15-19(10) Oct 29 Hawaii & Yellowstone EXAM REVIEW 20(10) Oct 31 Midterm Exam # Theme 3: Earth-Surface Processes 21(11) Nov 5 Deserts and Dunes Glacial and Desert Chapter 19 Landforms 22(11) Nov 7 Glaciers and Icecaps Chapter 18 23(12) Nov 9 Rivers and Streams River Landscapes Chapter 16 and Flooding 24(12) Nov 14 Groundwater, Karst, Chapter 17 and Caves 25(13) Nov 19 Coastlines Coastal Landforms Chapter 20 26(13) Nov 21 Hurricanes and Tsunamis 27(14) Nov 26 Earth s Changing Climate-1 NO LAB 28(15) Dec 3 Earth s Changing Climate-2 Carbon Cycle Chapter 21 29(15) Dec 5 Mineral Resources Chapter 23 FINAL EXAM, December 17 th, 6-8 PM