Geology 1110: Geology and Earth Systems Spring 2012

Lecture: M/W/F 2:00 – 2:50 pm, Life Science 175 Lab: Chem 206

Instructor: Dr. Karen Gran Office Hours: M 10-11;W 3-4 or by appt.

726-7406, kgran@d.umn.edu Heller Hall 217

Texts (required): Essentials of Geology, 3^rd ed. by Marshak (e-book available on text website)

Laboratory Manual by UMD Geology Department (available at bookstore)

Text Website: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/geo/egeo3/

Class Website: Find it at moodle2.umn.edu

https://moodle2.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=2899

Introduction:

Geology is the study of the Earth and the processes that act upon it and within it. It is far more than just studying rocks! The Earth is a dynamic system of interactions and feedbacks between rock, water, air, and life, operating over multiple time and spatial scales. Events that happened billions of years ago can have relevance to society now. Likewise, because the Earth is continuously changing, actions that we take can affect Earth systems now and into the future.

Humans play an integral role in Earth systems and our interactions with our planet are important. As informed citizenry, you should know the basics of how our planet operates, how materials cycle through it and around it, how we find and use our natural resources, how we are affected by natural hazards, and how we affect natural processes and systems.

Goals:

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

1) Make informed decisions related to Earth Sciences as both an individual (Where should I buy a home to minimize my risk to natural hazards?) and as a member of society (How should we zone for development in floodplains?).

2) Predict topographic relationships, rock and mineral assemblages, and natural hazard risks in a location based on tectonic setting.

3) Put current anthropogenic perturbations to climate and surface processes into a deep time perspective. This involves an understanding of basic systems that cycle water, sediment/rock, and gas on our planet and how modern human activities are a part of those cycles.

Grading:

Your lab grade will compose 25% of your total grade, with the lecture component covering the other 75%. Attendance in lab is mandatory! If you miss 3 or more labs, you will receive zero credit for the lab portion of your grade.

25% Lab (lab grades will be standardized between TAs)

5% In-class Exercises

5% Geology in the news assignment

10% On-line quizzes (lowest score is dropped)

12% Exam #1 (2/8/12)

12% Exam #2 (3/2/12)

12% Exam #3 (4/18/12)

19% Final Exam (5/8/12)

Schedule:

Week	Date	Topic				Reading	Lab
1	1/18	Introduction					No Lab
	1/20	Formation, Composition and Structure of the Earth				Ch.1, p. 8-32
2	1/23	Composition and Structure of the Earth; Geologic Time	No Quiz			Ch.10.6-10.9, p.285-295	1. Plate Tectonics
	1/25	Plate Tectonics				Ch.2, p.33-47
	1/27	Plate Tectonics				Ch.2, p.47-67
3	1/30	Hazards: Earthquakes	Quiz 1 Due 2pm			Ch.8, p.200-239	2. Earth-quakes
	2/1	Earthquakes
	2/3	Tsunamis				USGS Report
4	2/6	Minerals	Quiz 2 Due 2pm			Ch.3, p.68-84	3. Minerals
	2/8	Exam #1 (not including minerals)
	2/10	Rock Cycle; Igneous Rocks				Ch.4, p.85-110
5	2/13	Igneous Rocks	Quiz 3 Due 2pm				4. Geology of BWCA
	2/15	Hazards: Volcanoes				Ch.5, p.121-137
	2/17	Volcanoes
6	2/20	Weathering & Sediment		Quiz 4 Due 2pm		Int.B, p.138-151	5. Living with volcanoes
	2/22	Sedimentary Rocks				Ch.6, p.152-173
	2/24	Sedimentary Rocks
7	2/27	Metamorphic Rocks	Quiz 5 Due 2pm			Ch.7, p.175-193	6. Revisiting plate tectonics
	2/29	Integrating tectonics & rocks/minerals				Int.C, p.194-199
	3/2	Start Mountain Building (or Catch-up and Review)
8	3/5	Exam #2	No Quiz			Ch.9, p.240-265	Lab TBD
	3/7	Mountain Building
	3/9	Pulling it all Together: The Geologic Record				Ch.10, p.276-297
	3/12	Spring Break
9	3/19	Earth History		Quiz 6 Due WED 2pm		Ch.11, p.298-320	7.Carbon Cycle
	3/21	Earth History
	3/23	Geologic History of Lake Superior
10	3/26	Earth’s Resources: Ores		Quiz 7 Due 2pm		Ch.12, p.321-340	8.Habitable Planet
	3/28	Earth’s Resources: Energy				Ch.12, p.340-350
	3/30	Hydrologic Cycle; Rivers				Int.F, p.351-360; Ch.14., p.378-403
11	4/2	Hazards: Flooding		Quiz 8 Due 2pm			9.Topo maps and watersheds
	4/4	Glaciers				Ch.18, p.469-491
	4/6	Glaciers
12	4/9	Climate Change, Pleistocene Ice Ages		Quiz 9 Due 2pm		Ch.18, p.491-498	10. MN’s Glacial Geology
	4/11	Hillslopes & Mass Movements				Ch.13, p.361-377
	4/13	Hazards: Landslides
13	4/16	Catch up and Review		Quiz 10 Due 2pm			11.Venus & Earth
	4/18	Exam #3
	4/20	Oceans, circulation and stratification				Ch.15, p.405-413
14	4/23	Oceans, coastlines sea level		No Quiz		Ch.15, p.413-429	Lab Final
	4/25	Coastal Hazards & Hurricanes
	4/27	Earth Systems & Global Change				Ch.19, p.499-518
15	4/30	Modern climate change			Quiz 11 Due 2pm	Selections from IPCC report	12.Field Trip Leif Erickson Park
	5/2	Modern climate change in context
	5/4	Catch-up and Review
Final	5/8	Final Exam, 12:00-1:55

Other useful information:

Liberal Education Content: This class fulfills the liberal education category 4 requirement (Physical and Biological Sciences with a lab).

Quizzes: Quizzes will be conducted on-line most weekends covering material from lecture and assigned readings. They will be posted on Friday afternoon (usually by 5pm) and will be open and available until lecture on Monday (2pm). It is your responsibility to find internet access sometime between Friday at 5pm and Monday at 2pm. Once quizzes close on-line, I will not reopen them. There are 11 quizzes scheduled during the semester, worth a total of 10% of your grade. The lowest quiz grade will be dropped. You can have up to 2 attempts at each quiz, with an hour allowed for each attempt. They are open book and open note. My suggestion is that you try the first attempt without consulting books and notes to test your understanding of the material.

Grades: I will post grades to e-gradebook in a timely manner (http://www.d.umn.edu/egradebook). Automatically-graded portions of exams will be posted to e-gradebook with your individual responses posted to a webdrop folder (https://webdrop.d.umn.edu/index.php). It is your responsibility to periodically check e-gradebook and make sure grades are not missing. Lab grades will be handled directly by your TA and will be posted by lab section to e-gradebook. Exam and quiz grades should be discussed with your instructor.

Missed Assignments/Exams: It is your responsibility to attend class and lab. If you miss 3 or more lab sessions, you will receive zero credit for the lab portion of your grade. Make-up exams will not be given without prior instructor approval. Please contact the instructor at least two weeks prior to the scheduled exam for any anticipated absence that is excusable according to UMD policies. If you miss an exam without prior instructor approval, you will receive zero credit for that exam. If you miss an in-class exercise, you will receive zero credit for that assignment.

Additional UMD policies

Excused Absences:

Students are expected to attend all scheduled class meetings.  It is the responsibility of students to plan their schedules to avoid excessive conflict with course requirements. However, there are legitimate and verifiable circumstances that lead to excused student absence from the classroom.  These are subpoenas, jury duty, military duty, religious observances, illness, bereavement for immediate family, and NCAA varsity intercollegiate athletics.  For complete information, please see: http://www.d.umn.edu/vcaa/ExcusedAbsence.html

Teaching & Learning: Instructor and Student Responsibilities:

UMD is committed to providing a positive, safe, and inclusive place for all who study and work here.  A central mission of the university is to educate students through the offering of courses and programs leading to the conferral of degrees. Teaching and learning at the university take place in a variety of educational settings including on-campus lecture halls and classrooms, laboratories, field sites, and online.  Instructors and students have mutual responsibility to insure that the environment in all of these settings supports teaching and learning, is respectful of the rights and freedoms of all members, and promotes a civil and open exchange of ideas. Making hostile, threatening, discriminatory or disparaging remarks toward or about the instructor, other members of the class or groups of people will not be tolerated. To reference the full policy please see:  http://www.d.umn.edu/vcaa/TeachingLearning.html. 

Student Conduct Code:

Appropriate classroom conduct promotes an environment of academic achievement and integrity.  Disruptive classroom behavior that substantially or repeatedly interrupts either the instructor's ability to teach, or student learning, is prohibited. Disruptive behavior includes inappropriate use of technology in the classroom. Examples include ringing cell phones, text-messaging, watching videos, playing computer games, doing email, or surfing the Internet on your computer instead of note-taking or other instructor-sanctioned activities. Students are expected adhere to Board of Regents Policy: Student Conduct Code: http://www1.umn.edu/regents/policies/academic/Student_Conduct_Code.pdf

Academic Integrity:

Academic dishonesty tarnishes UMD’s reputation and discredits the accomplishments of students.  Academic dishonesty is regarded as a serious offense by all members of the academic community.  UMD’s Student Academic Integrity Policy can be found at: http://www.d.umn.edu/conduct/integrity/

Appropriate Student Use of Class Notes and Course Materials:

Taking notes is a means of recording information but more importantly of personally absorbing and integrating the educational experience. However, broadly disseminating class notes beyond the classroom community or accepting compensation for taking and distributing classroom notes undermines instructor interests in their intellectual work product while not substantially furthering instructor and student interests in effective learning. For additional information, please see: http://www.d.umn.edu/vcaa/ClassNotesAppropriateUseof.html

Students with disabilities:

It is the policy and practice of the University of Minnesota Duluth to create inclusive learning environments for all students, including students with disabilities.  If there are aspects of this course that result in barriers to your inclusion or your ability to meet course requirements – such as time limited exams, inaccessible web content, or the use of non-captioned videos – please notify the instructor as soon as possible.  You are also encouraged to contact the Office of Disability Resources to discuss and arrange reasonable accommodations.   Please call 218-726-6130 or visit the DR website at www.d.umn.edu/access for more information. 

Internet ID Access:

In this class, our use of technology will sometimes make students' names and U of M Internet IDs visible within the course website, but only to other students in the same class. Since we are using a secure, password-protected course website, this will not increase the risk of identity theft or spamming for anyone in the class. If you have concerns about the visibility of your Internet ID, please contact me for further information.