Geology 1042

Natural Disasters and Civilization

Class Description:

This class will examine earth processes through the study of natural disasters and how these disasters affect civilizations both modern and ancient. An emphasis will be placed on the geological framework for natural disasters. We will also investigate how humans interact with the landscape, and how these interactions can both minimize and/or increase the risk of natural disasters. We will cover a broad spectrum of natural disasters including volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, flooding, hurricanes, and tsunamis, and study selected events and their effects on human civilizations.

Class Goals/Objectives:

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

1) Understand the geologic framework, landscape setting, and underlying processes associated with common natural hazards including volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, landslides, and hurricanes.

2) Relate landscape setting (tectonic setting, local topography, and geology) to hazard potential for common natural hazards and conduct basic hazards assessments.

3) Understand how natural hazards affect humans and society through readings and analyses of case studies.

4) Analyze how human alterations to the landscape can either minimize or increase the potential for future natural disasters.

5) Think critically about the landscape you live in to assess the potential for natural hazards before they become disasters.

Required Texts:

1. Natural Hazards: Earth’s Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophe, 2^nd edition, 2007, by E.A. Keller and R. H. Blodgett

2. Isaac’s Storm, 2001, by Erik Larsen

3. Control of Nature, 1990, by John McPhee

Syllabus

Week by week assignments and readings:

Week	Date	Topic	Reading	Quiz	Assignment
1	1/22-1/24	Introduction & Plate Tectonics	K&B 1
2	1/29-1/31	Plate Tectonics	K&B 2 & Dynamic Earth
3	2/5-2/7	Earthquakes	K&B 2 & USGS Fact Sheets	Quiz #1: Plate Tectonics (T)
4	2/12-2/14	Earthquakes	K&B 2		Disaster #1: Earthquake (T) HC Exercise (Due Th)
5	2/19-2/21	Tsunamis	Orphan Tsunami (optional) K&B 3 How to survive		Disaster #2: Tsunami (Th)
6	2/26-2/28	Volcanoes	K&B 4	Quiz #2: Earthquakes & Tsunamis (T)	Disaster #3: Volcano (Th)
7	3/4-3/6	Volcanoes	Video for Tues. CN 2 – Discuss Th		Disaster #4: Volcano (T) HC Exercise (Due Th)
8	3/11-3/13	Landslides/ Mudflows	K&B 6 Oliver Slump	Quiz #3: Volcanoes (T)	Disaster #5: Landslide (Th)
	3/17-3/21	Spring Break
9	3/25-3/27	Wildfires (T) Fires and Landslides (Th)	K&B 12 – Tues. CN 3 – Discuss Th		Disaster #6: Wildfire (T) HC Exercise (Due T)
10	4/1-4/3	Flooding	K&B 5	Quiz #4: Landslides & Wildfires (T)	Disaster #7: Flood (Th) Media Paper Due - Th
11	4/8-4/10	Flooding	CN 1 – Discuss Th		Disaster #8: Flood (T)
12	4/15-4/17	Finish Flooding Coastal Processes	K&B 10	Quiz #5: Rivers and Floods (moved to Th)	HC Exercise (Due next Thursday)
13	4/22-4/24	Hurricanes	K&B 9		Disaster #9: Hurricane (Th) Term Paper Topic Due - Thursday
14	4/29-5/1	Hurricanes Climate Change	Isaac’s Storm – Discuss T K&B 11	Quiz #6: Hurricanes (Th)	Disaster #10: Hurricane (T)
15	5/6-5/8	Presentations on Disaster Preparedness
	5/16	Term paper due