GEOL1020

Introduction to Earth History

Main course page will be available through D2L

Spring 2012 dates and times

Instructor:       Prof. Craig Jones
Benson Earth Sciences, Rm 440-C     
303-492-6994; cjones@cires.colorado.edu

Class Period: TR 9:30-10:45 am, BESC 180

Review/Office Hours: TBA, Rm 440-E, or by appointment.

Web site: On D2L

Motivation: The Earth today is unique in the solar system: it harbors life and a mobile crust. Every landscape contains clues to the development of this unique system. In turn, operation of the tectonic, climate, and life systems has produced the landforms we enjoy today, mineral and energy resources, as well as geologic hazards like volcanoes, earthquakes, and landslides. Study of the history of the Earth provides us with a sense of place of different landscapes, knowledge of resource locations and potential geologic hazards, as well as the laboratory for testing our ideas about how Earth systems behave. We learn how the Earth responds in different situations (different atmosphere, different landscapes, different heat flow) by examining its past.

Goals:

  1. learn to decipher the geologic history of a landscape
  2. learn how absolute and relative ages of rocks and geologic events can be determined
  3. learn how ancient climates can be determined
  4. learn how ancient landscapes and tectonic activity are determined
  5. consider how the composition of the atmosphere has changed with time and its implications
  6. consider how life has changed with time, plausible causes and consequences
  7. consider if plate tectonics has always operated and, if not, when did it start.
  8. consider the success of evolution, plate tectonics, and climate theories in understanding the geologic record.
  9. gain a basic understanding of the geologic history of North America and Colorado in particular.

Class agenda: We will move backward through geologic time, asking questions of the past related to the goals above, and learning what techniques we need in order to answer our questions as we encounter topics of interest.

Overview:This course seeks overall to explore the changes that have occured in the Earth's history, to learn about the ways in which the Earth's geological, climatological, and biological systems change and interact over geologic history, and to grasp the means by which scientists derive and test theories from such information. Although quantitative analysis is kept to a minimum, this is a challenging course. You will see more material in this course than you will master, and that can be very different from other courses (including other sections of GEOL1020). I like my students to be aware of the breadth and diversity of observations from the Earth's past; for some students, this can be confusing as I am hoping you will extract the broad lessons from such material rather than being caught up in the details of each example. Ideally every student will find aspects of the course to challenge them. Material is presented in lecture and online; optional readings in textbooks are also listed for those who prefer to use a text. Although all the material is designed to be complementary, it is not complete in all three places.

Textbook: There is no required textbook. However, a lot of background outside that provided in the website and in class is present in this book (which has been the required text in previous versions of this class). If you find textbooks helpful for you, I encourage you to get this book.

Supplemental Textbooks: The first supplemental text is intended for those interested in the history of life; it does not cover other aspects of this course but is a fine overview of the issues in life history (and is quite readable for a text). The second covers climate history in greater detail than our text, if you find that interesting.

Additional Resources:

John Shelton, Geology Illustrated , W.H. Freeman & Co., 1966 (out of print). On reserve, Earth Sciences Library.
This book provides, through great photographs and associated drawings, a good grounding in the ways of geological interpretation and some of the geologic history of the western U.S.
Halka Chronic, Roadside Geology of Colorado, Mountain Press, Missoula, MT, 1980 (2nd edition, 2002). On reserve, Earth Sciences Library. Some copies can be bought from local bookstores in the Nature, Natural Science, or Colorado sections, ~$12.
A handy reference for driving in Colorado; early sections describe the history of Colorado, and the road guides provide some insight into the landscapes you encounter driving in the state.
Colorado Geological Survey, Colorado Geologic Highway Map, MI 38, can be purchased for $7 from the CGS, 1313 Sherman St., Rm. 715, Denver, CO 80203, (303) 866-2611, or email to cgspubs@.state.co.us. On reserve, Earth Sciences Library.
A good way to see what the rocks are as you drive around Colorado. Sometimes available at the map store on 13th Street just north of Arapahoe.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Geological Highway Map of the Southern Rocky Mountain Region, Map # 2 (revised), 1990. Available from the AAPG (http://www.aapg.org/pubs/maps.html), $12.
An alternative road map for the Rocky Mountain region. Includes localities of fossils and minerals and capsule descriptions of interesting geological localities in the Four Corners states.

Prerequisite: GEOL 1010 or equivalent. We do use material from GEOL1010 in this class; if you decide for some reason to take this class out of sequence, you are responsible for teaching yourself about these topics. Specific items include (but are not limited to) rocks and minerals, plate tectonics, volcanoes and earthquakes.

Text and lecture: You are responsible for material both in class and on the website.

Homework: There will be weekly assignments through the course. Homework will total 25 points (out of 100 for the class). No late homework will be accepted as we will discuss the results when the homework is due.

Clickers: Clickers are not required but we will use clickers in class. There are extra credit questions that pop up from time to time in the clicker questions (this is the only extra credit opportuinity in the class).

Exams: There will be three exams (each worth 25 points) and the final, worth 25 points, on the dates below. If you have a legitimate conflict with any of these dates (including religious holidays), you are responsible for contacting me in advance of the exam to arrange a make-up exam. Failure to take a scheduled exam without a signed doctor’s excuse will result in a 0 grade. The lowest of the three in-class exam scores will be dropped; the final will not be dropped. Although each exam focuses on material covered in the prior few weeks, material in this course builds upon itself. You are allowed one 8.5 x 11" page of handwritten notes at each exam; exams are usually on scantron forms with the possibility of short answers. A #2 pencil and eraser are needed for each exam.

Extra Credit: We will have on average one "clicker" question in class each lecture where a correct answer will count as extra credit. There will be no other extra credit. Extra credit can change improve your grade up to about 1/2 of a letter grade (e.g., a C+ can become a B).

Grading: Grades will be curved to reflect the difficulty of this particular class but only downward from 90/80/70/60 as lower thresholds for A-/B-/C-/D (that means if you are scoring 90% on homeworks and exams, you will do no worse than an A- and probably better). The lowest homework will be dropped from the class grade. Again, 25% of the grade is homework, 75% are exams .

Students eligible for and needing academic adjustments because of a disability are requested to contact the instructor before 9 February 2012 (ideally before the first exam).

Other deadlines: As a reminder: