Syllabus 4130 Introduction to Geophysics.

ReferenceTexts.   Lowrie-Fundamental of Geophysics; Kearey and Brooks- An introduction to geophysical exploration; Burger, Sheehan and Jones: Introduction to Applied Geophysics; Stacey and Davis- Physics of the Earth.
Grading: Each half of the class will have assignments in the form of homeworks based on classwork. A score of 50% will be assigned to the homeworks and class participation, and a score of 50% will be assigned to the quiz/exam that terminates each half of the class. Sheehan and Bilham will assign final grades based on the average score for each half of the class. The first half of the class will use the computer lab to solve problems or undertake experiments each week.

Roger Bilham

13-Jan          Introduction.  Units. Displacement, strain,tilt, rotation           
15-Jan          Size of the Earth.  Kepler's laws, Bode's law.                       
20-Jan          Acceleration  g,  Big G, Earth's mass, diameter of core           
22-Jan          Experimental gravity class.
27-Jan          Map projections,  poles of rotation, moving plates
29-Feb         Vectors, triple junctions, and relative velocities                                   
3-Feb           Leveling, triangulation, trilateration, GPS and InSAR
5-Feb           Stress & Strain,  deformation,  earthquakes as dislocations.                       
10-Feb         Coulomb failure, earthquake triggering etc.
12-Feb         Experimental strain class.
17-Feb         Gravity measurements, corrections & interpretation
19-Feb         Isostasy                        
24-Feb         Earth's magnetism, reversals and external field.
26-Feb         Flexure of plates Oceans and continents.                       
3-Mar           Quiz 1   End of First half of class.

Prof. Anne Sheehan    (details to be determined).                
5-Mar           Wave propagation, Earthquake location,
10-Mar         Magnitude, intensity, moment summation and scaling laws           
12-Mar         Velocity of seismic waves etc.                             
17-Mar         Internal structure of the Earth           
19-Mar         Seismic prospecting – refraction                       
SPRING BREAK
31-Mar        refraction experiment
2-Apr            seismic prospecting -reflection
7-Apr           deep structure of the earth, deep earthquakes, Benioff zones
9-Apr           resistivity methods                                   
14-Apr          Electromagnetic methods           
16-Apr          electromagnetic methods continued                                  
21-Apr          subsurface radar           
23-Apr          heat flow                                                         
28 th & 30-April     oceanic lithosphere & continental lithosphere

Final exam 4 May 1:30-4pm