Earth Science

Course Offerings Fall 2013

Course Code	Title/Instructor	Meets
ERSC 141-01	Planet Earth Instructor: Benjamin Edwards Course Description: A study of plate tectonics with emphasis on ancient and modern geological processes associated with mountain building. The course builds knowledge through field and classroom studies of Appalachian geology, and by comparison of the Appalachians with active mountain belts in South America, Indonesia, and Asia. The course also develops a geologic understanding of the seismic and volcanic hazards associated with mountain building. The overall aim of the course is to illustrate the historical, predictive, and practical aspects of geologic principles and reasoning in scientific and societal contexts. This course fulfills either the DIV III lab science distribution requirement or QR graduation requirement.	1330:T KAUF 140 1030:TR KAUF 179
ERSC 141-02	Planet Earth Instructor: Benjamin Edwards Course Description: A study of plate tectonics with emphasis on ancient and modern geological processes associated with mountain building. The course builds knowledge through field and classroom studies of Appalachian geology, and by comparison of the Appalachians with active mountain belts in South America, Indonesia, and Asia. The course also develops a geologic understanding of the seismic and volcanic hazards associated with mountain building. The overall aim of the course is to illustrate the historical, predictive, and practical aspects of geologic principles and reasoning in scientific and societal contexts. This course fulfills either the DIV III lab science distribution requirement or QR graduation requirement.	1330:R KAUF 140 1030:TR KAUF 179
ERSC 142-01	Earth History Instructor: Jeffrey Niemitz Course Description: A study of the origin and evolution of the Earth, continents, atmosphere, ocean, and life over 4.6 billion years of Earth history. Topics will include deep time; plate tectonics and mountain building; continental position, ocean circulation, and climate change; expansion of biodiversity from single cells to higher order plants and animals including the rise of humans; mass extinctions; the theory of evolution; and the influence of historic earth processes on the formation of mineral and energy resources. Labs and Field trips will test geological and paleontological hypotheses regarding the reconstruction and interpretation of ancient sedimentary environments and biomes in the local area. Three hours classroom and three hours laboratory a week. This course fulfills either the DIV III lab science distribution requirement or QR graduation requirement.	1330:M KAUF 134 0930:MWF KAUF 186
ERSC 142-02	Earth History Instructor: Jeffrey Niemitz Course Description: A study of the origin and evolution of the Earth, continents, atmosphere, ocean, and life over 4.6 billion years of Earth history. Topics will include deep time; plate tectonics and mountain building; continental position, ocean circulation, and climate change; expansion of biodiversity from single cells to higher order plants and animals including the rise of humans; mass extinctions; the theory of evolution; and the influence of historic earth processes on the formation of mineral and energy resources. Labs and Field trips will test geological and paleontological hypotheses regarding the reconstruction and interpretation of ancient sedimentary environments and biomes in the local area. Three hours classroom and three hours laboratory a week. This course fulfills either the DIV III lab science distribution requirement or QR graduation requirement.	1330:W KAUF 134 0930:MWF KAUF 186
ERSC 201-01	Surface Processes Instructor: Peter Sak Course Description: Description, origin, development, and classification of landforms. Relationships of soils, surficial materials, and landforms to rocks, structures, climate, processes, and time. Topics will include interpretation of maps and aerial photographs of landscapes produced in tectonic, volcanic, fluvial, glacial, periglacial, coastal, karst, and eolian environments. Exercises will include: photo-geologic interpretation, surficial mapping, and classification of soils. Lectures, discussions, laboratories, and field trip(s). Three hours classroom and three hours laboratory a week. Prerequisite: 141 or 142. This course fulfills the QR graduation requirement. Offered every other year.	1030:TR KAUF 153 1330:R KAUF 153
ERSC 218-01	Geographic Information Systems Instructor: James Ciarrocca Course Description: Cross-listed with ARCH 218-01 and ENST 218-01.	0930:MWF KAUF 185 1330:F KAUF 186
ERSC 221-01	Oceanography Instructor: Jeffrey Niemitz Course Description: An interdisciplinary introduction to the marine environment, including the chemistry of seawater, the physics of currents, water masses and waves, the geology of ocean basins, marine sediments and coastal features, and the biology of marine ecosystems. Topics include the theory of plate tectonics as an explanation for ocean basins, mid-ocean ridges, trenches, and island arcs. The interaction of man as exploiter and polluter in the marine environment is also considered. Three hours classroom and three hours laboratory per week. Prerequisite: One introductory science course (not MATH). This course is cross-listed as ENST 221. This course fulfills the QR graduation requirement. Offered every other year.	1130:MWF KAUF 134
ERSC 309-01	Sedimentology and Stratigraphy Instructor: Marcus Key Course Description: Completion of both ERSC 305 and ERSC 309 fulfills the WR Requirement.	0900:TR KAUF 152 1330:T KAUF 152
ERSC 311-01	Paleoclimatology of East Asia Instructor: Peter Sak, Kelin Zhuang Course Description: Cross-listed with ENST 311-04 and EASN 206-04. This introductory-level course focuses on Quaternary climate change in East Asia (China, Korea and Japan) with special emphasis on the past 20,000 years. It is designed to be accessible to both science and non-science students. There are not prerequisites. Topics covered will include 1) global and regional mechanisms of frequent Quaternary climate change; 2) climate change records retrieved from loess deposits, marine sediments, and caves; 3) sea level change and its influence on regional land-sea interaction; 4) Himalaya uplift and East Asian monsoon evolution in the Quaternary based on records from Ocean Drilling Program Leg 184 and cave sediments; 5) climate change related to sustainable development in East Asias large rivers and their deltas, including the Yellow and the Yangtze Rivers. For example, the course will examine the Three Gorges Dam and its impact on its watershed, estuary and human migration, as well as the Yellow Rivers dramatic channel shifts and the consequences for regional sustainability development.	0930:MWF ALTHSE 110