This course introduces the methods used to identify minerals and rocks and provides an overview of the processes by which they form. Topics covered include chemical and physical properties of minerals, mineral associations, and the classification, genesis, and interpretation of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. Labs emphasize the identification of samples in hand specimen and by x-ray diffraction.
This course examines the wide variety of geologic, physical, chemical, and biologic evidence for the nature, duration, timing, and causes of climate change throughout the long history of our planet. In general, the course proceeds chronologically through geologic time. As the course approaches the modern world, students examine the paleoclimate record in progressively greater detail, and consider increasingly complex explanations for the patterns seen.
This course focuses on one of several geologic provinces in North America in the most direct manner possible - in the field. After an initial lecture orientation, the class explores the rocks, land forms, structures, and fossils first hand. Students learn to make their own observations and interpretations along the way. Each student becomes an expert in the geology of a selected area and makes in-field presentations to the rest of the class, as well as compiling a field notebook of the features that the class examines.
Earth is largely a "water planet" - the only planet we know of that has liquid water on its surface. Oceanography has developed from early mythological explanations of the present use of high technology to study their features and workings. The oceans played an integral role in the exploration of Earth and the spread of humankind across the planet, as well as being a continuing source of food and other resources. In the Puget Sound region, we feel the effects of the nearby ocean daily, from the weather we have to food we eat.
This course examines the range of natural environments of North America and the geologic, climatic, and biogeographic basis for this diversity. Focusing on the major physiographic divisions of the United States and Canada, the course looks at the relationship between these fundamental factors, the unequal distribution of natural resources, and the geography and history of human response to them. Includes laboratory.
Physical geology is a survey of the physical processes operating on and in the earth and the results of these processes through time. Topics covered range in scale from the atomic to the galactic. The formation of the minerals and lavas, types of volcanoes, and the creation of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks make up the first third of the course; this introduces the materials of the earth.
Students who major in geology learn to observe and interpret the natural world, develop skills to formulate hypotheses, collect and interpret data, synthesize results, and present findings at professional conferences.