NO LAB THIS WEEK

week of Feb. 2--LAB 1: Minerals (read Chapter 2)

week of Feb. 9--LAB 2: Igneous Rocks (read Chapter 3)

week of Feb. 16--LAB 3: Sedimentary Rocks (read Chapter 6)

week of Feb. 23--LAB 4: Metamorphic Rocks (read Chapter 7)

week of Mar. 1--LAB 5: Topographic maps (read Appendix D)

week of Mar. 8--NO LAB THIS WEEK **Lab Portfolio due on day of lab

Tues. March 23: MW Chapter 12 Plate Tectonics

Thurs. March 25: MW Chapter 13 Deformation, Mountain Building, and Continents

Tues. March 30: MW Chapter 14 Mass Wasting

Thurs. April 1: MW Chapter 15 Running Water

Tues. April 6: EXAM

Thurs. April 8: The Appalachian Mountains of New England

Tues. April 13: The Mesozoic Geologic History of the CT River Valley

Thurs. April 15: MW Chapter 16 Groundwater

Tues. April 20: MW Chapter 17 Glaciers and Glaciation

Thurs. April 22: Chapter 18 Wind and Deserts

Tues. April 27: Chapter 19 Shorelines and Shoreline Processes

Thurs. April 29: more Chapter 19, or Chapter 20: A History of the Universe

Tues. May 4: EXAM

Lab exercises will introduce you to new material and give you a chance to have hands-on experience with rocks and geologic data. Most exercises include group work, but write up your own stuff because you will be graded on your own work. We expect you to attend lab each week from 1 to 4 p.m. If you finish early, you must hand in your exercise before you go. If you have not finished the exercise by 4 p.m., hand it in the following week at the beginning of lab. If you wish to attend a lab on a day other than your normally scheduled day, contact Amanda at least 24 hours in advance by email in order to get permission.

During the first half of the semester (LABS 1-5), you will complete weekly exercises on rocks, minerals, and topographic maps. In addition, the first activity of each lab is small group work aimed at improving your writing skills and summarizing the most useful material from the assigned reading. Assigned reading will prepare you for the day's lab and also for lectures during the following week. Before each lab, read the chapter listed in the class schedule, choose a topic from that chapter that interests you, and write a paragraph beginning with one of the following topic sentences:

Your paragraph must be typed and double spaced (no exceptions). It should include a definition of your topic and brief discussions of three details. Your paragraph should also convince the reader that your topic is important and why.

If you are late to lab, or you do not bring your typed paragraph, you will not receive credit for "Lab Preparation and Participation" for that day, but you can still participate in the weekly lab exercise and include a paragraph for that day in your Lab Portfolio.

You will get feedback on your paragraph from another student, who will fill out a comment sheet about your paragraph and discuss it with you. Before you leave lab, show your paragraph and comment sheet to Amanda so that you receive credit for your paragraph (and the other student receives credit for her feedback). A "Sample Comment Sheet" and example paragraphs appear later in the syllabus.

Revise your paragraph thoughtfully in order to include it in your Lab Portfolio. At the end of the first half of the semester, you will compile a portfolio that includes your graded lab exercises and handouts and your revised weekly paragraphs for LABS 1-5. Give your Lab Portfolio to Amanda during midterm week (on the day of your normally-scheduled lab).

During the second half of the semester (LABS 6-10), you will continue completing weekly lab exercises. Rather than submitting a paragraph each week, you will complete a longer writing assignment based on the geology and the geography of the Connecticut River Valley and the Grand Canyon (LABS 6-8). For these three weeks, you MUST attend lab on your scheduled day. This writing assignment is due on the week of April 12 (during or before your normally scheduled lab time). On that week, week-day labs will be replaced by a field trip on the following weekend (LAB 9). LAB 10 will be a second field trip, during your normally scheduled lab time.

***MISSED LABS*** If you miss a lab, you may instead read Colin Fletcher's The Man Who Walked Through Time, and write a 3-5 paper on this book. See Amanda for guidance on paper topics. Any other missed labs receive a grade of zero, unless you have a note from a doctor or a dean. In addition, you are responsible for knowing the material covered in labs that you have missed.

The purpose of lectures is to deepen your knowledge of geology. We expect you to complete the reading listed in the syllabus before each lecture. You may know a lot about some lecture topics because of your work in the labs. During lectures, you will see slides that will illustrate concepts in more detail. Lectures aren't always about lecturing; short activities during this time will give you the opportunity to work with new concepts, interpret charts and graphs, and practice solving problems similar to those on the exams. In addition, students will give short oral presentations to the class during lecture times.

Three noncumulative exams (see Class Schedule for dates) will cover material from labs, lectures, and the reading. These exams will assess your understanding of earth processes and your ability to synthesize information from charts and graphs in order to solve new problems. Exams are in class, and the first segment of your time will be spent on your own exam. The exam you turn in after this first segment will constitute most of your exam grade. During an optional second segment, you will receive a fresh copy of the exam and have the opportunity to take the exam again while working with your book and other students. The exam you turn in after this second segment will constitute part of your exam grade only if it is an improvement over your first exam.

If you miss the exam, you will have an opportunity to make it up, but you will have forfeited the option of the second segment. If you have a documented learning disability, please contact Michelle well in advance to consider a different arrangement.

You will give a short oral presentation to the class--introducing the class to a cool geology web site. The purpose of these presentations is for you to get experience using the web for earth science research. By the end of the semester, you will also have compiled a list of useful online resources. A sample of the criteria I will use to grade your oral presentation appears below. In your search for interesting web sites, you might find these two pages full of links useful:

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/lits/library/guides/earth2.shtml#internet

http://personal.cmich.edu/~franc1m/

Make sure you identify a second and third website (backups) in case your first-choice site is down during your presentation, or in case another person presents your website before you.

Date:

Day's Topic in Class:

Name of Student:

For me, the most interesting topic in the chapter about PLATE TECTONICS is CONVERGENT PLATE BOUNDARIES because they are often the tectonic setting for dramatic events like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Convergent plate boundaries occur where two tectonic plates are colliding. If both of the converging plates are oceanic, one actually gets subducted beneath the other one and, ultimately, sends magma upward to form volcanoes on the upper plate. This type of plate convergence formed the islands of Japan! If one plate is continental and one oceanic, the oceanic plate gets subducted because it is denser. The subducting oceanic plate then sends magma upward to build volcanoes at the edge of the continent on the upper plate. This is the process that built the spectacular Andes of South America! If two continents collide at a convergent boundary (after the whole ocean floor between them has been subducted!), neither is dense enough to be subducted. Instead, big mountain belts like the Himalayas are formed as the collision continues. Earthquakes happen in all three of these types of convergent plate boundaries; we hear about them in the news. Thus, I think it is important to study present-day convergent plate boundaries because they help explain where and why there are mountains, volcanoes, and earthquakes around the world today.

Among the new things I just learned about EARTHQUAKES, one topic I'm confident I could teach someone else is RICHTER MAGNITUDES. The Richter Magnitude (RM) of an earthquake is a measure of the quake's energy at its source. News reports about earthquakes use the RM scale, and most geology teachers teach only the RM scale. I think the RM scale is popular for two reasons. First, it's easy. A seismologist can measure the RM of any earthquake that is recorded on her seismometer without gathering other information. This process involves measuring both the amplitude of the largest wave and the time difference between the arrivals of the P and S waves from a seismogram. Then the seismologist can use a simple chart (see Figure 9.19) to convert these two numbers into a RM. In principle, lots of seismologists in lots of different places could use this chart to calculate the same RM for an earthquake. Second, most people have a good sense of what RM numbers mean. If you heard on the radio that a RM 8 earthquake had just hit a large city, you would probably know immediately that the damage would be horrible. On the other hand, if you heard that a magnitude 4 earthquake had just hit that city, you would probably chuckle and go back to whatever you were doing without worrying. One thing that most people don't know about the RM scale, however, is that it is not linear. A RM 8 earthquake represents the energy of approximately one million RM 4 earthquakes, rather than simply twice as many. Although that calculation seems complicated, most seismologists use even more difficult scales to compare different earthquakes.