EEG 100 Introductory Geology with Field Emphasis
Professor David J Harbor, Science Center – A223, office phone 458-8871, my cell phone number is posted at my office.
What is this course about?
Geology is the study of the earth, how it came to be, how its systems interact to produce water, minerals, rocks, landscapes and life, and how those systems have changed over 4.5 billion years. It is a comparatively young science that blends physics, chemistry and biology with new field and laboratory observations and uses imagination that has to be bent into geological time. Imagine a time in the geological past you could walk in waist deep, warm tropical water . . . from here to Minnesota! In this course, you have the opportunity picture yourself standing in that sea while looking at local rocks. Can you play a movie in your head where oceans open and close like closet doors in the space where the Atlantic is today? Where today’s Lexington was once buried kilometers deep under sediment shed from Andes-like mountains just to the east? And the stiff layers of hard rock around us bent like silly putty. Just imagine!
Geology is also a field that is increasingly front and center in the news or along corridors of state houses as human growth presses ever harder on the limits of natural systems. Geologists have the skills to provide information that keeps us safe from global warming, landslides, earthquakes, volcanoes and river floods. But exactly how do we know why or where these things occur? Or how often? Do you know that geologists expect an earthquake in the Pacific Northwest resulting in a US disaster dwarfing any to date? Did you know that if we change to way we farm our land, we can withdraw carbon from the atmosphere? Have geologists evaluated the natural hazards of your home town? You’ve heard about global warming, but do you know the data that gives the geological community near unanimous certainty of its occurrence, dangers and human causation? Did you know that some leading scientists recently proposed that sea level might rise catastrophically fast to 6 – 9 meters based on evidence from 125,000 years ago (a mere drop in the bucket of geological time). Although we won’t spend much time on this important topic, it illustrates how knowing about the earth is the only way to live safely with it.
Our Objectives for the Course :
- gain an improved understanding of what earth science is and how earth scientists work
- develop skills of observation and inference
- learn how to identify common rocks and minerals, read maps, recognize landforms, and describe geological processes and structures
- learn the geologic history of the Appalachian Mountains in western Virginia
- gain an appreciation for the complexity and beauty of the Earth as well as the human impact on her surficial and geochemical processes
- acquire an understanding of the fundamentals of the science of geology by learning it and doing it
This section is different. We don’t meet for lectures, so meeting these objectives in our field course requires a different set of skills and abilities than a traditional lecture course. It may be frustrating at first that that I’m not always telling you directly with what I know and think, but asking you to struggle with what you see and read. But stick with it and great gains are possible.
In this course, you’ll need at least these qualities:
- initiative – reading the textbook and getting outside background material prepared before we leave for the field, and especially, asking questions when you don’t understand so that I or another student can assist you.
- curiosity – when you see or read something that is intriguing, irrational, or unclear, you will need search out material in books, papers, and websites that extends your view of it, and wherever possible, connect it to things you’re interested in beyond the bounds of geology.
- creativity – you’ll have to try new things and attempt to broaden your abilities by visualizing geologic forms and processes in three dimensions and over geological time. These changes of perception may be hard for some to do at first, but it will change with practice.
- participation – you’re responsible for generating much of the momentum for the course by the questions and information you bring to each day.
I am of course here to help you every step of the way. If you don’t show up clueless in my office early the semester, I might be getting lazy and not pushing you enough. My ultimate goal is to show you that you can teach yourself, given the right tools and mentoring.
The Details
- Attendance – You need to come, prepared, to every class. The schedule lists the readings and other preparatory material . If you’re sick, or have another conflict/problem, an excused absence will require that we have exchanged texts, emails, or calls before class. Unexcused absences result in a zero for any work building from that day.
- Weather – We will go in the field on days when there is a chance for light rain and when it is cold or hot, so I ask you to be prepared for the conditions. You can’t think and focus when you’re freezing or too hot. Check the weather before each class.
- Safety – Lions and tigers and bears, oh my….not so much. . .but we need to be safe in the field
- Schedule – daily schedule In general, we will try to stay on a schedule that builds from what was learned on previous days, although weather and other factors may require you to jump forward or backward on occasion. Lab days that are forecast for continuous rain will be spent on laboratory assignments or other indoor exercises. I will try to give you schedules that extend one to two weeks in advance.
- Fieldwork, Taking Notes, and Assignments – Some field exercises will result in a writing assignment or project that is turned in and graded. To complete these successfully you must take part in discussion and make complete, legible field notes (including sketches where necessary). Keep your field handouts in a neat fashion arranged by trip in a three-hole sleeve. These notes and the accumulated exercise materials should be filed away in an orderly fashion, because the final is cumulative. You are expected to discuss observations with me and with your fellow students while we’re in the field, but writing and interpretive assignments must be completed independently except when they are specifically assigned as group projects.
- Self-instruction labs – In order to facilitate the discussion of material in the field, you will complete on your own time several labs covering minerals, rocks, geologic time, topographic maps, geologic maps and more. Work conscientiously through each question before checking the answers, if they are to be of any use. All materials will be available in geology lab (AG22).
- Evaluation – Short quizzes may be given at any time and you will take mineral and rocks quizzes outside of class. The final exam will be comprehensive, covering all aspects of the class including the information presented in the field, maps, rocks and minerals. It will be self-scheduled during exam week. Approximate weighting is
| Participation | 10% |
| Midterm and Quizzes | 20% |
| Assignments | 50% |
| Final Exam | 20% |
Participation
| 90-100 | you regularly contribute to a discussion. It is clear you have read outside materials in addition to the textbook(s), combine your own outside information with your own thinking/investigation, and contribute to the our mutual understanding of a place or phenomenon |
| 80 – 90 | you regularly contribute to discussions, understand the textbook(s) and outside material, and apply it to the class benefit |
| 70 -80 | you sometimes contribute to the discussion based on the text or your experience, but your comments don’t substantially move us toward understanding |
| < 70 | you contribute so little to the class that your absence would not decrease the value of the class for others |
Extra Credit: I encourage you to attend lectures with a geological aspect during the term. To reward you, you will earn a point on your final exam grade for each talk you attend and write up, for up to 5 different speakers. Take notes and write a brief summary that includes a statement of the event’s impact on you and/or your learning. To earn your point, turn in the title, speaker, and date of the talk, the summary/statement, and a scan of your original notes any time up to one week after the talk. If you hear of a talk that doesn’t come through our department, by all means forward me the info and inquire about its applicability.
Note about Honor Code as applied to this course – Because this class is based on observation and inquiry at a finite number of accessible locations, no materials of any kind from any previous geology class may be used to complete assignments or to study for tests. Likewise you may not leave behind any materials for future students to see or use. When you seek out library books and other outside reference sources (the internet, periodicals in the libraries, newspapers, etc.), you must cite them in your work where you use them. Do you know what plagiarism is? You should make darn sure given the consequences at W&L. Check the links on the library web site concerning style and plagiarism (wlu website). If in doubt, ask me or cite your source.
Course Materials –
- Textbooks
Understanding Earth (7th edition — not the most recent edition), by Groztinger & Jordan
and Planet in a Pebble by Jan Zalasiewicz - the following should come with you to class every day.
- map: US Geological Survey 1:100,000 Buena Vista Quadrangle (will be provided; reprint $2)
- hand lens (one will be placed in your trust for use over the semester; the replacement fee if lost or damaged = $15.00)
- composition book or notepad and something for field handouts (I recommend a 3-hole folder)
- sturdy footwear – no flip flops nor high heels or dress shoes
- appropriate clothes (warm, cold, wet, or dry) and a non-disposable water bottle (sunscreen? chapstick?)
- full water bottle and possibly a snack to keep you going. If you have class right after this one and will miss lunch, let the d-hall folks know and they will pack you a lunch you can pick up before class.
Please plan to bring the travel agreement and medical forms with you to the 2nd period.
Accommodations – “I am committed to ensuring access to course content for all students. Reasonable accommodations are available for students with disabilities. Contact Lauren Kozak, Title IX Coordinator and Director of Disability Resources, to confidentially discuss your individual needs and the accommodation process. More information can be found at https://www.wlu.edu/disability-accommodations/undergraduate-accommodations.
If you have already been approved for accommodations, please meet with me within the first two weeks of the term so we can develop an implementation plan together. It is important to meet as early in the term as possible; this will ensure that your accommodations are implemented early on. If you have accommodations for test-taking, please remember that arrangements must be made at least a week before the date of the test or exam.”
Religious Holidays – “Any student who is unable, because of his or her religious holiday(s), to attend classes or to participate in any examination, study, athletic, or work requirement on a particular day shall be provided an opportunity to satisfy the requirement in a timely manner or shall be excused from the requirement. Specifically, [u]ndergraduate students should reach out to their faculty member, adviser, supervisor, or coach, within the first two weeks of class in fall or winter term, two days in spring term, and again prior to the religious holiday to discuss how best to make up the missed requirement.” link
When you have read and agree to these conditions, please email Dave and “sign” the email with your name indicating your agreement. If you do this before the 2nd class period, you will earn two points toward the assignments grade.