G100- GENERAL GEOLOGY

Spring, 2013
Class Meets: MWF 9:00-9:50 SB 168

Required Materials: Grotzinger, J. and Jordan, T.H., 2010, Understanding Earth, 6th edition, W.H. Freeman and Co., New York, 654 pp. This Dynamic Earth: the Story of Plate Tectonics http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/dynamic.html Any other book that may be in the bookstore has not been ordered for this course! Students should read the text carefully but be advised: The lectures are designed to guide your reading! Use this fact to organize your reading, review and test preparation. Keep up with your readings in This Dynamic Earth. It is fair game for testing. Instructor: Office/Email Hours: G100 Home Page: Geo Dept. Home Page: Anne Argast SB238; Argast@ipfw.edu Anytime or By Appointment http://geo.ipfw.edu/argast/g100/ http://www.geosci.ipfw.edu

Please note: The course web site is not on Blackboard! Recommended Materials: Notebook Calculator Periodic Table

GRADING
EXAM # 1 EXAM # 2 EXAM # 3 EXAM # 4 FINAL EXAMINATION 20% 20% 20% 20% 20%

THE REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF You should be working hard when you are in class. Sitting back and simply listening to my lecture is not going to cut it. Doing your email in class is bad. Texting your BFF in class is bad. Napping in class is bad. It is called school WORK for a reason. Class is an activity, BE ACTIVE. Take notes, probably almost every minute you are sitting in the room. I don't take attendance but students who frequently miss class will find great difficulty understanding the material. You should attend lecture regularly. It is amazing how many students choose to miss lectures and then wonder why their grades aren't very good, or complain that the test material doesn't reflect what has been discussed in class, or say the class is too hard. When you miss a lecture youve missed more than 10% of the material on the next exam. Thats a full letter grade. If you wish success in the course you need to be in class. You should already have a working knowledge of arithmetic and elementary algebra; and an ability to learn about simple logarithms, exponentials, trigonometry and geometry. We will use metric units and scientific notation when appropriate. If you think these are unreasonable expectations then you should find another class at your earliest opportunity. I will give out-of-class help to students who have worked hard in class, taken notes and need to ask questions. When you come for help I'm going to ask to see your notes. I will not help students who miss class and don't make a first effort to understand the material. Send me an email and I'll schedule a time to meet with you. It's best if you come prepared with specific questions about things you are confused about. I dont mind if you tape the lecture, or have someone else do it on the incredibly rare occasions you need to miss class. SO WHY AM I HERE? G100 meets one of your Area II General Education requirements at IPFW. More importantly: You will learn a variety of facts about the Earth and you will learn to integrate these into working models of Earth processes. You will learn the Earth is as an assemblage of vibrant, dynamic, cyclic systems and you will begin to understand the frequently synergistic interrelations among these Earth processes. You will quantify data with graphs and other techniques. You will learn to support ideas with data and analysis. You may forget many of the facts shortly after the final exam but you'll remember enough to be useful and you'll have sharpened your critical thinking skills. With what you've learned you will be a more informed citizen capable of evaluating the important Earth-related issues of our time. For a few, you will have taken the first steps on a lifelong career in geology or a related field.

A BIT OF A SCHEDULING PROBLEM Your professor needs to be out-of-town on Wednesday (1/16) and Friday (1/18) of the first week of class. There will be no class on those two days. Monday (1/21) is the MLK holiday. TEST POLICY There are four scheduled hour-long lecture exams and a two-hour final. You can 'makeup' an exam missed for jury duty or military service but, without exception, you must present an explanatory letter from the court clerk or your commanding officer. MAKEUP EXAMS WILL NOT BE GIVEN FOR ANY OTHER REASON including illness, hangovers, cars that don't start, nasty weather, child rearing, sports, forensics, work commitments or anything else that might occur. Illness, sports, weather/road conditions and other factors can create legitimate problems for some students on an exam day. Therefore, there is no penalty for missing one hourly exam. Your final grade will be calculated with each exam worth 25% of the total. You do not need to seek permission, nor do you need to explain that you missed an exam. This policy does not, however, extend beyond one miss. A student will receive a zero if a second hourly exam is missed and no excuse, no matter how valid, will change that. Do not, therefore, miss an exam for frivolous reasons. The missed-test policy does not apply to the final. You must complete the final exam. If IPFW is Officially OPEN on an exam day I will give the scheduled exam and expect you to be there (within the limits explained above). If IPFW is Officially CLOSED on an exam day I will give the scheduled exam during the first class held after IPFW reopens. I reserve the right to modify this policy, and if I choose to delay the exam I will try to post appropriate information on the class discussion board. When writing the questions for an exam I put strong primary emphasis on the topics covered in lecture and only minor emphasis on text material not explicitly covered in class or the syllabus. Readings from This Dynamic Earth are an exception to this rule. We will use a mostly or entirely machine-gradable format for the exams. Some questions will require quantified solutions and simple math. You might even need to answer a question about something we haven't talked about in class. Some students may be authorized by the University to receive various accommodations at exam time. This might include more time, assistance reading or writing the exam and its answers, or might simply be an allowance to take the exam in a quiet space. No problem but- it is your responsibility to provide me, in writing, in class, a note that gives your name and what needs to be done to accommodate your needs. You must give me that note a minimum of one week before each scheduled exam date. You will be asked to either start the exam at the same time as all other students or start the exam earlier than scheduled but remain at your test site through the normal start time.

Anyone caught cheating on an exam will be subject to any number of penalties including a zero on the exam and an 'F' in the course. Do not expect sympathy from me if you are caught cheating. Cheating is unacceptable behavior that violates the essence of academic life and is, in a practical sense, simply not worth the risk. GEOLOGY LAB Not everyone in G100 lecture is enrolled in G100 lab which is offered at IPFW as a separate course. Labs and lectures support each other but are not coordinated on a weekto-week basis. Much of the information presented in lab will not be discussed in lecture. HALLWAY DISPLAYS and ON-LINE IMAGES There are quite a few displays scattered around the GeoFloor which can be reached by climbing the stairs from the buildings commons area, or by exiting this lecture hall by the door at the back of the room. These displays are part of the required reading for the course, and you will be expected to make appropriate use of them where indicated in the syllabus or during lectures. There are also quite a few captioned images that I have placed on the Geoscience web site (follow the link from the geosciences home page). Take a look at these images and treat them as required reading.

G100 - GENERAL GEOLOGY Spring, 2013 Lecture Schedule

1. M Jan W F M 2. W 3. F 4. M 5. W 6. F Feb 7. M 8. W 9. F 10. M 11. W 12. F 13. M 14. W 15. F 16. M 17. W 14 16 18 21 23 25 28 30 1 4 6 8 11 13 15 18 20 22 25 27 Course Introduction No Class (prof out-of-town) No Class (prof out-of-town) No Class (MLK Holiday) Data, Numbers & Observations I Data, Numbers & Observations II Minerals (and Rocks) - An Overview Rocks (and Minerals) - An Overview Relative Geologic Time Weathering Processes Mass Wasting in Vaiont, Italy EXAMINATION I Radioactivity and Absolute Geologic Time Radioactivity and Absolute Geologic Time Ground Water I Ground Water II Rivers I - Movement of Water Rivers II - Floods and Hydrographs Rivers III - Movement of Sediment Sedimentation
*

1-53 ----------------------------------------55-87 (+hallway) 55-87 (+hallway) 191-202 421-435 435-453; web ---------191-213; 537-539 191-213; 537-539 455-481 455-481 483-511 483-511 483-511; 113-145 113-145

Before Exam 1 read "Preface" and "Historical Perspective" from This Dynamic Earth

Before Exam 2 read "Developing the Theory" and "Understanding Plate Motions" from This Dynamic Earth

18. F Mar 1 EXAMINATION II ---------19. M 4 Glaciers I - Glaciology 569-597 20. W 6 Glaciers II - Glacial Geomorphology 569-597 21. F 8 Glaciers III - Indiana Glaciers 569-597 M 11 Spring Break - No Class ---------W 13 Spring Break - No Class ---------F 15 Spring Break - No Class ---------22. M 18 Oceans I 535-567 (+hallway) 23. W 20 Oceans II 535-567 24. F 22 Shorelines 535-567 25. M 25 Tragedy of the Commons Search "law of the seas treaty" on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_on_the_Law_of_the_Sea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/the-non-tragedy-of-the-commons/ http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/the-victory-of-the-commons
Before Exam 3 read "Hotspots" and "Some unanswered questions" from This Dynamic Earth

26. W 27 EXAMINATION III 27. F 29 Earth's Heat 28. M Apr 1 Plutonism

---------89-111 89-111

29. W 30. F 31. M 32. W 33. F 34. M 35. W 36. F 37. M 38. W 39. F 40. M

3 5 8 10 12 15 17 19 21 23

Volcanoes I Volcanoes II Hot Springs and Hydrothermal Activity Metamorphism Folds, Faults and Deformation Earthquakes and Seismology I Earthquakes and Seismology II Earth's Interior Isostasy and Mountain Building Mountain Building - Appalachians

305-335 (+hallway) 305-335 319-320; 478-481 147-165 (+hallway) 167-189 337-391 337-391 337-391 245-273 245-273

Before Exam 4 read "Plate Tectonics and People" from This Dynamic Earth

25 EXAMINATION IV ---------29 Global Tectonics - Evidence for Plate Movement Review Chapters 10 and 12. Also reread the e-book from USGS. 41. W May 1 Global Tectonics - Crustal X-Secs ---------42. F 3 Global Tectonics - Review ---------43. M 6 FINAL EXAMINATION 8:00-10:00 a.m. ---------*

Page numbers refer to Grotzinger and Jordan, 2010, Understanding Earth, 6th edition.

In several places additional readings from the web or hallway have been specified. Treat these as required readings.

ADDITIONAL READING ASSIGNMENT

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has published an on-line book about plate Tectonics. The book - This Dynamic Earth: the Story of Plate Tectonics can be found at http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/dynamic.html. Read at your own pace but have the designations sections read by the time specified in the schedule. There will be questions on each exam from these readings.

G100 - GENERAL GEOLOGY Spring, 2013 Discussion Topics by Lecture

1. Introduction. Classroom policies. Definition of geology. Present is the key to the past. Some rates and sizes associated with the Earth. 2. Data, Numbers & Observation I. Empirical data. pH. Plotting pH against ml acid on log-normal and arithmetic axis paper. Dependent and independent variables. Qualities of a good graph. 3. Data, Numbers & Observation II. 'Eyeballing' data and estimating trends on scatter plots. Errors. Histograms. Mean, median, standard deviation and mode. Steinmetz's dishonest graph. 4. Minerals (& Rocks). Definition of mineral. Geologic and economic importance of minerals. Crystal lattice. Mineral Properties. 5. Rocks (& Minerals). Definition of rock. Sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic. Materials as a reflection of process. Basic subdivisions of each group of processes/materials. Lithification of sediments. 6. Relative Geologic Time. Relative vs. absolute time. Methods for estimating relative time. Steno. Superposition. Original Horizontality. Lateral continuity. Faunal succession. Cross-cutting relations. Some problems with relative dating. Conformities and unconformities. Simple time sequence from cross-section. The geologic time scale. 7. Weathering. Mechanical vs chemical weathering. Frost wedging, unloading and organic activity. Quantitative estimate of area to volume ratios in weathered blocks. Synergy. Typical weathering reaction of K-feldspar to kaolinite. Typical qualities of a chemical weathering reaction. 8. Mass Wasting in Vaiont, Italy. The October, 1963 Vaiont Reservoir disaster. Geologic setting: rock types, tectonic activity, jointing. Contributing factors to slide. Weather considerations. Effects of human activity. Sequence of slide events. Engineering implication. 9. EXAMINATION I. 10. Radioactivity and Absolute Geologic Time I. Structure of atom. Atomic number, atomic weight, isotopes. Radioactivity. Parent-daughter relationships. Types of radioactivity: Alpha particles, beta particles, gamma rays. Mechanisms of decay, stochastic processes, half-life. Estimating an age using the 14C isotopic system. Implications for public safety.

11. Radioactivity and Absolute Geologic Time I1. Radon. Geologic distribution of radon. Remediation. Prevalence of radiation in natural environments. Nuclear hazard containment. Storage options: On-site, seabed disposal, bedrock disposal, salt dome, Yucca Mountain. 12. Ground Water I. Distribution of Earth's water. Some basic statistics concerning wells and risks to wells. Hydrologic cycle. Porosity & permeability. Effect of grain morphology, size, sorting and cements on porosity & permeability. Typical values. Qualitative grain size terms. Unconfined aquifer: zones of aeration and saturation. Water table. Artesian aquifers: aquaclude. Darcy's Law. Head. Typical ground water flow rates. Water wells. Cone of depression. 13. Ground Water II. Continuation of topics. 14. Rivers I - Movement of Water. Flow regimes: Laminar/turbulent flows and the factors that favor each. Basic discharge equations. Development of a rapids. Effects of river widening projects, and efforts to mitigate flood hazards. Discharge relationships. Meanders in rivers. 15. Rivers II - Floods and Hydrographs. Recurrence interval. The 100-year flood. Hydrographs. Hydrographs in evaluating flood behavior. Factors affecting the shape of a hydrograph. Typical infiltration values. 16. Rivers III - Movement of Sediment. Stream piracy. Factors affecting particle settling rates. Particle transport in bed, saltation and suspended loads. Hjulstrom's diagram. Competency and capacity. Deltas. 17. Sedimentation. Sedimentary structures. Movement of sand-sized grains. Ripples and cross-stratification. Other sedimentary structures: mudcracks, rain drops, tool marks, tracks, burrows. Sedimentary environments: desert, glacial, deltaic, beach & bar, shallow marine, turbidite, pelagic, fluvial. Vertical and horizontal distribution of sediments in a fluvial environment. Transgression and regression. Sea level changes. 18. EXAMINATION II. 19. Glaciers I - Glaciology. Definition of glacier. Kinds of glaciers. The effect of temperature and moisture on glacial development. Composition of glaciers. Glacial budgets. Movement of ice. 20. Glaciers II - Glacial Geomorphology. Erosional landforms: U-shaped valleys, glacial striations, cirques, horns, artes. Glacial sediment. Depositional landforms: Outwash plains, eskers, kames, kettles, moraines, drumlins. Causes for glaciation. 21. Glaciers III - Indiana Glaciers. Pleistocene stratigraphy. How do we know ages? Characteristics of the ice advance. How cold did it get? What happened to sea level?

Effects of glacial rebound. History of the Lake Erie basin. Glacial features in the Allen County area. 22. Oceans I. Distribution of land and sea. Provinces of the type continental margin. Turbidity currents. Distribution of Earth's morphological features. Sediments in the oceans: red clays, terrigenous deposits, biogenic oozes, manganese nodules. 23. Oceans II. Sea water composition. Special properties of water: dipole, liquid, high heat capacity, universal solvent, density maximum. Waves. Oscillatory orbits. Wave refraction. Straightening of headlands. 24. Shorelines. Shoreline structures, groins. Littoral drift. Engineering fixes to prevent shoreline erosion. Rip-rap and seawalls. Beach replenishment. Hurricanes. 25. Tragedy of the Commons. Tragedy of the Commons (Hardin), Rebuttal (Tierney). Ostrom. Is regulating the commons unAmerican? 26. EXAMINATION III.

27. Earth's Heat. Sources of Earth's heat: Original heat of formation, gravitational heat, radioactivity. Differences between continental (sialic) crust and oceanic (mafic) crust. Calculated heat flow in room. Expressions of heat flow: Hot springs, geysers, black smokers, volcanoes, hot mines. Geothermal gradient. 28. Plutonism. Definition of magma. Igneous rocks. Common minerals in igneous rocks. Types of igneous rocks: Granite, rhyolite, diorite, andesite, gabbro, basalt. Aphanitic. Phaneritic. Interrelations of rocks. Fractional crystallization. Partial melting. Bowen's Reaction Series. Zoned crystals. 29. Volcanoes. Recent volcanic eruptions. Definition of volcanic rock. Components of eruptions: lava, pyroclastics. Tuffs. Silica polymerization and its effect on the viscosity of lava and the explosive tendency of volcanoes. Nuee ardentes. Types and characteristics of volcanoes: Shield volcanoes, cinder volcanoes, composite (strato) volcanoes. Climatic effects of volcanic eruptions - Mt. Pinatubo. 30. Volcanoes II. Volcanism in the Cascade Range. Typical andesite volcanoes. Recurrence intervals of U.S. volcanoes. History and slide show of Mt. St. Helens. 31. Hydrothermal Activity. Hot springs. Geothermal Fields. Geysers. Yellowstone Park. 32. Metamorphism. Definition of metamorphism. Types of metamorphism: regional, contact, dynamic. Mineralogy characteristic of different metamorphic facies. Metamorphic facies map in the area near Vermont. Extreme metamorphism.

33. Folds, Faults and Deformation. Brittle deformation (faults). Ductile deformation (folds). Syncline. Anticline. Dip-slip faults: Normal, reverse (thrust). Strike-slip faults: right-lateral, left-lateral. Hanging wall. Foot wall. Fault-block mountains. Horst. Graben. Example from the early Cenozoic in North America. Basin and Range. 34. Earthquakes and Seismology I. Causes for earthquakes. Stress and slip. San Andreas. Simple seismometer. Seismograms. Effect of substrate on amplitude of waves. Other factors affecting ground motion. 35. Earthquakes and Seismology II. Richter Scale. Magnitude. Earthquake frequency. Energy released in largest earthquakes. Mercalli Intensity Scale. 36. Earth's Interior. Body Waves. Surface Waves. P-waves. S-waves. Equations governing velocity of P- and S-waves. Earthquake hazards in the U.S. Techniques for earthquake prediction. Responsibility of geologists and response of the public to earthquake predictions. Earthquake mitigation. 37. Isostacy and Mountain Building. Orogeny and orogenesis. Evidence for vertical movements of Earth's crust. Isostacy. Roots. Continental cross-section.

38. Mountain Building - Appalachians. Fold mountains and orogenic belts. Characteristic structures, distributions and rocks within geosynclines. Overview of regional deformation in the Appalachian region. Specifics on the Acadian Orogeny. Evidence of the Acadian Orogeny outside North America. 39. EXAMINATION IV. 40. Global Tectonics - Evidence for Plate Movement. Evidence for crustal movement in a horizontal plane. Maximum age of ocean floor. Age distribution of ocean floor. Distribution of active volcanism. Distribution of seismicity. Cooling and sinking curves. Magnetic anomaly patterns. Continental 'fit'. Paleopoles. Continuity of rock types. Isolation of New World organisms. Pangea. Gondwanaland. Laurasia. India. Overview of Plate Tectonics theory: Constructive margins, destructive margins, transform margins. Plate velocities. 41. Global Tectonics - Crustal Cross-Sections. Cross section showing: subduction, rising magma, trench, spreading, lithosphere, asthenosphere, crust, melting, island arc, descending plate, melanges, earthquake distributions and other features. Ring of fire. Plate motions and hot spots - Hawaiian Islands. 42. Global Tectonics/Review. Finish tectonics and resolve all unfinished business.

43. FINAL EXAMINATION.