Physical Geology
Earth & Env. Sciences 1110

Fall 2015
Dr. Stephen A. Nelson  

Office: Room 208 Blessey Hall

e-mail - snelson@tulane.edu

Office Hours MWF 1:00 -3:00 PM
Office Phone - 504-862-3194
and by appointment.  

    

Course Goals and Objectives:

The goals of this course are to enable the student to understand the Earth and Earth processes so that the student will be able to:

  1. Read the landscape for the story of its evolution, development, hazards, potential and likely future given common Earth surface processes.
  2. Interpret hazards and resource opportunities posed by geologic environments created through plate tectonic and Earth surface processes such as earthquakes, volcanoes, river valley evolution, coastal processes, and climatic change.
  3. Describe the interaction and interdependence of the geologic environment and human activity at the societal level.

  4. Participate meaningfully in public discussion of geoscience issues correctly using the methods and data of science.      

Textbook: Earth, Portrait of a Planet 5th Edition by Stephen Marshak

Course Grading: Your grade in the course will be based on the following distribution of work:
Lecture Exam 1 25%
Lecture Exam 2 25%
Quizzes 15%
Final Exam 35%

 

The dates of the exams are given in the schedule below.  These dates are fixed.  Quizzes will occur  randomly throughout the course.  These will consist of short questions on material recently covered in lectures.  Two quiz grades will be dropped before determining your final quiz grade.

NOTE: There will be NO Make-up Exams. All exams and quizzes are cumulative, that is they could involve any material covered up to the point of the exam or quiz.


Lecture notes and new announcements that might take place during the course can be found on the  EENS 1110 homepage at: http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/eens1110/   Note that this web site is accesssible from any internet connection and does not require you to conntect through Blackboard.  Check back with this page often, as material on the web page is updated on a regular basis.

PDF versions of all Lecture PowerPoints will be posted on Blackboard, but not until after the lectures are given.  These will be found in the Course Content section on Blackboard.

 

Tentative Schedule of Lectures and Reading Assignments
(All readings from Marshak)

Date

Topic

Reading
Aug 25 Planet Earth Chapters 1 & 2
Aug 27 Plate Tectonics Chapters 3 & 4
Sep 1 Plate Tectonics Chapter 4
Sep 3 Minerals Chapter 5
Sep 8 Magmas & Igneous Rocks Chapter 6
Sep 10 Volcanic Eruptions Chapter 9
Sep 15 Sediments, Soils and Sedimentary Rocks Chapter 7
Sep 17 Sedimentary Rocks Chapter 7
Sep 22 Metamorphism and Metamorphic Rocks Chapter 8
Sep 24 FIRST MIDTERM EXAM Chapters 1 - 9
Sep 29 Earthquakes and the Earth's Interior  Chapter 10
Oct 1  Earthquakes and the Earth's Interior Chapter 10
Oct. 6 Deformation of Rocks Chapter 11
Oct 8 Deformation of Rocks Chapter 11
Oct 13 Fossils, Evolution and Geologic Time Chapter 12
Oct 15 FALL BREAK  
Oct 20 Geologic Time Chapter 12
Oct 22 Energy Resources Chapter 14
Oct 27 Mineral Resources Chapter 15
Oct 29 SECOND MIDTERM EXAM Chapters 1- 15
Nov 3 Landslides Chapter 16
Nov 5 Streams Chapter 17
Nov 10 Streams, Oceans and Coasts Chapter 17 & 18
Nov 12 Oceans and Coasts Chapter 18
Nov 17 Groundwater, Earth's Atmosphere Chapter 19 & 20
Nov 19 Deserts Chapter 21
Nov 24 Glaciers Chapter 22
Nov 26 THANKSGIVING  
Dec 1 Glaciers Chapter 22
Dec 3 Global Change Chapter 23
Dec 13 FINAL EXAMINATION 1:00 PM Chapters 1 - 23

Click HERE for a PDF version of this file

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