Geology 220

Basic Information

• Lectures: 2/3C
• Lab: W: 2:00-6:00 or Th 1:00-5:00
• Class TA: Amberly Kroha
• Lab TAs: Claire Boyle and Hannah Hackenmueller
• Office hours: Monday 2-3 and Wednesday from 11-12. For other times, check my schedule to see times when I am available, then send me an email (where you also propose several times where you are available).

Useful course links

• See the syllabus
• Tentative schedule
• Wednesday wiki
• Thursday wiki
• Course Moodle for occasional use

Course Updates

Week 10

• Wiki: The final version of your wiki is due at the end of our exam slot (Sunday November 24 at 6:00 pm). If you're done early, send me an email please (so I can start grading).
• Wiki, again: You should feel free to reorganize sections as you revise if it helps you tell the story of your plate better. But I will be looking for all the original sections somewhere in your final version. I put an example of what I look for in grading on the Assignments page of the wiki.

Week 9

• Lab this week is project work time. You'll have presentations on Tuesday next week in class.
  • Aim for 5-6 minutes. This usually requires practice.
  • Make sure that each group member gets to talk.
  • Please bring 6 copies of your half sheet (so three pages) and an extra copy with the key and the exercise side-by-side on the same page.
  • Send me a pdf (or illustrator file) of the half-sheet activity by Tuesday at 10:00 am.
  • Load any files you need for the presentation onto the classroom computer so that we can go smoothly from presentation to presentation. (This often means you have to download them to that computer; no one wants to watch as you log into your google account.)
• Wiki: your wiki final topic assignment is due on Sunday. It is about your plate's history.
• Wiki, again: If you were late in finishing a section and didn't get feedbdack from me, I will give you feedback on one section if you send me an email about which section to read by Friday at noon.
• Reading: Chapters 9 and 10 are relevant.

Week 8

• Reading: Chapter 6, a little bit of Chapter 8, and eventually Chapter 9.
• Lab this week is work time for your projects. Lab next week will be the same.
• Homework: there is a new homework assignment about Euler poles due on Thursday this week.
• Wiki: there is no assignment for this week. Give feedback on your partner plate by next week Friday.
• Learning opportunity: your take-home learning opportunity will be this weekend. I will give it to you on Thursday. It will be due on Tuesday at the start of class. Remember, once I give out the exam, you cannot talk to anyone in class; if you want to arrange to study with someone first, you must do that before picking up the exam.

Week 7

• Reading: start Chapter 6.
• Your plate motion homework was due on Thursday.
• Wiki: your post about plate motion was due on Sunday.

Week 6

• Reading: Chapter 5.
• Wiki: you should be caught up through volcanism by this Sunday. Then peer editing can occur. There is no new assignment this weekend.
• Your labs about seafloor spreading are due next week in lab. Be sure to include a bit of text explaining how you did the calculations - these concept sketches should really be a way to study for you in the future.
• Lab next week is project work time.
• Homework: the homework about plate motion is due next Thursday. (I forgot to give it to you, so I've put it in your mailbox.) As always, feel free to work with others but turn in your own work. You may want to skip the first page and work on the velocity space diagrams first - many students find the first page quite challenging.

Week 5

• Reading: You have now graduated to chapters 3 and 4.
• Wiki: your fourth plate assignment will be due on Sunday. If you're going on the field trip, you can have another week (but there will be another assignment due next weekend as well, so I wouldn't put it off that long). As long as you take a screenshot of the map, you can probably write the section on the trip and post it when we're back.
• Lab: We'll be having our learning opportunity during lab. Come well rested.
• Homework: there will be a homework due on Thursday next week using magnetic data from the ocean. You can work with someone, but turn in your own work. Students not going on the field trip are encouraged to work on the problems together during Tuesday's class next week

Week 4

• Lab: Your lab about the Izmit earthquake is due at the start of lab this week. Turn in one report for your pair/trio.
• Reading: here are the most useful sections of chapter 2: 2.1, 2.2-2.4, 2.7-2.9, 2.11, 2.12 and 2.13.
• Wiki: Your next assignment about the gravity of your plate is due on Sunday.
• Wiki editing: Read your partner plate's section and post feedback by Friday at noon.
• Homework: Remember, the isostasy homework is due on Thursday this week.
• Lab: Your lab write-up from the gravity lab will be due ideally Monday at 3 pm (in a box outside Sarah's office) or on Tuesday in class. Monday is sooo much better if you want Sarah to be able to give you feedback.
• Lab next week: a learning opportunity!

Week 3

• For class on Thursday, complete (or try to complete) the full sheet of puzzles about focal mechanisms.
• Textbook: You can now read 2.1-2.9 in the textbook. It will cover some things in more detail that we will.
• Wiki: Edit another plate page by Friday (noon, please). You can clean up grammar errors directly. Leave feedback on the talk page as a comment (like the example that I've already put there). See the list of plate pairings on the wiki.
• Wiki: complete your second plate assignment for next Sunday.
• Homework: the isostasy homework will be due next Thursday in class. We'll grade it during class.
• If you want another explanation for focal mechanisms, watch this 6+ minute video here.

Week 2

• Homework: You will work on the scorpion assignment in class on Tuesday. It is due on Thursday, when we will grade it in class.
• Lab: you will be working on the first wiki assignment during lab this week. I *think* you will complete the activity during lab. Note, you'll have to log in to the lab wiki in order to see anything--find the arrow symbol in the upper-right corner to sign-in.
• Wiki: Your second first wiki assignment will be due on Sunday of 2nd weekend at 10:30 pm.
• Reading: There is a lot of material in Global Tectonics, by Kearey, Klepeis, and Vine, that is relevant to seismology. Space this reading out over the next week or so:
  • 2.1.1-2.1.5 - earthquake seismology
  • 2.2 - velocity structure of the Earth
  • 2.3 - composition of the Earth
  • 2.4 - the crust
  • 2.7 - differences between continental and oceanic crust
  • 2.8. - the mantle
  • 2.9 - the core
• BONUS: Want to learn more about Inge Lehman? Listen to this Brains On! podcast about what is inside the Earth.

Week 1

• Reading: Read Chapter 1 in the textbook for Thursday. You can also start to look through Chapter 2. Before reading any text in Chapter 2, start by looking at all the diagrams and trying to figure out what they mean. We're going to spend a while in Chapter 2, so take your time.
• Read the syllabus by Thursday.
• Install Google Earth Pro on your laptop. Go here for instructions. (The web version does work but I found it be frustratingly slow. So if you can spare room on your laptop for the desktop version, I think you will be happier.)
• Complete the halfsheet about map calculations for Thursday.
• Lab: for next week, complete the two concept sketches (and turn in the 2 maps you worked on during lab). For the concept sketches, draw decent sized images on 11x17 paper of (1) a subduction zone (ocean-continent), and (2) a transform fault between two mid-ocean ridge segments. Use an Intro book (or the internet) to help you figure out how to make these drawings; 3D versions will be better. The text that you add should reflect the four kinds of data that we looked at in lab this week: geography (topography/bathymetry), age of the seafloor, earthquakes, and volcanoes. Don't go overboard with other information. Use symbols to show the locations of earthquakes and volcanoes.

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19 November 2024