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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
Environmental Studies senior research and thesis.
Prerequisite:
Approval by the director of the Center
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3.00 Credits
No course description available.
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3.00 Credits
No course description available.
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3.00 Credits
Many of the materials in our daily lives--plastics, hydrocarbon fuels, building materials, sheet metals, electrical components, etc.-- are won from the earth by finding and mining economic mineral resources. We will study how these deposits form and how they can be found. In this course we will integrate across several areas of the geosciences as we investigate the relationships between Earth history, plate tectonics, geochemistry, and the production of minable deposits. We will also consider the environmental aspects of mineral exploitation and the production and fate of pollutants.
Prerequisite:
Two 200-level and one 300-level GEOS courses or permission of instructor
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3.00 Credits
No course description available.
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3.00 Credits
No course description available.
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3.00 Credits
Our planet is about 4.6 billion years old, and has supported life for at least the last 3.5 billion of those years. This course will consider the inter-related nature of Earth and the life that inhabits it, starting with the first living organisms and progressing to the interaction of our own species with the Earth today. Students will investigate the dynamic nature of the Earth-life system, examine many of its feedbacks, and learn about the dramatic changes that have occurred throughout the history of the Earth. We will ask questions such as: How did the Earth facilitate biologic evolution, and what effects did those biologic events have on the physical Earth? When did photosynthesis evolve, how can we detect that in the rock record, and how did this biological event lead to profound changes in the environment? How and why did animals evolve and what role did environmental change play in the radiation of animal life? How did the rise and radiation of land plants affect world climate? How do plate tectonics, glaciation, and volcanism influence biodiversity and evolutionary innovation? What caused mass extinctions in the past and what can that teach us about our current extinction crisis? Labs will involve hands-on analysis of rocks, fossils, and real-world data as well as conceptual and analytical exercises; field trips will contextualize major events in Earth history and will help students learn to read the rock record. Through these investigations, the class will provide a comprehensive overview of Earth history, with special attention paid to the geological and paleontological history of the northeastern United States.
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3.00 Credits
The earth is a work-in-progress, an evolving planet whose vital signs--as expressed by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and shifting plates--are still strong. In a geological time frame, nothing on earth is permanent: ocean basins open and close, mountains rise and fall, continental masses accrete and separate. There is a message here for all of us who live, for an infinitesimally brief time, on the moving surface of the globe. This course uses the plate tectonics model--one of the fundamental scientific accomplishments of the past century--to interpret the processes and products of a changing earth. The emphasis will be on mountain systems (on land and beneath the oceans) as expressions of plate interactions. Specific topics include the rocks and structures of modern and ancient mountain belts, the patterns of global seismicity and volcanism, the nature of the earth's interior, the changing configurations of continents and ocean basins through time, and, in some detail, the formation of the Appalachian Mountain system and the geological assembly of New England. Readings will be from a physical geology textbook, a primary source supplement, selected writings of John McPhee, and references about the geology of the Northeast.
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3.00 Credits
The destruction caused by recent hurricanes such as Katrina, devastation of prolonged drought in the African Sahel, catastrophic flooding and mudslides in Indonesia and sea level encroachment on the Alaska coast are visible examples of natural disasters that may be modulated by climate change. Reports from the World Bank conclude that global climate change, together with environmental degradation and urbanization, has the potential to increase the severity and impact of natural disasters. In this course we globally examine geological and climatological processes that "set up" natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, landslides, droughts, extreme temperatures, and coastal surges, as well as the processes that condition availability of water resources. We study in detail the causes and anticipated consequences of human alteration of climate and its impact on the spectrum of natural hazards and resources. During laboratory sessions we use local field sites and computer models to analyze recent disasters/hazards and options for mitigating future impacts and study trends in weather and climate.
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3.00 Credits
The oceans cover about 72% of Earth's surface, yet we know the surface of Venus better than our own ocean floors. Why is that? This integrated introduction to the oceans cover formation and history of the ocean basins; the composition and origin of seawater; currents, tides, and waves; ocean-atmosphere interactions; oceans and climate; deep-marine environments; coastal processes; productivity in the oceans; and marine resources. Coastal oceanography will be investigated on an all-day field trip, hosted by the Williams-Mystic program in Connecticut.
Prerequisite:
Students who have taken Geosciences 210/MAST 211 at Williams-Mystic may not take Geosciences 104 for credit
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