Catalogue Description: Overview of the elements of physical geology, historical geology, mineralogy, meteorology, cartography, climatology, oceanographic, and astronomy. Fundamental concepts of physics and chemistry and the underlying scientific laws. Emphasis is on giving the non-scientist a comprehensive knowledge of the basics in each of the fields covered. Three hours lecture once each week.
3 semester hours

My Description: We shall learn about rocks and minerals, the earth's oceans, and its atmosphere. We shall also learn a little astronomy so you will understand the place of the earth in the grander realm of the universe. We will keep a journal on this learning.

Clientele: Anyone who wants to understand the bigger world outside of this city.

Prerequisite: Willingness to read, think, write, and communicate.

Text: Understanding Earth, 2^nd edition with CD-ROM by Frank Press and Raymond Siever published by W.H. Freeman this text is required.  A Study Guide for Understanding Earth by Press and Siever is highly recommended, but is not essential like the text.

My Expectations:

• That you read the assigned portions of the text before coming to class.
• That you will ask questions on the assigned portion that you did not understand.
• That you will answer one simple question on the miniquiz which will chiefly test whether you have done the above two things.
• That you will keep your Earth Science Journal current for every class.
• That you will use the Internet resources in the computer laboratory to extend what is in the text by going to the URL recommended in the text.  I will also share some additional URLs with you that I think are useful.
• That you will take the one test during the semester and the one final exam.
• That you will appreciate our place on the world.

• You will learn a lot of earth science vocabulary. You will be able to intelligently read newspaper articles about resent discoveries of the earth and other terrestrial planets.
• You will be able to read a USGS topographical map.

• Miniquizes after question period-10%
• One test during the semester-30%
• One final exam-60%

I shall not read the book to you in class. You are expected to do that before class. If your grandmother dies or your spleen ruptures or your job requires you to work unexpected overtime and you are unable to do the reading, please do not compound the problem by not showing up to class. Why be doubly disadvantaged?

The Earth Science Journal is a written record of your Earth Science study and learning. Keeping this journal will help you learn Earth Science and will also help you in all your other courses. It will consist of several parts. Your journal will be organized in chapters similar to the book and it will have the following subsections in each chapter.

• Notes in outline form of the chapter. You should also include questions in here about things that you didn't understand when you read the text. These questions you will ask me in class. I like to answer questions. Make me happy. Everything, definitions and all, should be expressed in your own words. You need to make Earth Science real to yourself. Writing about it will help you do this. You have to organize your thoughts to write about them. Write as you read, please. Do not read an entire chapter in the text before summarizing it. Summarize subsections before going on to the next subsection. .

• Vocabulary words defined in your own words. Most of the vocabulary words will be in bold face type the first time they are used in the text. Do not copy the definition out of the glossary. I will consider that plagiarism. For you to really understand the meaning of words and terms you must express it in your own words.

• Notes taken in class about things that I say and problems that I work. Sometimes I will tell you things in a different way than in the text, or I may feel that certain ideas need to be introduced sooner than they appear in the book.

• A recapitulation or synthesis of all of the important ideas summarized in the chapter. You do this only after the three previous points are finished. You should use this to study for tests..

Physically the journal can be a ringed binder or a cheaper brad binder. Papers will have to be taken in and out and rearranged from time to time. A spiral bound notebook will not work well at all. Please bring this to class, always! I will want to look at it from time to time to see how you are doing. Remember this is ultimately a journal for you. You can use your Earth Science journal on test. My test are murderously hard; you will need a well written journal. It should be clear and neat enough so that not only l can understand what you are doing, but that you can understand what you did when you look at it ten years from now.

• April 9. 1 Building a Planet; 2 Minerals: Building Blocks of Rocks
• Chapter 1: Building a Planet Links
• Ask A Geologist
• Geologist Lifetime Field List
• Earth Science Site of the Week
• The Nine Planets
• Views of the Solar System
• Welcome to the Planets
• Web Site for Understanding Earth (your text book)
• Chapter 2: Minerals Links
• Mineral Gallery
• Mineralogy
• Smithsonian Gems  & Mineral Collection (Natural History Museum downtown DC on the Mall)
• Minerals in Thin Section
• USGS Minerals Information
• April 16. 3 Rocks: Records of Geological Processes; 20 Plate Tectonics: The Unifying Theory
• Chapter 3: Rocks: Records of Geological Process Links
• Rock Cycle from the University of British  Columbia
• Rock Cycle from the University of West Florida
• Chapter 20: Plate Tectonics: The Unifying Theory Links
• NGDC Marine Geology and Geophysics Division
• Ocean Drilling Program
• This Dynamics Earth: The Story of Plate Tectonics, a book by W. Jacquelyne Kious and Robert I. Tilling
• Tectonic Plate Motion Maps from GSFC
• Sea Floor Spreading, Contential Drift Maps in a course at Duke University
• Oceanic Vents
• Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics
• Southern Arizona Seismic Observatory
• Digital Maps of the Age of the Oceans Floor from Canada
• April 23. 4 Igneous Rocks: Solids from Melts; 5 Volcanism
• April 30. 6 Weathering and Erosion', 7 Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks
• May 7. 8 Metamorphic Rocks', 9 The Rock Record and the Geological Time Scale
• May 21. l 2 The Hydrological Cycle and Groundwater; 13 Rivers: Transport to t he Oceans
• May 28. 17 Oceans', 18 Earthquakes', 19 Exploring Earth's Interior
• June 4. 21 Deformation of the Continental Crust; 22 Energy Resources from the Earth; 23 Mineral Resources from the Earth, 24 Earth System and Cycles

Each class meeting will be broken down into two parts. The first will meet from 5:30-6:45 P.M., then we will have a quarter of an hour break, the second will meet from 7:00.-8:30 P.M.

•  April 9. Introduction, first meeting
• What is this course
• Planet Earth

• April 16. The Two Dynamical Systems, second meeting
• The Hydrologic System
• The Tectonic System

• April 23. Mineral and Rocks, third meeting
• Minerals

Activity examine rocks, look for minerals
Rocks: Igneous, Sedimentary, and, Metamorphic

• April 30. From the Fire, fourth meeting
• Igneous Rocks
• Volcano's

• May 7. Erosion and Compactification, fifth meeting
• Weathering
• Sedimentation

• May 14. Telling time with rocks, sixth meeting
• Metamorphism
• Absolute Radioactive Dates

• May 21. Seventh meeting, Midterm Exam which will cover from chapters l -9 and 20 on page 1 -209 and 446-477.

• May 23 Trip to Great Falls, Maryland on the Potomaic and then a 3 mile hike on the Billy Goat trail.  See the pictures of the trip.

• May 28. The Hydrological Cycle, eighth meeting
• Groundwater
• Rivers

• June 4. Seismicity, ninth meeting
• Earthquakes
• Interior of the Earth

• June 11. Resources, tenth meeting
• Energy Sources
• Material Sources

• June 18. Eleventh meeting,, Final Exam that will cover everything in the text and everything else that I have said  in class.