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Environmental Geology - Geology 102 - Spring, 2002

General Information Course
Syllabus
"Laboratory"
Syllabus
Debate
Schedule
Hot Links
NEW! - Course synopsis in HTML and in Word!
General Information
Instructor: Dr. William Locke Office: Traphagen 223-4
Phone: 994-6918 E-mail: wlocke@montana.edu
Office hours: Wed 9:30-noon, by appointment, and any time my doors are open!
Classroom: TuTh; 9:30-10:45; Reid 102 Lab room: Traphagen 100
Text: Merritts et al., 1998, Environmental Geology, Freeman, New York.
Assistant: Denny Capps Office: Traphagen 114; 994-4890
Class Ground Rules
For efficiency, students missing the first week of the class may be administratively dropped.
Please communicate with me before problems get out of hand!
Please respect me and each other by entering the classroom before 9:30.
Read the text before class, and ask questions before, during, and after class.
Cheating, of whatever type, may be punished by a failing grade, in the exercise or the course, without prior individual warning.
Use of another's work without explicit credit is plagiarism, which is cheating.  This includes rewording of written text, use of material generated as a team without explicit credit to team members, direct copying, and possibly other activities.  If there is any doubt, share the credit!
The approximate weight of each part of the course is: Hour Exams (3) 15% each, Lab 25%, and Final Exam 30%.  
You must pass the lab to pass the course!  

Course Syllabus
DAY MONTH DATE TOPIC CHAPTER
Th Jan 17 Introduction 1
Tu   22 Dynamic Earth Systems 2
Th   24   2
Tu   29 Geologic Time and Earth History 3
Th   31   3
Tu Feb 5 First Hour Exam - [Link to Sample Hour Exam] 1-3
Th   7 Lithosphere: Rocks and Sediments 4
Tu   12   4
Th   14 Lithosphere: Resources, Hazards, and Change 5
Tu   19   5
Th   21 Soils and Weathering 6
Tu   26   6
Th   28 Second Hour Exam 1-6
Tu Mar 5 Surface Water 7
Th   7   7
Tu   12 SPRING BREAK 8
Th   14 SPRING BREAK 8
Tu   19 Groundwater  
Th   21    
Tu   26 The Atmosphere 9
Th   28   9
Tu Apr 2 Oceans and Coasts 10
Th   4   10
Tu   9 Third Hour Exam 1-10
Th   11 Energy and Environment 11
Tu   16   11
Th   18 Understanding Environmental Change 12
Tu   23   12
Th   25 Recognizing and Predicting Environmental Change 13
Tu   30   13
Th May 2 Review and Assessment  
Tuesday May 7 FINAL EXAMINATION - 12:00-1:50 PM 1-13

NOTE:  The "laboratory" in this course will include some traditional, hands-on, Geology lab activities, such as rock identification and map interpretation.  The major activities, however, will involve research into and presentation and debate of issues of environmental significance, from local issues like leaky gasoline storage tanks to changes in the global environment.


"Laboratory" Syllabus
Week of: Activity Debate or topic
Jan 21 Environmental Information Sources How do you find out about "place"?
  28 Minerals, Sediments, and Rocks Geological Materials
Feb 4 Contour (topographic) map interpretation Debate1: World Population
  11 Volcanic processes, hazards, and information Debate2: Mining Act of 1872
  18 Earthquakes: process Debate3: Seismic hazard zoning
  25 Landslides Debate4: The Green Revolution
Mar 4 Surface Water Debate5: Western water rights
  11 SPRING BREAK  
  18 Groundwater  
  25 Atmosphere Processes Debate6: Nuclear waste disposal
Apr 1 Coastal and marine Debate7: Asbestos hazard abatement
  8 "Takings" role-play Debate8: Zoning and "takings"
  15 EIS (or The next Oil Crisis) Discussion: The "oil crisis"
  22 Global Change Research Discussion: Global change
  29 Land Use Planning  
(© 2002, W. W. Locke, All rights reserved).