ERSC 1F90Geology and the Environment

ERSC 1F90

Fall/Winter

2009-10

Instructor: Rick Cheel Department of Earth Sciences

Office: Mackenzie Chown D418

Phone: 905-688-5550 Ext. 3512

E-mail: rcheel brocku.ca

All course material will be located at:

www.brocku.ca/ERSC1F90

ERSC 1F90aims to provide:

• A basic understanding of Earth materials (rocks, minerals, etc.).

• An introduction to plate tectonics and its implications (earthquakes and volcanoes).

• The geological basis for the history of the Earth.

Grade Distribution

Labs &Assignments 30% See Isaak (Sakai) for details.

Fall term test 10% In-class, Oct. 19 & 21.

Last names beginning A to K, Oct. 19.

Last names beginning L to Z, Oct. 21.

Progress Exam 25% Time and location TBA

Final Exam 25% Time and location TBA

Winter term test 10% In-class, March 1 & 3.

Last names beginning A to K, March 1.

Last names beginning L to Z, March 3.

IMPORTANT NOTES

Completion of this course will replace previous assigned grade and credit obtained in ERSC 1F01, 1F95, 1P92 and 1P93.

The last day for withdrawal from this course without academic penalty is Friday, Jan. 22, 2010. By that date each student will have had reported to them grades making up at least 40% of all graded material for the course.

Got H1N1?

If you miss a lab: contact Astride Silis.

Don’t come to class.

See course outline for contact information.

If you cannot hand in an assignment: contact Astride Silis.

Register your illness at my.brocku.ca “Got Flu”.

Do NOT contact the professor

UNLESS you are missing a test or exam.

Lectures topics:

Scientific ideas, the history of geology.

Atoms, elements and minerals.

Igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks.  

The origin of the solar system and space objects.

Continental drift: the history of an idea;

Geomagnetism

Lectures topics:

Modern Plate Tectonics

Earthquakes

The Earth’s climate and its history

Volcanoes

Fossils and mass extinctions

Geologic time

Earth history: the last 600 million years

Lectures topics:

Check the course web site for material to be covered in any given week of the course.

In the event of a

significant asteroid impact:

class will be cancelled!

The usual disclaimer….