Course introduction

Top Five Reasons: ◆You absolutely LOVE geology ◆You need a science credit to graduate & think geology is easier than physics &/or need it NOW to graduate We feel your pain ◆Just curious,

✸ TA:

Aurora Hinckley (480) 965-5175 email: Aurora.Hinckley@asu.edu

Office & hours: Please announce in class

✸ Why are we here?

✸ A few ground rules…

✸ Stuff about me.

✸ Tools for succeeding in Geology 101

✸ Course exams & grading.

✸ Overarching goals for this course

✸ Prelude: What is Geology?

Today: Course Overview

● Read the textbook

- Cover-to-cover, see Syllabus on Web page

for weekly assignments

● Attend lectures

- Hear topical overviews & ask questions

- Do in-class assignments & turn in & pick up HW

- Exams, quizzes & extra credit opportunities

● In-class quizzes

- ~ Seven quizzes, each given after we complete a major

- Will be announced the class before

● In-class exercises and homework assignments

- Exercises weekly & homework every other week

While in lecture, please DO NOT:

 Forget to turn off cell phones

 Read and rustle newspapers

 Talk and have conversations

 Sleep uncontrollably, endangering

yourself and others

 Break ASU rules/laws (e.g Don’t cheat, smoke, chew tobacco, spit., etc.)

Required by all students:

Required by all students:

While in the lecture, please DO:

 Ask questions when anything is not clear

 Engage in the discussions

 Fully participate in in-class exercises

Geology is great! Have fun with it!

Top Five Reasons:

◆You absolutely LOVE geology

◆You need a science credit to graduate & think geology is easier than physics &/or need it

NOW to graduate (We feel your pain)

◆Just curious, it seemed like it might be cool

◆There was an ASU registrar computer glitch(Again, we feel your pain)

◆You have absolutely no idea

◆ I’m an ASU Professor in the Dept of

Geological Sciences and a geobiologist by

training and inclination I teach 2-3

classes/year & conduct research in geobiology, with applications to planetary exploration

◆ I am Director of ASU’s Astrobiology Program

◆ I love interacting with students and thrive on field work

◆I am actively involved with exploring the

planet Mars and am a member of quite a few NASA advisory committees as well as the Mars Exploration Rover team, a mission that will

launch to Mars this June

◆ I teach GLG101 every 3-4 years, and in

between, other courses having to do with

geobiology, sedimentary processes and

Ah! Mars….

Geology 101 Learning Tools:

1 Book - Earth: Portrait of a Planet-Stephen Marshak

- An excellent, up to date review of field

- Nicely-illustrated with good study aids

2 How to study

- Review class presentations afterwards:

- Course website: http://

- Ask questions in class

- Check for terms in glossary given at end of text

- Science Toolbox sections develop specific concepts

- Interlude sections introduce larger topics

- Study guide

- Reinforce concepts

- Check knowledge by taking sample quizzes

- See Geology in the news

- Useful visualization tools

Geology 101 Learning Tools:

3 Meet with your Instructor and TA!

- During office hours

- Or, make an appointment (see class handout for times and places)

PRELUDE: What is Geology?

“CONTEXT” SECTION

1 Cosmology & Birth of the Earth

2 Journey to the Center of the Earth

3 Drifting continents and spreading seas

4 The way the Earth works: Plate tectonics

5 Patterns in nature: Minerals

“EARTH MATERIALS” SECTION

INTERLUDE A: Rock groups

6 Up from the inferno: Magma and igneous

rocks

7 A surface veneer: Sedimentary rocks

8 Change in the solid state: Metamorphic

“INTERNAL PROCESSES” SECTION

9 The wrath of Vulcan: Volcanic eruptions

10 The violent pulse: Earthquakes

INTERLUDE C: Seeing inside the Earth

11 Cracks, crags and crumples: Crustal

deformation and mountain building

INTERLUDE D: Memories of past life: Fossils

and Evolution

12 Deep time: How old is old?

13 A biography of the Earth

14 Squeezing power from a stone: Energy

“EXTERNAL PROCESSES” SECTION

INTERLUDE E: Ever changing landscapes and

the hydrologic cycle

16 Unsafe ground: Landslides and other mass

movements

17 Streams and floods: The geology od

running water

18 Restless realm: Oceans and coasts

19 Hidden reserve: Groundwater

20 An envelope of gas: Earth’s atmosphere

and climate

21 Dry regions: The deserts of the world

22 Amazing ice: Glaciers and ice ages

23 Global change in the Earth system Final Exam (May 14, 2:40PM -4:30 PM)

Geology 101 Exams:

1 There will be three Exams

-In class, 1-hour, 100 points each -One for each major section of course -See web page for more information

MAKE-UP EXAMS

ASU sanctioned event, which will require written

confirmation from your doctor or a presiding ASU official Make-ups under these exceptions will be 1-hour oral

exams

TERM PAPER OPTION

● You can substitute a 12-page term paper for one of the exams, provided it is on a topic drawn from the content for that part of the course This must be arranged ahead

of time and the topic must be approved by the instructor The term paper will be due the day of the exam for which

it is being substituted You will still be responsible for any major topical areas that are covered from that part of the course on subsequent exams.

Extra credit opportunities

1 Optional field trip to Papago Park

2 Geology in the news

Write a rap/poem/song that conveys geologic concepts for that part of course

Devise a practical in-class demo for a specific topic

GLG 101 Introduction to Geology I (Physical)

Basic principles of geology, geochemistry, and geophysics Rocks, minerals, weathering,

earthquakes, mountain building, volcanoes, water, and glaciers

◆ To develop critical thinking skills & a basic

understanding of how the science works

◆ Become familiar with some of the observational methods, reasoning processes and analytical tools used by geologists to understand the Earth and its history

◆ Learn the basic scientific concepts and principles- essentially the current paradigm for how the Earth and its systems interact to produce what we see

You will be learning a new language!

Geology is a broad, interdisciplinary science with

a rich vocabulary The terminology we will use

throughout this course will require that you learn a new language

We will all work together to find ways to become familiar with this vocabulary and the ideas it is

designed to convey But more is needed than

simply memorizing terms You also need to develop

an understanding of the conceptual framework that the terminology is a part of, and how the words

and concepts relate to each other

● Enrich your understanding of the planet we

depend upon for our survival

● Broaden your perspective of the relationship

between humans & their environment

● Become as more responsible citizen and make smart investments in your future, and the future

of your children

● Maybe you will decide to become one of the

true, the proud and the brave and go on to major

Lecture style designed to address the fact that different people learn

What methods will we need to

succeed in geology?

and spatial relationships

and predicting observations

integrating the 4th dimension, time.

principles from other sciences (physics, chemistry, math)

Geology deals with complex historical systems that have evolved and changed over time

Time is thus a fundamental variable in geology

Coupled processes, operating over time produce all that we see

And just what is Geology?

You are here!

Geology: The study of the Earth and its systems

Nature of scientific inquiry

Nature of scientific inquiry

Science is based on:

assumption that the natural world behaves in

a consistent & predictable manner

Nature of scientific inquiry

Scientific method

gathering information through careful observation

to formulate hypotheses and theories

note: involves insight and creativity to break free

from conditioned accepted views

Nature of scientific inquiry

Four basic steps:

1) collect the facts (observation/measurement)

2) develop hypothesis (one or more)

3) test hypothesis

4) accept/modify/reject

Nature of scientific inquiry

Process begins with Observation!

Formulation of Hypotheses:

Construction of a tentative (untested) explanation

for something observedValue of multiple working hypotheses

Testing hypotheses

Evaluate explanatory power

Certainty in science and the nature of scientific proofScience has been described as the orderly accumulation

of rejected hypotheses

Nature of scientific inquiry

Theory

- well-tested/widely accepted hypothesis that

“acceptably” predicts observed facts

- also: explains additional observations not used

originally to form theory

- predictive power

- still testable and subject to disproof!

You are here!

Geology: The study of the Earth and its systems

Prelude: Earth Systems

● Protection from Sun’s heat & UV rays

● Weather: due to exchange of energy

between Earth’s surface & atmosph between atmosph & outer space

● Strongly interacts w/ surface

Blanket of gases surrounding the Earth

● Glaciers

● Permafrost and ground ice

● Polar ice caps

● Frozen polar seas

Icy portion of Earth’s crust

● Earth’s surface and subsurface to depths of a few kilometers

● Life occupies an extreme range of environments

● Life strongly interacts with the atmosphere, the hydrosphere and the solid earth (these interactions are called ecology!)

Earth’s Ecosystems

Outer (liquid) 2900-5160 km Inner (solid) 5160-6370 km

3 distinct divisions:

Solid Earth ●Interior of the

Earth is losing heat

Earth’s dynamic interior and crust

Prelude: Plate Tectonics