Jan. 28 History as Pattern and as Process; The Discovery of Earth History
Reading: Chap. 1
Jan. 30 Every Rock is a Record of History: Historical Approaches to Lithology
Reading: Chap. 2
LAB: Introduction to Sedimentary Rocks & Textural Clues to the History of Sediment (LSEH 1-2)
(Also, read Sedimentary Rocks Under the Microscope (LSEH 3))
Feb. 1 Terrestrial Sedimentary Environments
Reading: Chap. 5
Feb. 4 Fluvial & Deltaic Environments; Walther's Law
Reading: Chap. 5
Feb. 6 Coastal & Marine Environments; Transgressions & Regressions
Reading: Chap. 5
LAB: Ancient Sedimentary Environments (LSEH 4)
Feb. 8 Geologic Time I
Reading: Chap. 6
Feb. 11 Geologic Time II
Reading: Chap. 6
Feb. 13 Lithostratigraphy
Reading: Chap. 6
LAB: Tectonic Settings(LSEH 5)
Feb. 15 Biostratigraphy and the Geologic Timescale
Reading: Chap. 6
Feb. 18 Plate Tectonics and Continental Drift
Reading: Chap. 8
Feb. 20 Orogenesis I
Reading: Chap. 9
LAB: Sea-Floor Spreading & Plate Tectonics (LSEH 6)
Feb. 22 Orogenesis II and Geochemical Cycles
Reading: Chaps. 9, 10
Feb. 25 Fossils & Fossilization
Reading: Chaps. 3, 4
Feb. 27 Evolution I: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
Reading: Chap. 7
LAB: Age Relations and Unconformity (LSEH 7)
Feb. 29 Evolution II: Tempo & Mode, Patterns & Process
Reading: Chap. 7
Exam I Review Sheet handed out
Mar. 3 Phylogeny, the Tree of Life
Reading: Chap. 7
Mar. 5 Exam I
LAB: Rock Units and Time-Rock Units(LSEH 8)
Mar. 7 The Archean Eon I: The Oldest Rocks
Reading: Chap. 11
Mar. 10 The Archean Eon II: The Origin of Life
Reading: Chap. 11
Mar. 12 The Proterozoic Eon I: Birth of Modern Geology
Reading: Chap. 12
LAB: The Advance and Retreat of Ancient Shorelines (LSEH 9)
Mar. 14 The Proterozoic Eon II: Rodinia and Pannotia
Reading: Chap. 12
Mar. 17-21 SPRING BREAK!
Mar. 24 The Proterozoic Eon III: Snowball Earth and the Garden of Ediacara
Reading: Chap. 12
Mar. 26 The Early Paleozoic Era I: Cambrian and Ordovician Geology
Reading: Chaps. 13-14
LAB: Fossils and Their Living Relatives: Protists, Sponges, Corals, Bryozoans, and Brachiopods (LSEH 10)
Mar. 28 The Early Paleozoic Era II: When Trilobites Ruled the Earth
Reading: Chaps. 13-14
March 31 The Middle Paleozoic Era I: Siluro-Devonian Geology
Reading: Chap. 13-14
Apr. 2 The Middle Paleozoic Era II: The Conquest of Land
Reading: Chap. 13-14
LAB: Fossils and Their Living Relatives: Mollusks, Arthropods, Echinoderms, Graptolites, and Plants (LSEH 11)
Apr. 4 The Late Paleozoic Era I: Carboniferous Geology
Reading: Chap. 15
Apr. 5 (Saturday): western Maryland Field Trip: details TBA
Apr. 7 The Late Paleozoic Era II: Permian Geology
Reading: Chap. 15
Apr. 9 The Late Paleozoic Era III: Life in the Coal Swamps
Reading: Chap. 15
Exam II Review Sheet handed out
LAB: Fossil Indicators of Age, Environment, and Correlation (LSEH 12)
Apr. 11 The Late Paleozoic Era IV: Permian Life and the Permo-Triassic
Extinction
Reading: Chap. 15
Apr. 14 Exam II
Apr. 16 The Mesozoic Era I: Triassic-Jurassic Geology
Reading: Chap. 16
LAB: Geologic Maps and Geologic Structures (LSEH 14)
Apr. 18 The Mesozoic Era II: Cretaceous Geology;
Reading: Chap. 17
Apr. 21 The Mesozoic Era III: Black Shales and Chalk Seas
Reading: Chap. 16-17
Apr. 23 The Mesozoic Era IV: Flowers and Mammals
Reading: Chap. 16-17
LAB: Canadian Shield and Basement Rocks of North America (LSEH 15)
Apr. 25 The Mesozoic Era V: The Age of Dinosaurs
Reading: Chap. 16-17
Apr. 28 The Mesozoic Era VI: The K/Pg Extinction
Reading: Chap. 16-17
Apr. 30 The Cenozoic Era I: Paleogene Geology
Reading: Chap. 18
LAB: Mountain Belts of North America & The Interior Plains and Plateaus (LSEH 16-17)
May 2 The Cenozoic Era II: Neogene Geology
Reading: Chap. 19
May 5 The Cenozoic Era III: Quaternary Geology
Reading: Chaps. 20
May 7 The Cenozoic Era IV: The Age of Mammals
Reading: Chap. 18-20
LAB: Lab Final
May 9 The Cenozoic Era V: The Scatterlings of Africa
Reading: Chap. 18-20
Final Exam Review Sheet handed out
May 12 The Cenozoic Era VI: Living with the Ice Ages
Reading: Chap. 18-20
May 19 (MONDAY!) FINAL EXAM, PLS 1172, 8:00-10:00 am
For a formatted printable copy of the complete syllabus, click here.