CLASS SCHEDULE & LECTURE NOTES
Week of Jan. 26
1/26 Lecture: Introduction: It's About Time
1/28 Lecture: Every Rock is a Record of History: Historical Approaches to Lithology
1/28 Lab: Sedimentary Rock Classification
1/29: Pre-Course Knowledge Survey due on ELMS
1/30 Lecture: Terrestrial Sedimentary Environments
Reading: Chaps. 1, 2, 5
Week of Feb. 2
2/2 Lecture: Fluvial & Deltaic Environments & Walther's Law
2/4 Lecture: Coastal and Marine Environments; Transgressions and Regressions
2/4 Lab: Sedimentary Structures & Depositional Environments
2/6 Lecture: Physical Stratigraphy
2/6 Quiz 1 due
Readings: Chap. 5, 6
Week of Feb. 9
2/9 Lecture: Index Fossils, Correlation & Radiometric Dating
2/11 Lecture: Lithostratigraphy, Biostratigraphy & the Geologic Timescale
2/11 Lab: The Ordering of Geological Events
2/13 Lecture: Another Geography: Plate Tectonics
2/13 Quiz 2 due
Reading: Chap. 6, 8
Week of Feb. 16
2/16 Lecture: Every Valley Shall Be Exalted...: Orogenesis I
2/18 Lecture: ...And Every Mountain and Hill Made Low: Orogenesis II and Geochemical Cycles
2/18 Lab: Biostratigraphy, Geochronology, Magnetostratigraphy
2/20 Lecture: Fossils & Fossilization
2/20 Quiz 3 due
Readings: Chaps. 3, 4, 8, 9, 10
Week of Feb. 23
2/23 Lecture: Evolution I: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
2/25 Lecture: Evolution II: Patterns, Process & Phylogeny
2/25 Lab: Physical Stratigraphy
2/27 Lecture: Introduction to the Strange Aeons of the Precambrian: The Hadean Eon (Lecture will be recorded on Panopto in advance; we will not meet in person this day.)
2/27 Quiz 4 due
Readings: Chaps. 3, 4, 7, 11
Week of Mar. 2
3/2 Lecture: The Archean Eon I: Black Earth, Blue Earth, Grey Earth (Lecture will be recorded on Panopto in advance; we will not meet in person this day.)
MIDTERM EXAM I: Available online 3/4-5
3/4 Lecture: The Archean Eon II: Biogenesis
3/4 Lab: Introduction to Paleontology: Fossils and Fossilization
3/6 Lecture: The Proterozoic Eon I: Birth of Modern Geology
Readings: Chaps. 11, 12
Week of Mar. 9
3/9 Lecture: The Proterozoic Eon II: Rodinia and Pannotia
3/11 Lecture: The Proterozoic Eon III: Snowball Earth & the Garden of Ediacara
3/11 Lab: Common Fossilizing Organisms I
3/13 Lecture: The Early Paleozoic Era I
3/13 Quiz 5 due
Readings: Chap. 12, 13
Week of Mar. 16
SPRING BREAK (Use your break to relax, but stay safe and healthy!)
Week of Mar. 23
3/23 Lecture: The Early Paleozoic Era II
3/25 Lecture: The Middle Paleozoic Era I
3/25 Lab: Common Fossilizing Organisms II
3/27 Lecture: The Middle Paleozoic Era II
3/27 Quiz 6 due
Readings: Chaps. 13, 14
Week of Mar. 30
3/30 Lecture: The Late Paleozoic Era I
4/1 Lecture: The Late Paleozoic Era II
4/1 Lab: Geologic Map Interpretation
4/3 Lecture: The Late Paleozoic Era III
4/3 Quiz 7 due
Readings: Chaps. 15
Week of Apr. 6
4/6 Lecture: The Late Paleozoic Era IV & The Early Mesozoic Era I
4/8 Lecture: The Early Mesozoic Era II
4/8 Lab: Precambrian, Paleozoic, & Appalachian Geology
MIDTERM EXAM II: Available online 4/9-10
4/10 Lecture: The Early Mesozoic Era III
Readings: Chaps. 15, 16
Week of Apr. 13
4/13 Lecture: The Cretaceous Period I
4/15 Lecture: The Cretaceous Period II
4/15 Lab: Cordilleran Geology
4/17 Lecture: The Cretaceous Period III
4/17 Quiz 8 due
Readings: Chaps. 17
Week of Apr. 20
4/20 Lecture: The Paleogene Period I
4/22 Lecture: The Paleogene Period II
4/22 Lab: Post-Paleozoic Geology Beyond the Cordillera
4/24 Lecture: The Neogene Period I
4/24 Quiz 9 due
Readings: Chaps. 17, 18
4/25 Optional Field Trip to Western Maryland
Week of Apr. 27
4/27 Lecture: The Neogene Period II
4/29 Lecture: The Quaternary Period I
4/29 Lab: Quaternary Geology and Climate Change
5/1 Lecture: The Quaternary Period II
5/1 Quiz 10 due
Readings: Chaps. 19, 20
Week of May 4
5/4 Lecture: To the Anthropocene and Beyond!
5/6 Lecture: Historical Geology of Maryland
5/6 Lab: Field Trip: Lower Cretaceous Deposits of Dinosaur Park, Laurel, MD
5/8 Lecture: Historical Geology Tour of North America
5/8 Quiz 11 due
Readings: Chaps. 20
Week of May 11
FINAL EXAM: Available online 5/13-14
For a formatted printable copy of the complete syllabus, click here.
