Earth History

Catalog description

Course provides knowledge and skills necessary to interpret, understand, and appreciate the Earth's 4.6 billion-year history. The first third of the course introduces basic principles, including geological materials, plate tectonics, geological time, fossil preservation, and biological evolution. The remainder of the course tells the story of Earth history through case studies that illustrate scientific methods used to reconstruct critical events in our planet's evolution through time. Topics include the origin of the Earth, the Cambrian explosion of life, building of the Appalachians, assembly of Pangaea, the rise and fall of dinosaurs, the formation of the Rocky Mountains, mammalian evolution, human origins, and Pleistocene glaciation. Students gain experience in making geological observations through laboratory exercises and during one afternoon field trip. Lab.