Geomicrobiology. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours

Catalog description

Prerequisite: GEO 1103 , GEO 1111 , CHE 1103 , CHE 1121 , and MAT 1093 , or consent of instructor. The overall objective of this course is to give you an understanding of how microorganisms impact geological environments and how geological environments, in turn, influence microbial activity. The course is divided into three units: (1) Fundamentals of geomicrobiology. Here you will learn about the basic properties of microbes, how we characterize them, and how they function. We will also discuss the major biogeochemical cycles. This portion of the course will lay the foundation for learning about microbial interactions with geological environments. (2) Influence of geological environments on microorganisms. This portion of the course examines environmental controls that influence who exist within microbial communities and what kinds of reactions they carry out. We will emphasize use of thermodynamic calculations to analyze microbial communities and predict behavior. (3) Impacts of microbial activity on geological environments. We will begin this portion of the course with an overview of ways microbes impact their environments and then focus our discussion on impacts of microbial activity on water resources. Generally offered: Fall. This course has Differential Tuition.