EART-Earth Sciences

Over the past 4.5 billion years, planet Earth has evolved in exciting ways. Environments, climates, and life forms have come and gone in fascinating combinations. Course examines changing physical, biological, and climatological conditions through geologic time, beginning with the evolution of the Earth through changes leading to the current state of the planet, and considers prospects for Earth's future.

Physics applied to geological problems, including basic mechanics, stress and strain, heat transport, and fluid flow. Discussion-2 hours.

Explores the shallow subsurface environment, including groundwater systems, buried faults, sedimentary basins and other environmentally significant features using the tools of geophysics. Data acquisition and interpretation focus on understanding processes and defining problems.

How the fossil magnetism of rocks is used to decipher Earth's history: applications to tectonics, geochronology, stratigraphy, structural geology, geomagnetism, and archeology. Includes an overnight field trip to collect samples for a class research project.

A hands-on research project in the Paleomagnetic Laboratory. Students collectively drill oriented cores in the field (one–two days), prepare and measure the samples, and analyze and interpret the data. Each student writes an individual final report based on the class results.

Introduction to quantitative earthquake and global Earth structure seismology. Topics include basic elasticity, wave characteristics, seismic ray theory, wave reflection, surface waves, normal modes, seismic instrumentation, application of seismic waves to reveal Earth structure and resulting models, representation of earthquake sources such as explosions and faulting, earthquake rupture scaling, modern methods of modeling seismic recordings to study source complexity, and an introduction to seismotectonics. Laboratory-3 hours. Students cannot receive credit for this course and course 270.

Three weeks of summer field study in geologically complex regions in the White-Inyo Mountains of eastern California. Activities include geologic field mapping on topographic and photographic base maps, stratigraphy, petrology, and structure analysis. A fee is required for participation. Contact sponsoring agency for details. Prerequisite(s): satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing and Composition requirements; courses 109/L, 110A/L, and 110B/M. Enrollment is restricted to Earth sciences majors. Concurrent enrollment in course 188B is required. Interview only via application filed with department.

Introduction to basic principles of geographic information systems (GIS). Visualization of earthscapes with applications to problem-solving in the Earth sciences. Laboratory exercises in loading, manipulation, and interpretation of data sets. Field investigations of phenomena visualized in laboratory, including geological description, interpretation, and written report preparation. Lecture and laboratory portions of course occur during spring quarter. Field investigations and report-writing occur in the summer following spring quarter. A fee is required for participation. Contact sponsoring agency for details. Prerequisite(s): satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing and Composition requirements; courses 109/L, 110A/L, and 110B/M. Enrollment is restricted to Earth sciences majors. Concurrent enrollment in course 188A is required. Interview only via application filed with department.

Systematic study of the major igneous rock suites, combining petrography, experimental petrology, major and trace elements, volatiles, and isotopic characteristics. Laboratory: three hours. Course designed for graduate students but available to qualified earth sciences majors. Course 130 is recommended as preparation.

Rigorous presentation of major subsets of geomorphology: I. Mechanics of sediment transport. Physics of sediment transport in both air and water. II. Mechanics of hillslope processes. III. Glaciology and glacial geology. Topics vary from year to year between these three. Will be offered in the 2005–06 academic year.

Study of the evolution and diversification of life on this planet; and factors affecting habitability of other bodies in this solar system and elsewhere.

Field class in comparative planetology. Three- to four -day field trip plus planning and debriefing sessions.

The formation of asteroids, comets, moons, planets, and the samples that derive from them, with a focus of meteorites, astronomical discoveries, spacecraft mission results, and modeling. Students cannot receive credit for this course and course 167.

Explores concepts and methods of correlating marine sedimentary sequences. Emphasis on the integration of techniques and development of the Cenozoic stratigraphic record. One 2-hour laboratory each week. Upper-division students who have completed course 120 may enroll in this course.

Using a multidisciplinary approach, examines physical geology, paleoenvironment, human biology, linguistics, and culture history of Americas at end of last Ice Age. Particular emphasis on reconstructing timing, routes, and context of first peopling of the American continents. Taught in conjunction with Anthropology 276D. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.)

Special topics in wave propagation in heterogeneous, three-dimensional media, applications for determination of Earth's structure, kinematics and dynamics of the seismic source, near field phenomena, engineering applications, current problems.

Special topics of interest in current research by the seismology group. Discussion of new developments in earthquake mechanics, wave propagation, tectonics, earthquake prediction.

Rigorous statistical treatment of geophysical data involving: Bayesian inference; stochastic processes and fields; information theory; non-linear and non-assumptive error analysis; cluster analysis; regional variables; correlograms and kriging. Develops the theoretical framework of linear geostatistics and geophysical inverse theory. Designed for graduate students but available to qualified Earth sciences majors.

A graduate discussion course considering geochemical, biological, and ecological aspects of contaminants and ecosystems. The interdisciplinary nature of the this subject is emphasized through critical readings and discussion. Each student explores a topic in detail by preparing a written review and leading a class discussion.

Selected topics in Earth surface processes and Quaternary history are treated in detail. Emphasis is placed on recent advances, both in theory and in field and dating techniques. Course designed for graduate students but available to qualified Earth sciences majors. Will be offered in the 2005-06 academic year.