GEOSC 20

Planet Earth

_______________________________________________________________________
Lecture Schedule

Lecture	Day	Date	Title	Reading in 
				Chernicoff and Fox

1	W	Aug. 36	Introduction:  Dinosaur Extinction	Chapt. 1
			-  A summary of  T. E.'s background 	
2	M	Aug. 31	Earth Materials	Chapt. 2
			-  The properties of crystals   
3	W	Sept. 2	The Ubiquitous Silicate Minerals	Chapt. 2
			-  Nature's own ceramics    
--	M	Sept. 7	Labor Day	
			-
4	W	Sept. 9	Origin of the Universe	Chapt. 1
			-  Where did we come from?
5	M	Sept. 14	Evolution of the Solar System:  	Chapt.  8
			-  Lessons from trips through the solar system  
6	W	Sept. 16	Evolution of life:	Chapt. 19	
			-  Where did we come from (part II)?
7	M	Sept. 21	The earth's Interior and Internal Heat: 	p. 198-203
			-  Meteorites   	
8	W	Sept. 23	Igneous Rocks:  	Chapt. 3
			-  The "Mother" Rock-type   	
9	M	Sept. 28	How Rocks Weather	Chapt. 5
			- The formation of soils
10	W	Sept. 30	Mass Movement	Chapt. 12
			-  Landslides and other surfacial processes
11	M	Oct. 5	First Mid-semester Examination

    12	W	Oct. 7	 Stream Erosion and Deposition	Chapt. 13
			-  Floods from Johnstown to Hurricane Agnes
13	M	Oct. 12	Changing Shorelines and Rising Oceans	Chapt. 17
			- Your Vacation at the Beach
14	W	Oct. 14	Glaciers:  		Chapt. 15
			- Early exploration of the South Pole
15	M	Oct. 19	The Formation of Sedimentary Rocks 	Chapt.  6
			- The product of weathering and erosion
16	W	Oct. 21	The Penn State Obelisk:  	lab manual
			- Magnus Ihlseng's monument
17	M	Oct. 26	Global Warming; Ozone Hole; Carbon Cycle	
			- living with uncertainty	
18	W	Oct. 28	Water Underground -  A vanishing resource	Chapt. 14
			- Our search for good clear drinking water    
19	M	Nov. 2	Petroleum Geology	Chapt.  18
			- Gasoline for our cars -- where does it come from? 
20	W	Nov. 4	Minerals as Economic Resources	Chapt.  18
			-  Building Blocks of the Earth
21	M	Nov. 9	Philosophy of Science & The age of the earth:	Chapt.  8
			- Radioactivity:  The earth internal clock
22	W	Nov. 11	Second Mid-semester Examination

     23	M	Nov. 16	How Rocks Deform and Change: Metamorphism	Chapt. 7
			- The cooking of  eastern Pennsylvania
24	W	Nov. 18	Volcanoes and their threat to mankind	Chapt. 4
			- Explosive vs. nonexplosive volcanoes
25	M	Nov. 23	Earth Structures	Chapt. 9
			- Terry Engelder's major research interest
26	W	Nov. 25	Sea-floor Spreading	Chapt. 11
			-  Earth's magnetic field
27	M	Nov. 30	Continental Drift	Chapt. 11
			-   Alfred Wegener explores Greenland
28	W	Dec. 2	Plate Tectonics	Chapt. 1
			-  How does the earth differ from other planetary bodies?
29	M	Dec. 7	Earthquakes: Their Nature and Cause	Chapt. 10
			- Earthquakes and the earth interior
30	W	Dec. 9	The Mountains of Pennsylvania	lab manual
			- Geology of the Appalachian Mountains