Geology

Every hill and valley has some story to tell, some history behind why it is there. This course is about the earth's surface and the processes that shape it. We begin this course by studying rivers and glaciers, the most powerful natural geomorphic forces that have shaped our local landscape. We continue on to investigate landslides, weathering, soils, wind and waves, and perhaps the most powerful force of all: humans. We also take a quantitative, systems-level approach to the interaction of vegetation with the landscape, presently and in the past. Throughout the course, we ask "How do human endeavors interact with natural processes?"

This course explores the life of the geologic past, including the application of the study of fossils to evolution, paleoecology, biogeography, and biostratigraphy. Students explore topics from the origin of life to the impact of humanity on biodiversity. We explore questions such as "How did animals first evolve?", "How has life, from microbes to humans, altered Earth's climate, atmosphere, and oceans?", and "How does the distribution of organisms in time and space tell us about past climate and geological processes?". Students choose individual research topics about fossils to investigate as part of a term project.

This course explores the geological evolution of the earth and the history of life by applying the theories, observations, data, and methods that geologists use to approach complicated histories and unrepeated events. We investigate both the physical and the biological evolution of the planet and examine the current scientific explanations for events that have occurred on this planet. We answer questions such as "Why does Minnesota have some of the oldest rocks on Earth?", "What caused 90% of all species on Earth to become extinct?", "Why are the Himalayas tall?", and "How did dinosaurs evolve?"

This course explores deformation of the earth from the micro- to regional scale. We will examine concepts of stress and strain to investigate the formation of geologic structures, such as faults, folds, and fabrics. We will use geometric analysis of structures, geologic maps, cross-sections, and geologic field data to interpret the deformational history of a region within a plate tectonic context. This course will address questions such as "why do some rocks fold and others fracture?", "What controls the location and scale of faults?", and "How do mountain belts form?"