GEOL& 101 - Intro Physical Geology

Credits: 5
Variable Credit Course: No

Lecture Hours: 44
Lab Hours: 22
Worksite/Clinical Hours: 0
Other Hours (LIA/Internships): 0

Course Description: A survey of physical systems that give the Earth its structure. Emphasis on internal and surface processes, and applying physical sciences to explain Earth composition, forms, and past. Field trips may be required. Lab included.

Prerequisite: ENGL 099 with a grade of C or higher (or placement into college-level English); and either placement into OR co-enrollment in OR completion of a college-level Math course with a grade of C or higher.
Distribution Requirements:

Natural Sciences Distribution Requirement

Meets FQE Requirement: No
Integrative Experience Requirement: No

Student Learning Outcomes

Identify common rocks, minerals, and fossils, and know how they can be used to determine the history and processes of the Earth.
Describe how water, wind, ice and snow modify the surface of the Earth.
Show how the theory of plate tectonics is used to determine where and how mountain building, earthquakes, and mineral resources occur, how they evolve, and the rates at which geological processes occur.
Explain the basic structure of the interior of the Earth, and how this structure controls plate tectonics, Earth magnetism, and volcanism.
Describe how Earth systems (geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere) have evolved over geologic time.
Recognize how humans influence the physical processes and the resources of Earth, and what human actions portend for the future of Earth and human society.
Understand some the characteristics and history of our local geology (Washington State) that expresses the processes described in points 1 through 6 above.

Course Contents

Introduction of Basic plate tectonics framework and Mineralogy
Igneous Rocks, Volcanism
Metamorphism. Weathering.
Physical Chemistry of Water, Sedimentation
Geomorphology I: Global Climate, Mass-wasting, Groundwater
Geomorphology II: Rivers, Flooding, Glaciers, and Ice Ages
Geomorphology III: Shoreline processes, Deserts, Climate variability
Structural geology, Seismology, Local Earthquake Hazards
Plate Tectonics I: seismic and geomagnetic constraints, heat flow
Plate Tectonics II: refinements, local plate motion, effects on resource distribution.

Instructional Units: 5.5