GY140 - Introduction to Earth Systems
Examination of active systems and processes that link the solid Earth to the hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere, achieved through laboratory and field activities. Entails a survey of the chemical and physical makeup of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks, and processes of rock formation within the context of the plate tectonic framework. Acquaints students with local stratigraphic units and their paleoenvironments of formation, as a means to comprehend Earth time. Explores mountain building, and earth structures, as they relate to earth resources and to geological events that impact society. Meets the Critical Perspectives: Scientific Investigation of the Natural World lab or field requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: SA requirement.
Prerequisite: No credit after Geology 150.
Degree requirement — Critical Learning: SA, Critical Perspectives: Lab
1 unit — Fricke, Grambling, Myrow, Siddoway
Previously Featured Offering
We will (weather cooperating) spend more than half of our class time in the field, on trips ranging from a half-day to five-days length. The field trips will be project oriented and are probably the most important part of the class. We will be camping out all of the third week of the block, so you will need to be prepared, physically and psychologically, for the vagaries of Colorado weather (this holds for our other trips as well).
Our goal is that by the end of the class you will be able to “read the landscape” in the Rocky Mountain West and elsewhere. Whether this class is a first step towards a Geology major or your only venture into the earth sciences, we hope that you will carry away from it an appreciation of how this region has been shaped by geological processes and how those processes influence its human inhabitants.
Offerings
Term | Block | Title | Instructor | Location | Student Limit/Available | Updated |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fall 2024 | Block 3 | Introduction to Earth Systems | Tyler Grambling | Palmer Hall 16 | 25 / 1 | 11/21/2024 |
Spring 2025 | Block 5 | Introduction to Earth Systems | Tyler Grambling | TBA | 25 / 25 | 11/21/2024 |
Spring 2025 | Block 6 | Introduction to Earth Systems | Paul Myrow | TBA | 25 / 25 | 11/21/2024 |
Spring 2025 | Block 7 | Introduction to Earth Systems | Christine Siddoway | TBA | 25 / 25 | 11/21/2024 |
Spring 2025 | Block 8 | Introduction to Earth Systems | Henry Fricke | TBA | 25 / 25 | 11/21/2024 |