Winter 2025 Class Schedule
Winter 2025 class Schedule
| Course | Title | Instructor | Day/Time | Lab(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 202 | Earth's Interior | van der Lee | TTh 3:30pm-4:50pm |
F 12pm-1:50pm |
| 204 | Communication for Geoscientists | Osburn | TTh 2:00pm-3:20pm | Graduate students register for EARTH 390-09 |
| 300 | Earth and Planetary Materials | Jacobsen | TTh 11am-12:20pm | W 11am-12:50pm and W 2pm-3:50pm |
| 312 | Stable Isotope Geochemistry | Scott | MW 11:00am-12:20pm | Optional co-registration in 390-10: SI Methods |
| 314 | Organic Geochemistry | Blair | TTh 9:30am-10:50am | |
| 327 | Geophysical Time Series Analysis | van der Lee | TTh 9:30am-10:50am | |
| 330 | Sedimentary Geology | Sageman | MW 12:30pm-1:50pm | F 12pm-1:50pm |
| 350 | Physics of the Earth for ISP | Ciardelli | MW 3:30-4:50pm | Th 5pm-5:50pm |
| 390-05 | Paleobiology | Bush | TTh 12:30pm-1:50pm | |
| 390-10 | Stable Isotope Methods | Scott | M 2pm-4:50pm | |
| 450-03 | Contemporary Topics in Climate Science | Horton | TTh 11am-12:20pm | |
| 519 | Responsible Conduct of Research Training | Beddows | TBD |
Winter 2025 course descriptions
202 – Earth's Interior
Mechanics of plate tectonics; past plate motions; seismic waves; earthquake mechanisms; earth structure from seismology; shape, size, density, & gravity of the Earth; radiometric age dating; heat and temperature in the Earth; composition and dynamics of mantle and core; oceanic & continental lithosphere, minerals & rocks; planetary formation. Students should be familiar with calculus, introductory physics, introductory chemistry. Some familiarity with computer programming or other ways to process and visualize data (e.g. spreadsheet) is also expected.
204 & 390-09 – Communication for Geoscientists
This course will help undergraduate Earth Sciences majors hone their communication skills, and learn some specific communication styles applicable to our field. Science writing and scientific literature can be intimidating and obtuse. This course is designed to break manuscripts down into their base components, detailing the goal, style, and content required for each section. In addition we will cover verbal and visual forms of communication such as posters and talks. Writing is learned through practice, so this course will be hands on with weekly assignments, peer review, and required classroom engagement.
300 – Earth and Planetary Materials
The Earth and planets are composed of minerals, rocks, melts, and fluids. Earth materials covers the materials science of these substances. The study of Earth materials is fundamental to Earth, environmental, and engineering sciences because it deals with formation, stability, environments, and properties of natural materials at all scales from the atomic to large-scale processes such as weathering and earthquakes. The physical properties of Earth materials are largely controlled by bonding and crystal structure. This course begins with an atomistic approach to understanding mineral properties, but then extends physical properties and mineral stability to the larger geological and planetary scales. The properties of minerals also dictate how we use them for societal applications, ranging from raw materials to energy sources, chemical filters, and storage materials. Mineralogy is the application of physics, chemistry, and biology to natural materials, and this course emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of mineralogy. Students will also gain knowledge about the analytical methods used to study minerals and their environments.
312 – Stable Isotope Geochemistry
A survey of the chemical, physical and biological mechanisms and fundamental concepts of stable isotope fractionation. The course will focus on applications of H, O, C, S, N and trace metal (i.e., Fe and Mo) isotopes to geologic problems with an emphasis on climate change and ancient ocean chemistries.
314 – Organic Geochemistry
The sources and fates of organic matter in the natural environment; global cycling of organic carbon; applications to the study of modern and ancient environments. Recommended Background: at least one quarter of earth or environmental science, and one quarter of chemistry. Taught with CIV_ENV 314-0; may not receive credit for both courses.
327 – Geophysical Time Series Analysis
Analysis of seismological times series and other 1-dimensional physical data. Sampling, windowing, filtering, continuous and discrete forward and inverse Fourier transforms, deconvolution (unfolding), cross-correlation, matched filtering (template matching). Application of geophysical inverse methods to 1- and 2-dimensional unfolding problems, like image sharpening. Recommended background: Integral and differential calculus, linear algebra; or consent of instructor.
330 – Sedimentary Geology
Review of description and classification of sedimentary rocks; principles of stratigraphy and sedimentology; methods of local, regional, and global correlation; interpretation of ancient depositional systems (facies analysis); cyclostratigraphy and sequence stratigraphy in the context of tectonic, eustatic, and climatic controls on deposition; tectonics and basin analysis. Pre-requisite: EARTH 201 or ENVR_SCI 201, or consent of instructor.
350 – Physics of the Earth for ISP
Solid-earth geophysics: the earth's gravity field, the earth's magnetic field, interior of the earth, heat flow, elementary wave propagation, plate tectonics. Prerequisites: second-year standing in ISP; or comparable background in mathematics and physics and consent of both instructor and ISP director.
390-05 - Paleobiology
Fossils record the 3.8 billion year history of life on Earth, and extinct organisms make up 99% of all the species that ever lived. The fossil record reveals insights into evolutionary processes and the distributions and structures of organisms and ecosystems that cannot be observed by studying living organisms. This course is an introduction to the concepts of paleobiology: the nature of fossils, evolutionary trends and adaptations, systematics, paleoecology, and biogeography. We will investigate how life, from individual organisms to whole biomes, has changed over time; the geologic processes that lead to the burial and preservation of organic material; and the scientific methods by which we infer the biological processes that occurred across deep time from the limited and often biased fossil record. Course has prerequisites.
390-10 - Stable Isotope Analytical Methods
This class will include chemical and analytical techniques for stable isotope analysis of a variety of matrices and organic compounds. This will include hands-on laboratory experiments as well as some theoretical considerations. Extraction, chromatography, mass spectrometry, elemental analysis, data processing, and other common techniques in organic and inorganic chemistry will be discussed.
450-03 – Contemporary Topics in Climate Science
TBD
519-0 – Responsible Conduct of Research Training
All Earth and Planetary Sciences Graduate Students and Post Doctoral Fellows must complete the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Training in their first year of the program. This course includes 6 online "CITI" modules as well as discussion sections. New students and fellows should contact the Assistant Chair with any questions. Recommended Background: Earth and Planetary Sciences Graduate Students and Post-Doctoral Fellows Only.