Introduction & Syllabus
Read the syllabus - it contains much valuable information about this course! The information is also available on the class web site.
Rock and Role
Students will look at rocks from various perspectives. From a geoscience perspective:
Interpretations depend on observations, which depend on questions, which depend on perspective!
There are many valid ways of looking at the Earth, and this class concentrates on the geoscientist's way. Geologists tell stories about the Earth and its history. You will learn stories about the Earth as a whole and about specific places on Earth, i.e., the national parks. You are not required to believe the stories we tell, but you are required to understand the methods used to determine them.
Geography of the United States
Physiographic divisions = large geographic areas with broadly similar rocks, landscapes, and history
Physiographic provinces = smaller areas within a physiographic division that differ from other parts of the division
In lab, you will work with a large map of the lower 48 states of the US. You will outline the physiographic divisions and provinces and successively add parks as you go through the semester. NOTE: this map order was delayed, but the maps should be available at IUB this week.