Teaching

This undergraduate course provides a brief introduction to our planet Earth including the following geoscience topics: geology, hydrology, oceanography, and atmospheric science. The coursework emphasizes developing a basic understanding of geoscience processes and concepts rather than memorization of terms, definitions, and facts.

• Identify the basic characteristics, history, and processes of planet Earth.
• Describe interconnections within and between different Earth systems.
• Utilize some visual analysis techniques that are useful in Earth science, including graphs, maps, and representations of three-dimensional features.
• Compare the temporal and spatial scales over which different Earth processes operate to the temporal and spatial scales they encounter in everyday life.
• Recognize the relevance of Earth science and the study of planet Earth to their daily life and their future, as well as to modern and future societies.

This undergraduate course provides an introduction to a variety of topics in sediment transport and deposition, emphasizing linkages between active processes, landscape evolution, and the rock record. Comparisons will be made between surface processes occurring on Earth and other planetary bodies in the Solar System. Topics include: introductory fluid mechanics; sediment transport by water, ice, and wind, and the development of fluvial bed forms, glacial landscapes, and sand dunes; groundwater geochemistry and the development of karst and caves; impact cratering; comparative planetology. Each major topic is accompanied by field projects that emphasize local geologic history.

• Use the concepts of fluid mechanics to calculate fluid flow and sediment transport by wind, water, and ice.
• Identify and describe characteristic landforms produced by wind, water, ice, and impacts.
• Interpret landscape form in terms of geologic processes occurring in the Solar System.
• Observe and measure active processes in the field.
• Identify and quantify processes responsible for shaping Indiana's landscape.
• Organize and write a formal scientific paper.

• Describe the distribution of elements in our Solar System and throughout the Earth
• Explain the distribution of elements as a function of their physical properties and chemical affinities
• Use principles of thermodynamics to explain why particular reactions or phase assemblages are expected at different equilibrium conditions
• Develop simple models to explain the exchange of elements between different Earth reservoirs and the chemical evolution of these reservoirs through time
• Describe applications of geochemistry to big picture research questions in Earth, atmospheric, and planetary science

• Explain the basic physical processes underlying the most commonly used dating methods.
• Calculate geochronological dates from raw geochemical datasets or other kinds of observations for the most commonly used dating methods.
• Use physical and numerical models to interpret the significance of geochronological dates.
• Evaluate which geochronological method, if any, is most appropriate for answering a particular scientific question in Earth and planetary science.
• Discuss the contribution of geo/thermochronology to big questions in Earth and planetary science.