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Folded Appalachian Mountains near Sunbury, PA (JPL)
Courses
Geology 50 Introductory Geology: a survey of processes and products in the structure and formation of the Earth. Includes topics from the role of stars and galaxies in the origin of the elements (Fig. 1, Orion nebula), the formation and basic atomic structure of minerals, crystallization of igneous rocks and places of origin (Fig. 2, Santorini caldera), the process of metamorphism and its products, sedimentary environments (Fig. 3, Mississippi River flood plain) and processes that affect grains, bedding surfaces and cyclic patterns in rock sections. The course then evaluates groundwater, products of glaciation (Fig. 4, Alpine glacier in Patagonia), earthquakes and the internal structure of the Earth, magnetism and other evidence for plate tectonics. Finally the origin of folded mountain belts (see photo above) and sedimentary basins is discussed in the context of relative and absolute geologic time. The course then ends with a review of the planets and moons (Fig. 5, Jupiter's moon Io) of the Solar System and evidence that suggests that their origins are interrelated.
Geology 212 Paleontology and Stratigraphy: a course that reviews the paleobiologic structure of major groups of invertebrate fossils including: algae, foraminifer, corals, brachiopods, mollusks and echinoderms for the purpose of interpreting environments of deposition of marine sedimentary rocks (Fig. 1, The Great Barrier Reef). The underlying processes of evolution that relate organisms in time are evaluated and the detailed mechanisms of evolution are laid out (from the relationship of DNA to genes and first tier to species level selection). The last half of the course focuses on concepts of cyclic stratigraphy (Fig. 2, 5th order sequence at Martin's Mt., Tonoloway Fm.), pedogenesis and field study of cyclic stratigraphic structure based on two four day trips into the Appalachian Paleozoic sections (Fig. 3, Faulted 5th order sequence at Cedar Cliff, Williamsport SS). The first trip goes to sections in the folded Valley and Ridge province in central Pennsylvania and Maryland and the second trip to the Catskill Mountains ( see photo below) in eastern New York (Fig. 4, Hudson Valley and the Catskill Front).
Syllabus Geology 212 Spring 2002
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Dr. Dennis Terry discussing soil development at the top of a Catskill fluvial cycle.
Geology 600 Stratigraphy: a course on the fundamentals of cyclic stratigraphy with field applications and readings from the literature. Topics include details of the hypothesis of orbital forcing, the rationale for a specific genetic hierarchy of allocycles and explanation of the PAC Hypothesis. Data collected from the Purbeckian of Dorset, Spain and the French Jura and field trips to observe Silurian and Devonian carbonate and terrigenous clastic deposits of the Appalachian Basin (depicted above) are used to illustrate these concepts (Fig. 1, Condensed 3rd order (2 ma) sequence at Stair Hole Dorset) and (Fig. 2, Condensed 3rd order with 4ths marked).
