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Courses

GEO 206a, 206b History of the Earth, Fall semester

This course examines about 15 seminal events in natural history, and how those events shaped the modern environment. The first section covers the origin of the Universe, chemical elements, and solar system. After a discussion of the structure and dynamics of the Earth, we next examine the origin of life, evolution of eukaryotic cells and multicellularity, the evolution of vertebrates (amphibians, dinosaurs, and mammals), and mass extinctions. The final section discusses the origin of man, the ice ages, and global change. The course includes four one-page papers, discussed in precepts, on controversial topics.

Geo 538 Paleoclimatology, Spring semester of alternate years

A discussion of major climatic events in Earth history and their causes. Topics include Snowball Earth, Paleozoic glaciations, warm Cretaceous climates, major climate events of the Cenozoic, and Pleistocene ice ages. We will analyze these climate events in the context of Earth's radiative balance, greenhouse warming, interactions between the atmosphere and biosphere, and modeling studies of oceans, atmosphere and paleoclimate. Depending on interests of students, this course may focus primarily on climate change in deep time or climate change during the Pleistocene.

Geo 567 Geochemistry, Spring semester of alternate years

A review of the chemical composition of Earth's major realms, the governing processes, and their temporal evolution. This course will examine the origin and chemistry of the solar system; chemistry of the core, mantle, and oceanic crust, and continental crust; the origin and evolution of the oceans and atmosphere, the modern cycles of nutrients, carbon, and O₂; and weathering. These topics will be viewed through the prisms of the theory of the origin of the solar system, geodynamics, biogeochemistry, stable isotope geochemistry, and radiogenic isotope geochemistry. Each week there will be a 2-hour lecture and a 1-hour seminar in which students summarize recent papers from the literature.