Reserves, rates of production, and consumption of important minerals. Optical Mineralogy Principles of optical crystallography and their application in the identification of rock-forming minerals, mostly the silicates, with the polarizing microscope. Orogeny and its relationship to plate tectonics. Structural style and tectonic history of mountain belts with special reference to the Appalachians and Cordilleras. Lectures twice a week.
Homework assignments involve drawings and interpreting cross sections through mountain belts.
Field trip to the Appalachians to look at typical structures of mountain belts. This course covers the essential geologic and geophysical approaches to field stratigraphy, mapping, and structural interpretation. Additional credit may be earned by laboratory analyses of samples collected during the field excursion. Lecture and seminar analyzing decisions about some major classes of environmental changes as seen from the viewpoint of scientists and risk analysts. For seniors and graduate students.