Lecture and laboratory covering optical properties of minerals, their description and identification. Effects of processes which modify organisms between death and the time the usually fossilized remains are studied. Emphasis on vertebrates. Principles of sedimentation from source to diagenesis. The basis of stratigraphic nomenclature, classification, and correlation of rock units.
Lab covers unconsolidated sediment, hand specimen, and field techniques.
A study of the geology of Southern Idaho, including stratigraphy, thrust belt structure, Idaho batholith, core complexes, Challis volcanic episode, Snake River Plain Basin and Range, and Lake Bonneville. GEOL 101 OR 109. Regional stratigraphy and tectonics of North America emphasizing National Parks and the Intermountain West. Graduate Students will do extensive additional reading of current literature. GEOL 101 OR 109.