Most activities will be in field situations. Activities will focus on rock, mineral, and fossil identification, topographic map interpretation, and the role of geologic processes in landform development. This course provides the student with opportunities to study meteorological, climatological, geological and oceanographic phenomena in situ, to apply the scientific method, to acquire critical thinking skills by examining earth features and processes and by examining anthropogenic effects on selected natural phenomena, to understand the value of selected earth processes and features and to quantify natural phenomena. Students will participate in an excursions. A study of the geologic history of Earth and the succession of the major groups of plants and animals as based on the geologic interpretation of rock formations and fossils.
Field trips are an integral part of the course.
A survey course about the existence of water on Earth. Topics include the occurrence and movement of water, physical and chemical characteristics of water, and climatologic and geologic considerations of surface and sub-surface water. The study of the distribution of the soils of the earth, their characteristics, and how they developed. Emphasis will be placed upon the relationship between man and the soils of a given environment. An introductory course in metallic and nonmetallic resources with emphasis on the nature of minerals, the lithosphere, and economic uses of earth resources.