An introductory level course dealing with the interactions of the environment and the Earth - particularly those aspects of the environment influenced by civilization and vice versa. The course gives an overview of major natural processes and geologic hazards which influence civilization, with detailed consideration of natural flooding, landslides, coastal processes and erosion, earthquakes and volcanoes as well as hydroGeoscience and groundwater. Three lectures and one 3-hour laboratory period per week. The course emphasizes North American Atlantic coastal and new shore environments and the interactions among chemical, geological, physical and biological phenomena. Included are methods of study, estuarine systems, sediment regimes, waves, beaches, tides, marshes, deltas, rocky shores, mudflats, barrier islands, reefs and coastal classifications.
Special attention is given to sea level changes, erosion and pollution problems.
Emphasis on crystal structures, and the lattice symmetries inherent in the 32 crystal classes. Laboratory work includes a systematic study of the crystal systems and the methods of identifying and characterizing minerals, with focus on the identification and evaluation of gemstones. It deals with the description, classification, nature, origin and development of present land forms and their relationships to underlying geological structures and the history of geologic events recorded by these surface features. As such it treats the larger geomorphic features resulting from plate tectonics such as the formation of major fold ranges of mountains and submarine trenches, and related volcanism as well as rift systems. Landforms resulting from erosion and from deposition are treated in connection with their respective environments e.g. coastal environments, continental and alpine glaciation, fluvial systems, piedmont and glaciation, fluvial systems, piedmont and deserts.