Class Information
Instructor: Glen S. Mattioli
Lecture Text: Physical Geology (12th ed.); Plummer and Carlson
2009 Class Syllabus (html version)
2009 Class Syllabus (pdf version)
Partial Exam I – Thursday, September 24, 2009 – Chapters 1-6
Partial Exam II – Thursday, October 22, 2009 – Chapters 7-11
Partial Exam III – Tuesday, November 24, 2009 – Chapters 12-17
Final Exam – Monday, December 14, 2009
FINAL EXAM IS COMPREHENSIVE – there will be questions from Chapters 1-17 (old) as well as Chapters 18-19 (new)
**** Exam at scheduled Final time 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM ****
Software Tools
Download Free PowerPoint Viewer from Microsoft Here
Download Free Acrobat PDF reader from Adobe Here
Class Lectures – Powerpoint and PDF formats
Lecture 1: Class Objectives, Syllabus, and Overview of Physical Geology
Lecture 2: Minerals I: Atoms, chemical bonding, and silicate minerals
Lecture 3: Minerals II: Physical properties and diagnostic tests
Lecture 4: Igneous Rocks I: Identification and classification
Lecture 5: Igneous Rocks II: Heat, magma generation, and differentiation
Lecture 6: Volcanic Rocks I: Intro to volcanic processes and controls, rocks, and MSH eruption
Lecture 7: Volcanic Rocks II: Volcano types, lava floods, composite volcanoes, and SHV and hazards
Lecture 8: Weathering, erosion, and soil formation
Lecture 9: Sedimentary Rocks: Clastic and chemical sedimentary rocks and environments of deposition
Lecture 10: Metamorphism: Processes, rocks, hydrothermal alteration, and tectonics
Lecture 14: Ground Water: Principles and Problems
Lecture 15: Glaciers and Glaciation
Lecture 16: Deserts and Wind Action
Lecture 17: Waves, Beaches, and Coasts
Lecture 18: Geologic Structures: Stress, strain, folds, and faults
Lecture 19: Earthquakes: Elastic rebound, seismic waves, and locating earthquakes and their effects
Lecture 20: Geophysics: Isostosy, gravity, magnetics and heat flow
Lecture 21: The Sea Floor: Methods of study, morphology, and processes
Lecture 22: Plate Tectonics: Continental Drift, paleomagnetism, sea floor spreading, driving forces
Lecture 23: Orogenesis: Mountain Belts and the Continental Crust (not covered in class in F09)
Extra Credit Assignments
Extra Credit Essay – Recent Mass Wasting Events in El Salvador
Associated Press Article by Marcos Aleman (Reprinted in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
Associated Press Photo by Rodrigo Abd (Reprinted in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
Examination Information and Study Guides
Partial Exam I – Thursday, September 24, 2009 – Chapters 1-6
Partial Exam II – Thursday, October 22, 2009 – Chapters 7-11
Partial Exam III – Tuesday, November 24, 2009 – Chapters 12-17
Study Guide for Exam III-part 1
Study Guide for Exam III-part 2 and Final Exam
Final Examination – Monday, December 14, 2009 (10:00 AM – 12:00 PM) – Chapters 1-19
Note Chapter 20 will NOT be covered on the Final Exam even though it appears in the study guide
All exams will be in Ozark 25; partial exams will occur during normal class time.
Physical Geology Study Links
Student Study Guide for Plummer et al., Physical Geology
Chapter 1 Links
Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) Home Page
Career Information: American Geological Institutes
The United States Geological Survey Home Page
Space Shuttle Photos of Earth by Astronauts
The Geological Survey of Canada
Chapter 2 Links
Snow Crystal Electron Microscopy
Mineral Web – Note: Requires Special Configuration
Molecular Expressions Microscopy Primer
The Image – Photos of Minerals and Gems
Chapter 3 Links
Atlas of Rocks, Minerals, and Textures
Middlebury College’s Virtual Adirondack Field Trip
Berkeley’s Seismological Laboratory
Chapter 4 Links
Introduction to the Nine Planets
Montserrat Volcano Observatory
CALIPSO Borehole Observatory, Montserrat
Volcano Live: Information about volcano fatalities
USGS Summary of fatalities for major volcanic events
USGS Soufriere Hills volcano site: Effects of PF’s and surges
NASA MODIS Image of July 12th SHV eruption plume
Chapter 5 Links
Science News Online: Weathering and Erosion
USGS Acid Rain Information and US map
USDA National Resource Conservation Service Soils Portal
University of Idaho: Soil Taxonomy
Canadian Soil Information System
Univ. of Alabama study guide for weathering, erosion, soils
Chapter 6 Links
Mars Global Surveyor Information and Images
Malin Space Science Systems-MOC Images
Univ. of Oregon’s Portal: Web Resources for Sedimentary Geology
Online Version of Petrology of Sedimentary Rocks
USGS Bedform and Sedimentology Site
Chapter 7 Links
NASA Near Earth Objects and Planetary Impacts Site
Univ. of New Brunswick Earth Impact Database
American Museum of Natural History Black Smoker Site
Mining Technology – Bingham Canyon Mine, UT
Links for Mineralogists: Metamorphic Rocks
Cochise College Photos of Rocks Site
Univ. of British Columbia Metamorphic Rocks Site
Univ. of North Carolin’s Atlas of Rocks, Minerals, and Textures
Chapter 8 Links
University of California Museum of Paleontology
USGS Radon in Earth, Air, and Water
Cal State LA Virtual Age Dating
Radiometric Dating: A Christian Perspective
Cambridge University Mass Spectrometry Server
Greene’s Creationism Truth Filter
Zircons are Forever: Isotopic Constraints on the Early Earth
Chapter 9 Links
USGS Geological Hazards: Landslides
Geological Survey of Canada: Landslides Project
St. Francis Dam Virtual Field Trip
Chapter 10 Links
USGS and PBS: Grand Canyon Flood
USGS Flood Recurrence Intevals for US Rivers
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
NASA Jet Propulsion Lab’s Mars Global Surveyor Mission
Dartmouth University Flood Observatory
Cal State Los Angeles Virtual River Exercise
USGS Great Flood of 1993 Photo Archive
USGS Death Valley Alluvial Fans
Chapter 11 Links
USGS Information about Toxic Waste in Surface and Ground Water
USGS Bioremediation Information
USGS Primary Water Information Site
USGS Water Resources of Arkansas
USGS Real-Time Arkansas Water Quality Data
Arkansas Water Resources Center
Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission
Water Resources Professional Portal to WWW Information
Water Resources Data System Library
National Speleological Society
Chapter 12 Links
USGS South Cascade Glacier Report
USGS South Cascade Glacier Data
University of Washington Glaciology Site
Caltech’s Deep Glaciology Site
University of British Columbia’s Glaciology Site
University of Idaho Ice Age Flood Site
Rice University’s Antarctic Glacier Site
The Crevasse Zone: Juneau Icefield Site
Illinois State Museum’s Virtual Ice Age Site
National Snow and Ice Data Center Educational Resources Site
ICSU World Data Centre for Glaciology
NASA Earth Observatory Antarctic Ice News
NASA Antarctic Meteorite Program
Chapter 13 Links
USGS Information on Deserts and Desertification
USGS Deserts: Geology and Resources
Public Domain Archive of Landform Photography
BARGEN Space Geodesy of Basin and Range
USGS Geological Provinces: Basin and Range
Exploring Earth: Requirements for Dune Formation
Chapter 14 Links
USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program
USGS Coastal Change Information Site
USGS – Woods Hole Field Center for Coastal and Marine Research
Woods Hole – Sea Grant Coastal Processes On-line Documents Catalog
Scripps Institute of Oceanography Center for Coastal Studies
Pamela Gore’s Shorelines and Coastal Processes Site
University of Buffalo Coastal Processes and Landforms Site
TAMU’s Coastal Processes and Tides Site (advanced concepts and math)
Chesapeake Bay: Introduction to an Ecosystem
NASA Visble Earth: Coastal Processes and Landforms
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Oceans Site
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Tides Site
Chapter 15 Links
Applied Geodynamics Laboratory: Salt Dome Research and Models
USGS 1906 San Francisco Earthquake
Kevin Smart’s Univ. of Oklahoma Structural Geology Site
Cornell University’s Structural Geology Site
Brock University’s Canadian Tectonics Group Site
Chapter 16 Links
Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology – IRIS
USGS National Earthquake Information Center
Earthquake Safety Information – American Red Cross
Disaster Information Archive- Federal Emergency Management Agency
Southern California Earthquake Center – Earthquake Information
USGS San Andreas Fault Information
USGS San Francisco Bay Area Information
Canadian Geological Survey Earthquake Information
University of Nevada Reno Seismological Laboratory
University of California – Berkeley Seisomological Observatory
Seisomological Laboratory – California Institution of Technology
Harvard Seismology – Centroid Moment Tensor Project
University of Memphis – Center for Earthquake Research and Information
Chapter 17 Links
International Institute of Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences Geometrical Aspects of Mapping
Richard Knippers’ The Figure of the Earth Primer
Core Convection and the Geodynamo: Understanding the Earth’s Magnetic Field
USGS Global Magnetics Information and Database
Australia National University’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Group: Mantle Convection Models
Pleistocene Glaciation and Glacial Isostatic Adjustment
University of Wisconsin Primer on Deep Earth Structure and Composition (pdf)
NASA’s Ocean Topography from Space Portal
NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey Geoid Page
Ramin Kiamehr’s Global Geoid Portal
University of Munich Global Gravity Field Models Page
Mike Gurnis’s Mantle Convection Movies Page
Ed Garnero’s Lower Mantle Heterogeneity Annual Reviews of Geophysics Article Images
Chapter 18 Links
Smithsonian Ocean Planet Exhibit
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Web Ocean Resources Portal
NOAA-National Geophysical Data Center Marine Geology and Geophysics Site
National Science Foundation RIDGE2000 Program Homepage
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Video Gallery
Scripps Institution of Oceanography Homepage
University of Hawaii School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology
Chapter 19 Links
USGS “This Dynamic Earth: The Story of Plate Tectonics”
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Tectonic Plate Motion Page
International GPS Service Central Bureau Homepage
NASA Jet Proplusion Lab’s Global GPS Time Series
Ron Blakely of Northern Arizona State University Plate Reconstruction Images
Carlo Doglioni’s Discussion of Lithospheric Motion Relative to the Hot Spot Frame
Summary of Current Plate Motion Model Parameters (e.g. NUVEL-1A)
Seth Stein of Northwestern University Simple Euler Pole Homepage
Kensaku Tamaki’s NUVEL-1 Interactive Relative Plate Motion Calculator
UNAVCO’s NUVEL-1A-NNR Interactive Relative Plate Motion Calculator
Chapter 20 Links
Geology of Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Hartwick College Central Appalachian Geology Virtual Field Trip