Course Description and Objectives - This short course applies fundamental information and concepts in soft-rock geology to key times of change during Earth's history. It integrates the basics of stratigraphy, sedimentology, paleontology and low-temperature geochemistry, to understand the geologic time scale, paleoclimatology, and the interaction of tectonics, environment and life through time. The main objective is to broaden the graduate student experience for those who come from varied undergraduate programs and other science or engineering disciplines.

Instructor - Dr. L. Collins. Contact information:  collinsl@fiu.edu,  (305) 348-1732.  Office hours (PC 435):  Mon. 2-3:30 and Tues. 10:45-12:15.

Reading - Assigned from the books listed below, available by links in the course outline.

Chernicoff, S., et al., 2002, Earth, Geologic Principles and History, Houghton Mifflin Co.

Doyle, P., et al., 2001, The Key to Earth History, An Introduction to Stratigraphy, 2^nd ed., John Wiley.

Stanley, S.M., 2005, Earth System History, 2^nd ed., W.H. Freeman and Co.

Grading - 20% from class participation, 30% from written assignments and 50% from the final exam. 

• Class participation includes attendance, contributions to discussions and questions or comments. Points will be lost by missing classes, not reading assignments, and not contributing very much in general. Someone who contributes well regularly will earn the full 20%.

• Written assignments (answering review questions) are each worth 4.3% of the final grade. They should be submitted on paper (no emails) and are due by the next class. Late assignments lose 1%/day of the assignment grade.

• The take-home, open-book final exam will be distributed in class on Tues. Nov. 24. The exam has an essay format and covers all lectures and readings.

• Final grades are based on the scale: 90-100% = A, 80-89% = B, 70-79% = C, 60-69% = D, <50% = F.