GO 326 Plate Tectonics

ES 767 Global Tectonics

Table of Contents

Introduction	Availability
Requirements	Schedule
Other web sites	Title image
Weekly announcements	ES 767 presentations

• Prerequisite: GO 325 Earth History, or consent of instructor.

• Readings: Selected articles from Scientific American will be supplied in pdf format--see FTP. Additional readings are taken from Geotimes, Geology and other sources.

  This dynamic Earth: The story of plate tectonics--web edition. Sections identified as USGS in course schedule.

• Instructor: James S. Aber.

• The university General Education Council has approved GO 326 as a writing intensive course (4/00). Students who pass this course with a grade of C or higher are exempt from taking the writing competency exam--see competency exam.

Requirements

1. A typewritten summary of one article from each of the four sections will be due at the end of each section. Each summary should be 2-3 pages in length, well written, and follow standard format--see summary instructions. Each summary counts 10% of course grade. Summaries handed in late will receive an automatic grade penalty.

   ESU's virtual writing center.

2. Two, written, "take-home" exams, a mid-term and final, delivered via the web. Each exam will cover lecture and article material for about half of the semester. Students may consult lecture notes, articles, web pages, or any other sources. Exams will be placed online for students to download on Friday and due the following Tuesday, as indicated in the schedule below. Each exam represents 30% of course grade. See sample exam.

3. Students enrolled in ES 767 are additionally required to prepare a web presentation on a subject related to plate tectonics. The presentations will be linked to the course homepage for all students to review--see past student web presentations. Please check instructions for preparation of student webpages. Presentation is worth 10% of total grade (value of tests reduced to 50% total).

   Note: The presentation must be original and unique work created by the student's own effort and submitted for this course only. Presentation results, images, text or other components of the webpage may not be utilized for other earth science courses without permission of the instructor.

4. Class participation is expected; this includes weekly e-mail messages from all students. On-campus students are also expected to attend occasional earth science seminars during the semester.

5. The ESU student academic dishonesty policy is followed in this course. See course grading scale.

6. For further information about university schedule, policies and services, go to ESU syllabus attachment.

Weekly Course Schedule, 2008

I. Earth's core and mantle

• Jan. 17: Introduction to plate tectonics. USGS preface. Tect_figs01.pdf.

• Jan. 24: Alfred Wegener and the hypothesis of continental drift (hallam.pdf). USGS historical perspective. The Earth's core (jeanloz.pdf). USGS inside the Earth. Tect_figs02.pdf.

• Jan. 31: Probing the geodynamo (glatzmaier.pdf). USGS magnetic stripes. The Earth's mantle (mckenzie.pdf). USGS what drives plates.

• Feb. 7: The flow of heat from the Earth's interior (pollack.pdf). USGS geothermal energy. Deep earthquakes (frohlich.pdf). USGS seismic zones.

• Feb. 14: The oceanic crust (francheteau.pdf). USGS developing the theory and hot springs. Ophiolites (gass.pdf). Tect_figs03.pdf. Summary I due.

• Feb. 21: Panoramas of the seafloor (pratson.pdf); Oceanic fracture zones (bonatti.pdf). USGS fracture zones and mid-Atlantic ridge.

• Feb. 28: Mud volcanoes of the Marianas (fryer.pdf). USGS Pacific ring of fire. Special presentation--North Atlantic tectonic evolution. Tect_figs04.pdf and tect_figs05.pdf.

• Mar. 6: Volcanism at rifts (white.pdf). Hot spots unplugged (tarduno.pdf). USGS hotspots. See also mush_zone.pdf. Tect_figs06.pdf.

• Mar. 13: The continental crust (burchfield.pdf). How continents break up (courtillot.pdf). USGS East Africa. Tect_figs07.pdf. Summary II due.

• Mar. 27: The earliest history of the Earth (york.pdf). A cool early Earth? (valley.pdf). Tect_figs08.pdf.

• Apr. 3: The supercontinent cycle (nance.pdf). Earth before Pangea (dalziel.pdf). USGS before Pangaea. See last billion years.

• Apr. 10: The structure of mountain ranges (molnar.pdf). USGS Himalayas. Mount Etna's ferocious future (pfeiffer.pdf). Tect_figs09.pdf.

• Apr. 17: Terranes (howell.pdf). The growth of western North America (jones.pdf). USGS terranes. Special presentation on Cascade Mountains, U.S. & Canada. Tect_figs10.pdf. Summary III due.

• Apr. 24: Continental drift and evolution (kurten.pdf). The mid-Cretaceous superplume episode (larson.pdf). Tect_figs11.pdf. ES 767 web presentations due.

• May 1: Earthquakes in stable continental crust (johnston.pdf). Earthquake conversations (stein.pdf). USGS plate tectonics & people. Tect_figs12.pdf. Special presentation on Eifel volcanism, Germany. Tect_figs13.pdf.

• May 8: Giant earthquakes of the Pacific Northwest (hyndman.pdf). Tsunami: Wave of change (geist.pdf). USGS tsunamis. Tect_figs14.pdf. Summary IV due.

• Ocean Drilling Program--see ODP.
  
• Seismic hazard mapping project of the U.S. Geological Survey.
  
• VENTS Program.
  
• Hawaii Center for Volcanology, University of Hawaii.
  
• Paleogeographic maps of North America from Northern Arizona University.

© Notice: This course is presented by the Earth Science department for the express use and benefit of students enrolled at Emporia State University. Anyone else may view and enjoy the information here. No other use or repackaging of course curriculum is permitted without permission of the instructor.