GO 326 Plate Tectonics

ES 767 Global Tectonics

**Table of Contents**
Introduction	Availability
Requirements	Schedule
Other web sites	Title image
Tectonic blog	ES 767 presentations

All course curriculum is presented via this webpage.
Blackboard is not used for this course.

Introduction

A global study of plate tectonics as a unifying solid-earth theory, which explains continental and oceanic geology of the past and present. Tectonic evolution of Eurasia and the Americas. Scientific development and applications of plate tectonics.

http://academic.emporia.edu/aberjame/tectonic/syllabus.htm

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, Earth Science, SH 119A, office hours: 1:00 to 3:50 Mondays and other times by appointment (jaber@emporia.edu).

620-341-5981, E-mail: jaber@emporia.edu

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 B or higher are exempt from taking the writing competency exam--see competency exam.

Course Availability

These courses will be taught in spring semester, 2012, for on-campus and distance-learning students. On-campus students should enroll through normal procedures. Off-campus students should enroll through Distance Learning; instructor's permission is required. In order to receive university credit, students must be officially enrolled and must be in contact with the instructor for course materials and directions. BIS students must have the prerequisites noted above.

Requirements

A summary of one article from each of the three main sections (I, II & III) will be due at the end of each section. Each summary should be approximately three pages in length, well written, and follow standard format--see summary instructions. Summaries are submitted electronically as plain text (txt) or rich-text format (rtf) files. Each summary counts 10% of course grade (30% total). Summaries handed in late will receive an automatic grade penalty.
ESU's virtual writing center.
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. See schedule (below) for exam dates. Each exam represents 30% of course grade (60% total). See sample exam.
Graduate 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 exams 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.
Class participation is expected; this includes weekly e-mail messages from all students and contributions to the course blog. Send text and images for the blog to your instructor. Participation is 10% of total grade.
All students must fill out, sign, and return the student agreement form for participation in this course (either paper or electronic), and review the departmental policy on plagiarism. See course grading scale.
For further information about university schedule, policies and services, go to ESU syllabus attachment.

Weekly Course Schedule, 2012

The spring 2012 schedule is presented below. On-campus students meet for a weekly review session each Wednesday, 1:00-2:20 pm, in Science Hall 131. Dates below reflect the Wednesday meetings. Readings for each week are identified as pdf files.

Tectonic blog.

I. Earth's core and mantle

Jan. 11: Introduction to plate tectonics. USGS preface. Tect_figs01.pdf.
Jan. 18: 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. 25: Probing the geodynamo (glatzmaier.pdf). USGS magnetic stripes. The Earth's mantle (mckenzie.pdf). USGS what drives plates.
Feb. 1 The flow of heat from the Earth's interior (pollack.pdf). USGS geothermal energy. Deep earthquakes (frohlich.pdf). USGS seismic zones.

II. Oceanic tectonics

Feb. 8: The oceanic crust (francheteau.pdf). USGS developing the theory and hot springs. The origin of the land under the sea (kelemen.pdf). Tect_figs03.pdf. Summary I due.
Feb. 15: Panoramas of the seafloor (pratson.pdf); Oceanic fracture zones (bonatti.pdf); alvin.pdf. USGS fracture zones and mid-Atlantic ridge.
Feb. 22: Mud volcanoes of the Marianas (fryer.pdf). USGS Pacific ring of fire. Special presentation--North Atlantic tectonic evolution. Tect_figs04.pdf, tect_figs05.pdf, and solomon.pdf.

Mid-term exam, available on Feb. 24, due on Feb. 28th.

Feb. 29: Volcanism at rifts (white.pdf). Hot spots unplugged (tarduno.pdf). USGS hotspots. See also mush_zone.pdf. Tect_figs06.pdf.

III. Continental tectonics

Mar. 7: The continental crust (burchfield.pdf). Birth of an ocean (haddok.pdf). USGS East Africa. Tect_figs07.pdf. Summary II due.
Mar. 14: A cool early Earth? (valley.pdf). Violent origins of continents (simpson1.pdf). Tect_figs08.pdf.

* Spring break *

Mar. 28: The supercontinent cycle (nance.pdf). Earth before Pangea (dalziel.pdf). USGS before Pangaea. See last billion years.
Apr. 4: The structure of mountain ranges (molnar.pdf). USGS Himalayas. Afghanistan's buried riches (simpson2.pdf). Tect_figs09.pdf.
Apr. 11: Terranes (howell.pdf). The growth of western North America (jones.pdf). USGS terranes. Special presentation on Cascade Mountains, U.S. & Canada. Tect_figs10.pdf.
Apr. 18: Continental drift and evolution (kurten.pdf). The mid-Cretaceous superplume episode (larson.pdf). Tect_figs11.pdf. ES 767 web presentations due. Special presentation on Eifel volcanism, Germany. Tect_figs13.pdf.

IV. Tectonic hazards

Apr. 25: Earthquakes in stable continental crust (johnston.pdf). Earthquake conversations (stein.pdf). USGS plate tectonics & people. Tect_figs12.pdf. Summary III due.
May 2: Giant earthquakes of the Pacific Northwest (hyndman.pdf). Tsunami: Wave of change (geist.pdf). USGS tsunamis as well as tect_figs14.pdf and tsunami.pdf.

Final exam, available on May 4, due on May 8th.

Return to top of page.

More Tectonic Websites

Ocean Drilling Program--see ODP.
Seismic hazard mapping project of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Volcano hazards program of the U.S. Geological Survey.
VENTS program from NOAA.
Hawaii Center for Volcanology, University of Hawaii.
Recent volcanic activity from infoplease.
Paleogeographic maps of North America and the world from Northern Arizona University.
Geothermal energy in the U.S. from the Arizona Geological Survey.

© 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.

ADA statement: Emporia State University will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented disabilities. Students need to contact the Director of Disability Services and the professor as early in the semester as possible to ensure that classroom and academic accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion. All communication between students, the Office of Disability Services, and the professor will be strictly confidential.

Please send your comments to the course instructor.
J.S. Aber, jaber@emporia.edu.
Last update: Jan. 2012.