Geology 104 CHP: Geology of the National Parks and Monuments

Spring, 2007

 

Prof. Jay D Bass                                                                     235 Natural History Bldg. 

333-1018                                                                                                                         jaybass@uiuc.edu

 

Office Hours: Tuesday 1:00 Ð 2:00;    Wednesday 12:00 Ð 1:00 or by appointment

 

Lectures: All lectures meet in Room 258, NHB, 11:00.

 

Books: 1) Kiver and Harris (1999) Geology of U.S. Parklands, 5th Edition. John Wiley & Sons

            2) Herrstrom (2006) Geology 104; National Parks and Monuments Laboratory Manual Spring 2007.

           

Alternate reading is Harris and Tuttle, Geology of the National Parks, Kendall-Hunt (This is NOT the text for this course!!)

 

Grading: Hour exams (3)   45%                      Laboratory    20%

                                                                        Lab Quizzes  10%

    Final Paper   25% (due last day of class)

 

Attendance in laboratory is mandatory.

 

 

Objectives of the course:

 

á      Get a Golden Eagle Pass and go out to see the parks!

á      Be well informed enough to avoid asking embarrassing questions.

á      Understand what is in the parks (rocks, landforms, geologic structures)

á      Understand why each park looks the way it does (geologic history)

á      Give you the background to appreciate the parks in a deeper way

 

 

 

 

Geology 104 CHP - Geology of the National Parks

and Monuments

Syllabus Spring 2007

 

 

 

#      Date                     Topic                                                          Reading

 

                       Part I: Introduction

 1   Jan.    T    16     Introduction to course, Nat. Parks         pp. 1-8,          

 2              Th  18     Earth Structures, Processes, Time         8-46; lab manual chap. 3

 3              T    23     Earth Structures, Processes, Time        

 4              Th  25     Earth Structures, Processes, Time         lab manual chap. 4

 

                       Part II: Colorado Plateau Province                           

 5              T    30      Grand Canyon                                                     365-387; 394-412                     

 6   Feb.    Th    1      Grand Canyon                                                                                           

 7              T      6      Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley,                  413-419; 429-455;

                                 Petrified Forest, Canyonlands NP                       

 8              Th  8       Zion, Arches, Capitol Reef, Colorado                   455-478, 493-515

                                 and Natural Bridges NM                                    

 9              T    13     Mesa Verde, Bryce Canyon,                                 516-530                         

                                 Cedar Breaks

 

 

                 Part III: Interior Provinces (Great Plains, interior low plateaus,

                  Interior Highlands, Superior Upland, Central Lowlands)

10             Th  15     Badlands, Theodore Roosevelt, Devils Tower      665-670; 690-703;

                                                                                                               710-719                        

                          

                 T    20     EXAM I Parts I & II                                          

 

 

11             Th  22     Mammoth Cave, Hot Springs 747-752; 773-785

12             T    27     Voyageurs, Isle Royale, Indiana Dunes                753-772; 730-740         

 

 

                                 Part IV: New England & Appalachian Provinces

13  Mar.   Th     1     Cape Cod, Acadia                                                 832-858 

14             T       6     Great Smoky Mountains, Shenandoah                 786-800; 804-831

     

 

 

                                 Part V: Western Provinces (Rocky Mountains,

                                         Columbia Plateau, Basin & Range)

15             Th    8      Rocky Mountain, Glacier                                     620-643; 542-568           

16             T    13      Yellowstone                                                          569-588                                     

17             Th  15      Grand Teton, Craters of the Moon                       589-601; 338-345           

18             T    27      Big Bend, Death Valley, Carlsbad                        248-257; 275-285;

                                                                                                              299-308                            

                  Th   29     EXAM II    Parts III, IV, V

                 

                       Part VI: Pacific Provinces (Sierra, Pacific

                                          Border, Cascades, Hawaii, Alaska)

19  Apr.    T      3      Yosemite, Sequoia, King's Canyon,                      203-247                         

                                 Devil's Postpile                                                                                                      

20             Th    5       Mt. Rainier, Crater Lake, Mt. St. Helens             125-153; 166-190                          

21             T     10     Olympic, Point Reyes, Pinnacles                          73-92; 106-116

22             Th   12     Hawaii Volcanoes, Haleakala                               47-72                              

 

                       Part VII: Coastal Plain  and Reefs

 

23             T    17      Padre Island, Cape Hatteras                                 859-867; 878-884         

24             Th  19     Everglades, Florida Keys                                     867-872                         

25             T    24     Virgin Islands, Biscayne, Guadalupe Mtns          Handout; 308-313         

26             Th  26     Review                                                                

      May   T       1     EXAM III                                                                                                             

 

 

 

 

Geology 104 Laboratory Schedule - Spring 2007

 

 

Week                                   Topic

                                           

Jan. 16                                    

Jan. 23                               Topographic Maps                             

Jan. 30                               Minerals and Rocks                           

Feb. 6                                Grand Canyon                                    

Feb. 13                              The Colorado Plateau                         

Feb. 20                              Badlands, Mammoth Cave                  

Feb. 27                              LAB MIDTERM                               

Mar. 6                               Acadia, Great Smoky Mountains        

Mar. 13                             Rocky Mountain, Glacier                   

Mar. 20                             SPRING BREAK                             

Mar. 27                             Yellowstone, Grand Teton                  

Apr. 3                                Yosemite, Sequoia/King's Canyon      

Apr. 10                              Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens

Apr. 17                              Hawaii Volcanoes, Haleakala

Apr. 24                              LAB FINAL                                       

 

 

 

Labs The laboratory is an integral part of the course, and lab attendance is mandatory.  Weekly exercises will be assigned in the lab manual.  There will be a lab midterm exam and a lab final exam, both of which will include rock identification.

 

Exams  There are three hourly exams.  Exam format is multiple choice and short answer (2-3 sentences, or a sketch).  Exam questions will cover all lecture material, including slides shown in lecture.

 

Project  Partially in place of a final exam, there will be a required paper.  This is to be an individual project on the geology of a single unit of the national park system (park, monument, seashore), or on a certain theme that is common to a number of parks (e.g., an environmental issue; privatization of the parks; commercial exploitation of park resources, etc.). Regardless of the topic, the paper must contain a substantial geologic component. The paper topic must be approved by Prof. Bass before you begin work on the project. Full details about the paper, including content, format, and evaluation, will be given later in the course. Generally, the papers are between 10-15 pages.

 

 

Special Needs   To obtain disability-related academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids, students with disabilities must contact the course instructor and the Division of Rehabilitation-Education Services (DRES) as soon as possible. To contact DRES you may visit at 1207 S. Oak St., Champaign, call 333-4602 (V/TDD), or email a message to Judith Kincaid at <jkincaid@uiuc.edu>. The DRES WWW address is (http://www.als.uiuc.edu/dres/).