Introductory Oceanography

Alfred Hochstaedter

Peninsula College,
a

Two Year College

Summary

This course introduces basic oceanography concepts such as seafloor features, plate tectonics, atmospheric and oceanic circulation, and waves.

Course Size:

15-30

Course Context:

This is an introductory course with a required lab that must be taken concurrently. About 80% of the students take the course to satisfy a physical science general education requirement. About 10% of the students who take the course go on to major in some type of Earth Science.

Course Goals:

Students should be able to:

draw a cross section across unfamiliar sections of seafloor and draw a cross section showing basic plate tectonic processes such as divergence, convergence, and transform motion.
interpret wind direction from maps of atmospheric pressure.
interpret the origin of deep-ocean water masses given their temperature and salinity characteristics.
interpret the broad and general depositional setting of sediments given their grain size and compositional characteristics.
describe locations on navigational maps using longitude and latitude.
describe direction or bearing on a navigational map using the compass rose.
predict how two fluids will interact given information about their relative densities.

How course activities and course structure help students achieve these goals:

Skills are assessed through labs, test questions, and a final project.