Historical Geology

Katrin Monecke
,

monecke@pitt.edu

University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
a

Public four-year institution, primarily undergraduate

Summary

The main purpose of this class is to understand how the Earth's surface, climate and life have changed over geological time periods and that we are living on an ever changing planet.

Course URL:
Course Size:

less than 15

Course Context:

This is an introductory geology course with prerequisite of Physical Geology. It is required for geology and earth and space education majors. The course has a 3 hour lab period and a project week.

Course Goals:

Students should be able to extract stratigraphic information from geologic maps

Students should be able to identify common fossil groups

Students should be able to identify depositional environments from unknown rock outcrops

Students should be able to correlate fossils and geologic time periods

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

As Historical Geology requires some memorizing of fossils and geological time periods I give quizzes from time to time. The investigation and paleoenvironmental interpretation of a regional rock outcrop during a scheduled project week helps the student to link sedimentary environments, fossil record, geological time and paleogeography.