Has reading The Sixth Extinction left you wanting to know more about mass extinctions, climate change, sustainability, plate tectonics, or human impact on the environment?
The Geosciences Department offers classes that expand on many of the subjects touched upon in Kolbert’s book. Browse below for classes to take this year or in future years.
Spring Semester Courses:
In a geological time frame, nothing on Earth is permanent: ocean basins open and close, mountains rise and fall, continental masses accrete and separate. This course uses the plate tectonics model to interpret the processes and products of a changing Earth. No prerequisites. Taught by Bud Wobus
This integrated introduction to the oceans covers formation and history of the ocean basins; the composition and origin of seawater; currents, tides, and waves; oceans and climate; coastal processes; productivity in the oceans; and human impacts. No prerequisites. Taught by Mea Cook
There are many ways to write stories about the planet that we live on. In this course we will investigate the earth by reading about it, by writing about it, and by analysing the writings of others. No prerequisites. Taught by Rónadh Cox
This course investigates the record of ancient life forms, from single-celled algae to snails to dinosaurs, including how the fossil record informs our understanding of evolutionary processes including speciation; the causes and consequences of mass extinctions; how fossils help us tell time and reconstruct the Earth’s climactic and tectonic history; statistical analysis of the fossil record to reconstruct biodiversity through time; analysis of fossil morphology to recreate the biomechanics of extinct organisms; and using fossil communities to reconstruct past ecosystems. Prerequisite: 100-level GEOS or BIOL 102, 203 or 205. Taught by Phoebe Cohen
In this course, we review the processes that control the Earth’s climate, the geological record of climate changes in the past and examining their causes, and see what lessons they teach us about the fate of Earth’s climate with rising greenhouse gases. Prerequisite: 100-level GEOS, CHEM or PHYS or permission of instructor. Taught by Mea Cook
Fall Semester Courses:
GEOS 101 Co-Evolution of Earth and Life
The inter-related nature of Earth and the life that inhabits it, starting with the first living organisms 3.5 billion years ago and progressing to the interaction of our own species with the Earth today. No prerequisites. Taught by Phoebe Cohen
GEOS 103 Global Warming and Natural Disasters
We examine the causes and anticipated consequences of human alteration of the global climate and its impact on water resources and the spectrum of natural hazards such as hurricanes, floods, landslides, droughts, extreme temperatures, and sea level rise. No prerequisites. Taught by Alex Apotsos and José Constantine
GEOS 206 Renewable Energy and the Sustainable Campus
This course is a practical introduction to renewable sources of energy, including conservation, principles of sustainability, and their application to the campus environment. No prerequisites. Taught by David Dethier and Amy Johns
This course examines the many ways in which organisms — from bacteria to trees — have left their mark on our planet including include the origin of life and the environmental context for animal evolution. Prerequisite: GEOS 212 or 100-level GEOS + 200-level GEOS Taught by Phoebe Cohen
Megamenu Social