Week 1, 8/30-9/04:
Introduction || Course Setup: organization and expectations || Head count
 


Reading Assignment:  Chapter 1
An overview of Our Planet



 
 
 

Unit (Chapter) Plan:
Contents 
(unit topics)
Activities 
(things you must do)
Abilities Acquired 
(what you learned)

 
 
Visit this web site: CNN to check for current news on the World Resources

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Contents (course topics):
Introduction: [ Organization || Course Setup ]

The use of the Internet in this course
Introduction to the study of Earth Science: [ Basic Concepts || A Holistic Approach to Look at Planet Earth ||  Methods and approach to study Earth Science || the role of geology and Earth Sciences]
The Traditional Scientific Method || Multiple Working Hypothesis in geology
Building a Planet: [The Scientific Method || The Principle of Uniformitarianism || The Origin of Our System of Planets || Evolving Earth || Plate Tectonics: A Unifying Theory for Geological Science || Geologist at Work ]
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Activities (things you must do):
Read Chapter one of your textbook
If you are not familiar with the use of the Internet and browsing the world wide web, it is highly recommended that you do these tutorials:
To gain a better feeling for the Internet
To gain a better feeling of Netscape
Have a view to the Solar System
Learn more about the composition and main features of  planet Earth
Enrich your geological vocabulary by reviewing and familiarizing yourself with the terms on p. 24  of your textbook.
Do the reading assignment for this unit
Have a look at the  plate tectonics map by the USGS    and then review the story of plate tectonics
Identify the boundaries of the North American plate and the plates on the west coast of the Americas.
Additional reading on plate tectonics (optional).
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Abilities Acquired (what you learned):

By the end of this chapter you should be able to:
1.- Have an understanding of the methods and approach used in the study of earth resources.
2.- Describe the role of geology and the Earth Sciences in the prevention and mitigation of over-explotation of earth resources.
3.- Explain the origin of the Earth.
4.- Describe the different major layers of the Earth.
5.- Distinguish between a theory and a hypothesis in Earth Science.
6.- Name and locate on a geographic map the principal (12) world lithospheric plates.
7.- Have a clear distinction between lithosphere and asthenosphere including physical and chemical properties.
8.- Explain the principle of uniformitarianism.
9.- Name the three types of plate boundaries.
10.- State how long ago the Big Bang took place.
11.- List the two most abundant elements in nebulae (gas clouds) in the universe.
12.- Explain the process of nuclear fusion.
13.- Explain the role of gravitational attraction and collisions in to accrete dust and condensing materials into planetesimals.
14.- The application of the scientific method to: The Plate Tectonic Theory.
15.- Recognize which are the inner planets.
16.- Understand  the process of differentiation as the mechanism to the formation of the Earth's dense core and a light crust.
17.- Discuss the chemically differentiated earth and identify all its major compositional zones.
18.- Tell the difference in age between the Moon, the Earth, sun and meteorites.
19.- Explain the role of large impacts and radioactivity in causing the melting in the Earth's early history.
20.- Indicate the thickness of the Earth's layers (Crust, Mantle and Core).
21.- Name the different layers of the Earth in order from surface to the interior.
22.- List the four elements that make ninety percent of the Earth.
23.- Name the element that makes fifty percent of the Earth's crust.
24.- Name the two most abundant elements (by weight) in the whole Earth.
25.- Name the chemical process that powers the Earth's internal heat engine.
26.- List three gases that are released from volcanoes since 4 billion years ago.
27.- Recognize the influence of photosynthesis in the built up of an oxygen rich Earth's atmosphere.
28.- Explain the process of convention.
29.- Give the rate of plate movement.
30.- Indicate the place at which new seafloor is created.
31.- Describe the process of subduction.
32.- Identify the features associated with a convergent plate boundary.
33.- Tell what plate boundary is associated with: the Andes Mountains, Mount St. Helens, San Andreas fault.
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