Welcome to Desert Geology, one of our “Special Topics” courses (Geology 350). This course is designed to introduce the geological processes which form and operate in the deserts of the world. The centerpiece of our section this semester is a Spring Break field trip to the Mojave Desert. The first half of the course will be preparation for the trip, and the second half will be analysis, discussion and review of what we saw and found. This is a half-credit course so we will formally meet for roughly half the time of a regular course (except for the six-day field trip!) and generally do half the work. All the assignments involve writing, presenting and discussing — no tests or quizzes. Please see the course notes at the end of this syllabus. You will also see that this course is taught with the help of my colleagues Meagen Pollock and Shelley Judge. They will present material in class and help lead the spring field trip.
This syllabus is also a newsletter and web resource for the course. It will be updated at least once a week with relevant links and geological news items. Please check it often. Several of our reading assignments will be web-only.
Since this is a half-credit course we will expect to do about half the work of an ordinary advanced geology course. That is if we don’t count all that time on the field trip! (Which will be so much fun.) Here are the primary elements of this course:
Field trip.–The Mojave Desert field trip is the most important thing we will do. It is where we’ll actually see what we’ve been talking about, and you will also be collecting resources on this trip for your own research projects. Our plans are to leave Cleveland-Hopkins airport on Sunday, March 8, and return to Cleveland-Hopkins on Saturday, March 14. We can transport you from Wooster to the Cleveland airport and back, but if you’re coming from somewhere else you’ll need to make those arrangements on your own. The trip begins with a flight to Las Vegas (which will give some of you your first views of the desert southwest). Once there we will rent vans and drive into southeastern California, staying at the Desert Studies Center, a field station near my hometown of Barstow. From that base we will explore Death Valley and other parts of the eastern Mojave Desert. Each student will have a particular research topic related to some aspect of desert geology we will see on the trip. Most of the expenses for this trip will be paid out of endowed funds in the Geology Department. All that we require from you is $500 to partially cover transportation costs. This fee must be paid before the trip.
Writing and speaking.–Each student will complete a small research project to be presented as a poster during our last class meeting. We will discuss this assignment in more detail in class. Note that there are neither essays, tests, quizzes, nor a final examination.
Participation.–Desert Geology meets once a week (Fridays, 2:30-3:50 p.m., Scovel 116). We will expect you to be present at each lecture, to do the assigned readings, and to ask and answer questions. We will also expect you to be active participants on the field trip. This participation will be 50% of your final grade — you all have an “A” in participation unless you show us otherwise!
Textbook.–This is a brand-new book on the geology of Death Valley itself. We will have several stops outside the park as well, and this book will provide some context for them too.
Miller, M.B. and Wright, L.A. 2012. Geology of Death Valley National Park (Second Edition). Kendall Hunt Publishing Company. ISBN-13: 978-0757509506
Grading Scheme.–
Participation: 50%
Research & Poster Presentation: 50%
