3 credit hours; Last Taught in Summer 2019

COURSE GOALS

• To learn about the materials, processes and events that comprise and shape the Earth in order to better understand the environment in which you live and provide a foundational knowledge that facilitates further exploration of issues relating to environmental and engineering geology.
• To investigate how the intersection of society (human activity) and geology relates to and affects modern engineering and environmental issues including natural resource utilization, environmental degradation and geohazards.
• To further understanding of the process of scientific inquiry as a means to refine critical thinking skills (about all things, not just science).
• To improve scientific literacy. Literacy in the basic concepts and terminology of science is necessary if they wish to follow science stories in the news or make informed decisions (such as voting) on issues that pertain to scienc
• To help students learn to communicate scientific ideas clearly and effectively using written or graphic forms. This will be done through discussions and as the written component of the project.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The focus of this course is investigating human interactions with our environment as an introduction to issues relating to modern environmental and engineering geology. To accomplish this, we must investigate some fundamental aspects of the geology and learn how scientific investigation can help us understand processes that shape Earth’s surface environment and influence the evolution of systems operating within the Earth System. Given a basic understanding of the geology, we can then investigate how geologic process impacts us (as a society or individuals) and vice versa. Particular emphasis is placed on investigating concerns regarding geohazards, natural resource utilization and environmental degradation.This course is broken up into 12 topical modules. In each module effort will be devoted into developing a basic understanding of relevant underlying geologic principles and issues of relevance to our society. Each module will be comprised of some combination of reading assignments, lab assignments, quizzes and discussions. Additional detail is provided below in the course policies sections. Students should reference the course calendar for due dates of individual course assignments, discussions and assessments. Module Titles and start/end dates are detailed below.

Module	Subject/Title	Dates of Module
1	Introduction to Philosophy and Overarching Concepts of  Environmental Geology	7/1-7/5
2	Earth Structure and Plate Tectonics	7/6-7/9
3	Earth Materials and Processes 1: Rock Cycle, Minerals, and Mineral ID.	7/10-7/12
4	Earth Materials and Processes 2: Classification and Identification of Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic Rocks	7/13-7/16
5	Introduction to Rock Structures, Surface Processing, and Using Maps	7/17-7/19
6	Rock Weathering, Soils, and the Environment	7/20-7/23
7	Introduction to Ecology and Geology	7/23-7/24; Exam 1 7/23-7/24
8	Natural Hazards Intro, Volcano and Earthquake Hazards	7/24-7/26
9	Slope Stability and Mass Movements of Earth	7/27-7/29

10	River Processes, Flooding, and Human Impact on River Systems	7/30-8/1
11	Coastal Geology and Hazards	8/2-8/5
12	Groundwater Processes and Water Resources	8/6-8/8; Exam 2 8/8-8/9

GENERAL EDUCATION: GLY2030C, Environmental and Engineering Geology, is a GenEd physical science (P) course. The course covers not only the major concepts in Environmental and Engineering Geology – geohazards, interactions between society and our physical environment, environmental degradation, etc. — but also how we know about those things, making use of our understanding of the fundamental underlying geologic processes and methodologies of scientific investigation. Accordingly, the course will also address some of the major scientific developments in Geology (Plate Tectonic Theory, in particular) and the impact of this understanding has on our society.

PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS: Although this is essentially a non- mathematical science course, a very basic knowledge of mathematics is required. Middle School arithmetic and pre-algebra is sufficient.