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GEO 192E: Introduction to Earth System Science Fall, 1997
This course provides a look at the Earth system as a whole. Emphasis will be on the interrelationships between biological, geological, climatological, and human systems on continental and global scales. The links between these systems will be illustrated by present-day processes and by the geologic record of selected events in earth system history. The course will include computer-based exercises and will rely heavily on Internet resources. Projects, papers, and presentations will be required. There are no prerequisites for this course.
Christopherson, R. W., Geosystems, 3rd edition: Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Prentice Hall, 656 p.
Note: This book can be found in the Textbook Annex under GEO 100. It is the same text used for that course.
Grades will be based on student's performance on homework assignments and modelling projects (40%), three 50-minute exams (15% each) and a term project or short paper (15%).
The objectives of this new course are to:
-- gain perspectives of varying spatial and temporal scales of environmental change
-- explore the complexity of relationships between the major subsystems of the earth system: atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, biosphere
-- explore how these interactions change with time
-- facilitate thinking in terms of systems concepts
-- develop each student's facility for modelling systems
This course will cover the following topics:
We hope to compile a substantial list of Internet resources for use in this course. We can start with these links and we will add more as we go.