GEOL 108 - Crises of a Planet
Lab 1 - Plate Tectonics
Sept. 3 - 7, 2012
Department of Earth Sciences
ABOUT ME
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Name: Benjamin Gross
Website: http://dornsife.usc.edu/mbg
Phone: 213-740-6743
Email: martinbg@usc.edu
Office hours (ZHS 300): 12:30-2:30, by
appointment
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Department of Earth Sciences
SYLLABUS
• Available on Blackboard
• Grading
− Lab is worth 25% of your overall course grade
− 11 labs - lowest x 5 points each = 50 pts max
− 11 quizzes - lowest x 10 points each = 100 pts
max
− Which means quizzes are worth 2/3 of the lab
and exercises are 1/3…. or quizzes are worth
17% of your overall grade and exercises 8%.
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Department of Earth Sciences
LAB PREP
• Lab exercises available on Blackboard
− Print it out, read it, and bring it with you
− If you neglect to bring it you will lose 2 points
− Note: you are welcome to work with a partner
on the exercises but all answers must be your
own. Simply copying your partner’s work will be
considered cheating.
• Bring pencil, calculator, and your printed lab
exercise every week
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Department of Earth Sciences
LAB ATTENDANCE
• Attendance in your assigned section is mandatory
− Email me ASAP if you must miss a lab so we
can place you in an alternate section
− Legit excuses include serious illness or official
university event and require a note
− Poor excuses include non-required events,
volunteer work, or sleeping in
• Unexcused absence will result in a grade of 0 for
both the exercise and quiz
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Department of Earth Sciences
LAB EXERCISES
• All exercises must be completed during a
scheduled lab period
• Graded on effort and completion
• Show your completed lab to me, I will briefly review
it, and return it
• Use your lab to study for next week’s quiz
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Department of Earth Sciences
LAB QUIZZES
• Quizzes will cover material from the previous week
• Begin promptly at the start of class
• If you are late and miss the quiz you get a 0
• Expect quizzes to take 10-15 minutes
• Combination of formats, but primarily short answer
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Department of Earth Sciences
TERM PAPER
• 3 pages of text, double spaced, 11 or 12 point font
• Topic is “science behind, and/or the political and
social implications and impacts of a current natural
disaster”
• Due Nov. 27th
• Details will be forthcoming
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Department of Earth Sciences
LAB ETIQUETTE
• No food or drink in lab
• Leave the room if you must use your phone
• During a quiz, phone ≠ calculator
• Be nice
• Pretend to love rocks
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Department of Earth Sciences
LAB 1 - TECTONICS - KEY CONCEPTS
• Types of plate boundaries and their locations
• Hot spot volcanism: definition and direction of plate
movement
• Methods of determining plate velocity
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Department of Earth Sciences
PLATE TECTONICS
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Movement of lithospheric plates over the asthenosphere.
Plates make contact at plate boundaries
Divergent, convergent, or transform boundary
Active vs. passive continental margin
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Department of Earth Sciences
SUPERCONTINENT FORMATION
• Plates move over time, occasionally forming
supercontinents
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/anim1.html
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Department of Earth Sciences
PLATE MOVEMENT BY GPS
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ESTIMATING PLATE MOTION
• Estimating sea-floor spreading rates (v=distance/time)
− Distance: measured between edges of continents
− Time: Age of oceanic crust closest to continent
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Department of Earth Sciences
HOT SPOT VOLCANISM
• Volcanic islands form over hot spots
• Hot spots do not move, the plate moves above it
• Use the distance between islands and difference in rock
ages to calculate plate speed
For an animation of hot spot volcanism go to
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/geo/ani
mations/hot_spot_volcanoes.htm
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Department of Earth Sciences