This course is an introduction to “how the earth works.” The earth is a closed system, characterized by cycling of materials and energy within it. The geologic portion of the cycle, the “lithosphere,” interacts with the hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere. This course is not a survey of the discipline of geology. Rather, it focuses on the critical components of the “lithospheric” part of the earth system. Only by understanding the complex system that is the earth can we become informed passengers on spaceship earth.
Course Goals
At the end of this class you will be able to:
1. Predict how changes in one component of the Earth system will impact the other components
Examples: How will the uplift of mountains impact atmospheric CO
2
levels?
How will changes in atmospheric CO
2
levels impact ocean chemistry?
How does an increase in volcanic activity affect climate?
How does the melting of glaciers impact shoreline stability?
2. Demonstrate problem solving skills using a variety of geologic data sets
Examples: After measuring the grain size of sediment, predict the velocity of
flow of the water that transported the sediment
After making observations of crystal size, predict if magma from a
volcano cooled slowly or quickly
Calculate, from the time of arrival of earthquake waves, determine
where the earthquake occurred.
Instructor Info
Prof. Charlotte Mehrtens
Delehanty 207
Email: charlotte.mehrtens@uvm.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday 10-11, Wednesday 3 to 4, or by appointment (email for appointment)
Geol 001 GTAs:
Jo Palmer, Merril Stypula, Ben Dejong, Megan Scott, Christine McNiff and Nicole
Shufelt. Your lab TA will tell you their office hours and email addresses at the first lab meeting. Note that lab write-ups are due the class period following your lab (for example, if you have lab on Monday afternoon, your lab report is due in class on
Wednesday). NOTE: no lab the first week of school. Labs start Tuesday after Labor
Day.
Assessment Information
There will be three hourly exams, including the final exam. Each exam is worth 22%
(66% total) and exams will include lab material. Quizzes are worth 9% of the final grade.
The lowest two quiz grades are dropped. Lab is worth 25% of the final grade. You must pass lab to pass the course.
Your lab TA will explain the rubrics used to evaluate lab and the final lab portfolio.

NOTE: All exams are given in the evening, between 7:15 and 9pm; exam dates are
October 5 th and November 1st.
If you are enrolled in an evening division class please inform your instructor NOW of potential conflicts. If you have work during this time, make arrangements NOW with your employer. Only one makeup exam will be scheduled for Geol 001, and the makeup exam is offered during the class time before the Common
Hour exam. You must have prior permission from the instructor to take a make up exam , which is only offered to students with a confirmed course conflict or athletic team competition conflict.
This course adheres to the academic honesty policy set out in The Cats Tale. You will be asked to read and sign the academic honesty statement, acknowledging that you are aware of the University policy, including but not limited to cheating on quizzes/exams, ownership of one’s work, and plagiarism.
Text, Lab Manual, hand lens and class handouts
1. Text: Understanding Earth, Grotzinger and Jordon 6 th edition WH Freeman (ISBN -
13:978-1-4292-1951-8). If you elect to use a prior edition of this text be aware that the pagination and illustrations are different. Bailey-Howe Library has several copies of the text on reserve for your use. The text is also available to you in electronic format
(http://ebooks.bfwpub.com/understandingearth6e.php).
2. Lab Manual is a course packet available at the bookstore only. Be aware that the lab manual is different from previous year’s editions.
3. For several labs you need a small hand lens, or magnifying glass. They are available at the UVM Bookstore. If you have a friend in another lab , you may save money by buying one hand lens and sharing.
4. Handouts: At least once a week I will post pdfs on Blackboard (in “Course
Materials”) for you to print out and bring to class. I will notify you via uvm email of posted pdfs at least one class period before they will be discussed in class. There will be at least 1 pdf per week to download and print, and some weeks as many as 1 per class.
You are responsible for printing out and bringing the pdf to class. Professor Mehrtens will not have extra copies to hand out.
Class Notes
There will be a note-taker in class and their notes will be scanned into pdf documents and placed in Blackboard (in “Course Materials”). These are not designed to replace your being in class and taking your own notes, however they are designed to supplement those that you take.
HOW TO SUCCEED IN THIS CLASS: “RULES OF THE GAME”
Here is the information you need to be successful in this class:
First, as Woody Allen once said, "Ninety five percent of life is showing up ." Come to class, come to lab, or be prepared for the consequences of your actions (= negative impact on your grades). Although I don't take attendance, there is an expectation on my part that you will be in class. If my expectation doesn't match yours, then perhaps you

shouldn't be in this class. It’s a good idea to bring a calculator with you to class. My lectures are not a repetition of the material in the text. In addition to lectures, class time will be spent doing activities (problem sets, demonstrations, etc) that will enhance your learning. Once a week there will be unannounced quiz.
Second, use the textbook . I expect you to read the text by the date due on the syllabus.
Lectures do not repeat material from the text but cover the same topics with different illustrations and explanations. If you have read the text before coming to class you will more fully understand what I am talking about in lecture. Class periods will be spent solving problems or otherwise working with data that will enhance what you have read.
On the syllabus I have indicated what end-of-chapter questions you should be able to answer by the end of each topic. [note on abbreviations: c= chapter; E = exercises, TQ =
Thought Questions]. This is not an exhaustive list of questions for each topic however they do represent a minimum level of comprehension, and they are similar to those that will appear on quizzes and exams. If you wish to submit your responses to Prof.
Mehrtens via email for feedback on the correctness of your responses, feel free to do so!
However, your responses need to be emailed within one week of their appearance on the syllabus.
Third, learning is a participatory activity!
Although lectures are one way that information is disseminated in this class, it's not the only way. During class I will ask you to work alone or in small groups. We will spend part of class doing practice exercises that will help you prepare for quizzes and exams. Make the best use of this time by learning how your classmates approach problem solving. Ask questions in class. Ask questions of your lab T.A.
Finally, the scouts had it right: Be Prepared ! Dress appropriately for lab. Unless you are told otherwise, all labs will be out of doors. You need to wear the right shoes. You need to have a raincoat. We go places where it is wet and muddy. We clamber over rocks and slide down slippery slopes. This is why Geo 1 labs are fun. This is why you need to dress appropriately so you can participate safely. You WILL be going out for lab starting the second week of class. Labs will assume that you arrive prepared and have submitted the pre-lab assignment to your lab T.A. via email. If I’ve assigned material for you to read or problem sets for you to try and do, be sure to do them before you come to class.
If you need help:

Use email to make an appointment with Professor Mehrtens. Before class is not a good time to ask questions, since I am focused on importing lecture material from the web into the lecture hall and other technology issues. If you want to schedule appointments, ask about a quiz grade, notify me about missing a class for an athletic competition, etc, please email me ( charlotte.mehrtens@uvm.edu
) to schedule an appointment.

Make an appointment with your lab section Teaching Assistant. The more you can explain what it is that you're having trouble with, the more targeted our help can be.


Form a study group. Lots of studies show that co-operative learning improves performance.

Make an appointment at the Learning Co-op for some study skills and time management training. Schedule yourself for daily study time so you keep up with the reading and the assignments. Cramming for Geo 001 exams does not work.

Remember that there is no correlation between hours spent studying and exam outcome if you are studying the wrong material or studying the wrong way.
Experience has shown that if you are not doing well on quizzes (above 7/10), you will not do well on hourly exams. Change your study habits BEFORE the first hourly exam.

The class period before an hourly exam will be a review session. Come with questions. The more you study beforehand, the more effective this “last minute” question period can be for you.
Consideration of your fellow classmates:

Please turn off cell phones during class
 Once class starts, please don’t carry on conversations.

Please do not bring food into the lecture. The lecture hall will be full, and your neighbors probably don’t want to smell your garlic hummus. Beverages are ok
(but please take your trash with you when you leave)

Bodies packed into a lecture hall create prime conditions for spreading sickness.
When you cough/sneeze, please cover your mouth/nose.
On the following page is the course schedule…..

THE FOLLOWING CLASS SCHEDULE WILL BE REVISED THROUGHOUT
THE SEMESTER TO KEEP IT CURRENT. PLEASE REFER TO IT
REGULARLY. ANY CHANGES TO THE SYLLABUS WILL BE ANNOUNCED
ON BLACKBOARD (IN “ANNOUNCEMENTS”). A lab schedule follows the class schedule.
(for “text questions”: E = exercise questions; TQ = thought questions)
CLASS SCHEDULE
Dates
8/31
Topic
Course Intro;
Introduction to systems
thinking
Text Reading assignment Text Questions
9/1 & 9/3 The Earth system, no class 9/6 closed, open and isolated systems; components of the earth system
9/8 & 9/10
9/13 chapter 1:13-19 TQ 3,4
chapter 2 Plate Tectonics- what is it, how does it work?
Principle of Uniformitarianism chapter 1, pp 2-6 E5
E1-5, TQ 1-6
9/15-9/17 The interior of the Earth- how do chapter 1 pp 9-13 E 6,7; TQ2, 5
we know what’s down there?
9/20-9/24
9/27-9/29
Direct and indirect data
Seismicity the nature of earthquake waves chapter 14: pp 381-390 E: 1-11; TQ 1-3 chapter 13& E1-4,6-7; TQ1 &3 chap 14: 370-381 E 1-11, TQ 1,3 how we determine epicenters layers within the earth global earthquake distribution
Seismicity and plate tectonic synthesis chapters 13, 14 continued

10/1 Minerals: building blocks of rocks chapter 3, pp55-72 E1-8, TQ 2,3,5,7-9
HOURLY EXAM TUESDAY OCT 5 TH 7:15-9 pm Scheduled class time is a review session
10/4-10/8 Minerals: building blocks of rocks continued no class 10/11, however there ARE Monday labs
10/13 The rock cycle chapter 3, pp 72-86 E9-13, TQ: 10, 12,13
10/15 to Igneous rocks and chapter 4 & E:1-10; TQ: 3-5, 7-11 chapter 12: pp306-326 E:1,2,4,5,6 TQ: 2,3,5,6
10/29 volcanoes radiometric dating
10/29 &
11/1 Weathering chapter 8 191-208 E: 1,5,9: TQ: 1,4,6,7 chapter 5: pp. 114-120; TQ: 1 chapter 16, pp. 421-431; E 1-6; TQ 2,4,-6
HOURLY EXAM 2 MONDAY NOV 1 st 7:15 to 9pm Scheduled class time is a review session
11/5 Sedimentary rocks chapter 5, pp 118-143 E:1,2,6; TQ: 3,5,8
and environments
11/8
11/10
11/12 to
11/19
Sediments, continued sea level change
Making mountains: folding, faulting and metamorphism, isostasy
11/22-25 Thanksgiving Break chapter 20, pp 554-555 chapter 6 E: 1,2,6-9; TQ: 1,9
chapter 7 E: 1,3 TQ: 3
11/29 to
12/8 cycling within the earth system
FINAL EXAM: DEC TBA chapter 15 E: 1,2,5,6,7; TQ: 1,6,7
****************************************************************************
LAB SCHEDULE for Geol 001
Week
8/30-9/6
9/7-9/13
Lab no lab – labs begin on Tuesday, Sept 7th
Applying the Principle of Uniformitarianism

9/14-9/20
9/21-9/27
9/28- 10/4
10/5-10/11
10/12- 10/19
10/19-10/25
10/26-11/1
11/2-11/8
11/9-11/15
11/16- 11/19
& 11/29
11/30-12/6
Huntington River Part I Channel cross section
Huntington River Part II Discharge
Topographic maps and groundwater
Lone Rock Point: Processes that build mountains
Lessor’s Quarry: Tropical Vermont
Minerals I lab Physical Properties
Minerals II lab Mineral Identification
Acid Rain and Chemical weathering
Plate Tectonics and the Rock Cycle part I
Plate Tectonics and the Rock Cycle part II lab portfolio preparation: portfolios are due during the day/time of your lab period