marrein berleigh graiham

[Kristin Klodzinski]

GEOL 495 and GEOL 496 are based on contracted study arrangements between the student and an approved supervisor. Students improve their skills to choose and define problems, obtain information from libraries or experiments, organize facts and ideas, and report ideas and conclusions in written form.

These courses are for students who wish to carry out science-related projects in geology, or to obtain formal recognition of science-related skills and training they have received on the job. A student may do one three-credit project (GEOL 495) or two, three-credit projects (GEOL 495 and GEOL 496). Before registering, the student must submit an acceptable project proposal.

To receive credit for GEOL 495 and GEOL 496, you must complete written reports and other prepared materials based on guidelines derived from the learning contract. Credit will be granted only after you have successfully completed a telephone quiz based on the results of your study.

This course either does not have a course package or the textbooks are open-source material and available to students at no cost. This course has a Course Administration and Technology Fee, but students are not charged the Course Materials Fee.

This course may involve library, field, or lab work as agreed to by the student and supervisor. Students are expected to obtain and pay for all materials used in the projects. A project supervisor can be a faculty member at Athabasca University or, alternatively, someone external who is appropriately qualified. Students are requested to contact the course coordinator to obtain a project proposal form.

Knowledge about the continental crust comes from several different types of studies, including geophysics, geochemistry, and volcanology. Structural geology incorporates information obtained by other scientific disciplines to study the deformation of rocks. Major deformational features such as faults and folds can then be used to determine the structural framework of the continents.

The main tools of structural geology are simple, low-tech inventions that have been in use for centuries: hammers, compasses, maps, and geometry. A considerable part of this course is devoted to understanding and using the geological compass and geological maps.

Both of these resources are among the most widely used structural geology textbooks written in English. Basic Methods of Structural Geology is both a textbook and a professional reference book. These books contain much more information than we can cover in this course, and we will not be using all parts of all chapters. Where readings are assigned, the Study Guide and labs indicate specific points that you should be looking for as you read. Your course materials will refer to these textbooks as Davis, Reynolds, & Kluth and Marshak & Mitra, respectively.

The Study Guide is your main learning resource for all of the theory portions of the course. It contains seven units with overviews and objectives. Each unit includes a number of lessons with commentary, reading assignments, and study questions. Answers to the study questions can be found at the end of each unit.

There is an assignment for each unit of the course. Each assignment includes a theory portion and a lab (practical application) portion. You will find the assignment instructions and questions in the assignment drop boxes on the course home page. You must submit your assignments online through these drop boxes. If you are unable to submit your assignments online, contact your tutor.

Complete the theory portion of the unit assignment, and submit the complete assignment using its drop box on the course home page. If you are unable to submit your assignments online, contact your tutor.

Be sure to complete all assignments neatly, and present your answers clearly. This is to your advantage, because assignments that are neat and clear are easier for your tutor to follow and to grade accurately. Furthermore, you will benefit from this practice when you use these materials to study for the Final Exam.

Your performance in Geology 319 will be assessed on the assignments and a two-part Final Examination (theory and practical). Instructions for completing the assignments are given in the assignment drop boxes on the course home page.

Each unit includes an assignment for credit. Each assignment is worth 6% of the final course grade (theory: 2.5%; lab 3.5%). These assignments are an important part of the course, as they form the backbone of the lab portion.

Overall, the theory and application sections of the course are almost equal. While you will likely spend more time on the lab sections, much of the material here continues from and extends material covered in the theory sections. [Note also the considerable overlap of material in the theory textbook, Davis, Reynolds, & Kluth, and the lab textbook, Marshak & Mitra).

There are two parts to the Final Examination: (a) Part I is theory, based on material presented in the Study Guide and associated readings and exercises; and (b) Part II is application, based on lab material and associated readings and exercises. Hence, the examination is divided into two exams of two hours each.

You may write both parts of the exam on the same day, or you may opt to write the sections on different days. Each part is invigilated and closed-book. The order in which you write the sections (theory then application, or application then theory) is up to you. When you apply to write the Final Examination, the application form will require that you submit a single date for both parts of the exam (i.e., you must apply to write both parts on the same day). If you wish to write the parts on different days, those arrangements can be made with your invigilation centre. You may find that writing the parts back-to-back is assessed a single fee, whereas writing each part on a different day is assessed two exam fees. How such fees (if any) are assessed is at the discretion of the invigilation centre. We recommend that you discuss your options and associated fees with your chosen invigilation centre prior to scheduling your exam session(s). There are no exam fees assessed at AU exam centres (Calgary, Edmonton, Athabasca).

Be sure that you can meet all of the learning objectives listed at the beginning of each unit of the Study Guide. Many of these objectives can be restated as questions. The study questions and the assignments function as excellent review material for the Final Exam.

For the lab exam, work through the sample problems in your textbook and in the labs and re-do your assignments. Pay special attention to trouble spots, and make sure you understand where and why you lost points in certain areas. Practice is key to doing well on the lab exam.

Given the challenges of reading scientific papers, you may wonder why anyone other than an expert in the field might bother. There are, however, many good reasons to try. First, the newest and most exciting ideas are published in scientific papers. Some new discoveries may receive coverage by mainstream media, but most do not. It often takes a long time for new ideas to trickle down into textbooks. Therefore, scientific papers are the best place to find out about cutting edge discoveries and research.

Another good reason to read scientific papers is that they preserve the chain of ideas. New research is explained carefully, and arguments are built by meticulously combining new ideas and evidence with older claims. The older claims are referenced to the original author of the idea and the paper the idea appeared in. This allows you to check the claim out for yourself.

Skimming techniques permit researchers to sort through a vast body of available literature by enabling them to decide quickly and effectively which papers are likely to contain the information they need, and then to locate the relevant details. The following pointers will help you skim an article effectively:

Sedimentary rocks are deposited in layers, called beds or strata. Sedimentary rocks include rocks whose particles were erupted from a volcano, such as volcanic ash. The surface shared between the top of one bed and the bottom of the next is called a contact.

The principle of superposition states that in a sequence of beds that has not been overturned, the beds get progressively younger from bottom to top. This is not unlike having a stack of books and papers on your desk. If you are looking for an item on your desk, the more recently you last handled it, the closer to the top of a stack you will look for it. Older materials are more likely to be at the bottom of piles, while more recent additions are likely to be near the top.

Igneous intrusions and faults are two ways in which cross-cutting may occur. Erosion is another. The surface along which erosion has occurred or along which no sediments have been deposited for a geologically significant length of time is called an unconformity. Unconformities are gaps in the rock record that occur because part of the record has been removed (as with erosion), or because no record was created (as with non-deposition). The period of time for which the record is missing is called a hiatus.

Primary structures are formed before newly deposited material is transformed into rock. Primary structures are the result of deformation that occurs while the material is still in its original depositional environment (i.e., it has not been transported away from where it was first deposited). The deformation is caused by the same forces that were present when the material was deposited. This contrasts with secondary structures, which form as the result of stress applied to pre-existing rocks.

Cross-stratification, or cross-bedding, refers to dipping or curving layers within an individual bed (see Figs. 2.5 & 2.6, below). A stratum with cross-stratification may be overlain or underlain by horizontal bedding or by more cross-stratified bedding (e.g., Fig. 2.6a). Note that the contacts of beds containing cross-stratification are normal bedding surfaces, not angular unconformities.

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