GSCI340 - Environmental Geology

As noted in class the number of GeoChallenges required to be completed has been revised from 15 down to 5. Note however, that GeoChallenges still account for 15% of the final course grade; thus each GeoChallenge not completed will count 3 points off you final average - a substantial portion of a grade. Don’t let this happen to you. A number of GeoChallenges can be completed online in a reasonable amount of time (e.g., GeoChallenges #2, #3, and #7). All GeoChallenges must be completed by noon on Tuesday, December 11th. No Exceptions.

The Challenge: This Tuesday night (11/13/07) at 8:00pm on PBS (Eagle cable channel 9), NOVA will broadcast a two hour special “Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial“. In order to earn credit for this GeoChallenge you should watch this program and comment in response to this blog post your reaction to it. If you are unable to watch the program you may comment on materials on the accompanying website.

The Challenge: Participate in the Sternberg Geosciences Club Earth Science Week Scavenger Hunt. Teams entered by Wednesday, October 17 and participating over the course of the following week will earn credit for at least one GeoChallenge. Members of the team that wins the event will receive credit for ten (10) GeoChallenges. Runner-up teams will be assigned credit for multiple GeoChallenges at my discretion, based on the level of achievement.

The Challenge: Attend a Geosciences Department Travelogue lecture. An attendance sheet will be available - make sure to sign it to receive credit.

Geosciences Department travelogues are held in 106 Tomanek Hall on alternating Mondays at 3:30pm. Each travelogue chronicles a trip taken by Geosciences faculty, staff, or students.

Fall 2007 Travelogue Schedule:

• October 1, 2007 - Dr. Rich Lisichenko - Paraguay
• October 15, 2007 - Ron Schott - Topic TBA
• October 29, 2007 - Speaker and Topic TBA
• November 5, 2007 - Speaker and Topic TBA

The Challenge: Win a “Where on (Google) Earth?” challenge. This entails finding the location of the current challenge in Google Earth and posting the location (as Latitude and Longitude or published in a KMZ format) and describing the geological setting/significance of the image in a reply on the blog that is currently hosting the challenge. The winner of each WoGE challenge is generally invited to post the next WoGE on their own blog (though this is not a requirement to receive credit for this GeoChallenge). The current Where on (Google) Earth (at the time of posting) is Where on (Google) Earth #51 (which happens to be hosted on your professor’s geology blog). A list of past WoGE challenges and winners are maintained by your professor as a Google Earth network link.

Current WoGE: Where on (Google) Earth #76

The Challenge: Discuss what you learned from this Thursday’s Nova video “Earthquake!”. To receive credit you’ll need to make an original, substantive comment (below) that discusses something that you learned from the video or that builds on the topics covered in the video, possibly relating them to other content you’ve discovered on the web.

Some themes you might consider discussing:

• What is the current state of earthquake prediction?
  
• What is the value of long term vs. short term predictions? Which is more achievable? How is it valuable?
  
• How do scientists study earthquakes?
  
• Why was Parkfield, California chosen for intensive study?
  
• What has happened in the field of earthquake studies since this video was made?
  
• Was the Parkfield experiment ultimately successful in predicting an earthquake? Why or why not?
  
• How can one best prepare for the possibility of future earthquakes if one were to live in a seismically active area?
  

The Challenge: Discuss some geologic aspect of one of “Ron’s Geology Picks” in the right sidebar. Your commentary must indicate an understanding of the post - or at least the geological aspects of it. To receive credit you must synthesize the geologic aspects of the story with something that you’ve learned in this class in a way that goes beyond simply summarizing the information in the Geology Pick. I’m looking for well thought out and cleanly written commentary that indicates that you’re able to take knowledge that you’ve gained in Intro Geology and apply it to understanding geology events in the news or to interpret the geologic origin of pictures of geologic landforms or processes.

You can comment on up to five unrelated articles for credit. Your commentary may take the form of an original blog post (if you don’t have your own blog I can help you set one up), a comment on this GeoChallenge, a comment about a classmate’s discussion of a Geology Pick, or a comment on the original source of the Geology Pick (many of which come from other geology bloggers). Unless you are commenting directly on the source of a Geology Pick, you must include a reference to the original source of the Pick on which you are commenting (including the title and URL in your commentary are sufficient). If you comment on another website (your own blog or the source blog) you should include a link below so that I’ll know where to find your commentary. Proper net etiquette is a must.

The Challenge: September 18, 2007 was World Water Monitoring Day. Monitor your water. Document it with a photo and a paragraph describing what you did.

The Challenge: Visit the United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) webpage about the recent M8.4 Southern Sumatran Earthquake. Read the information you find there and summarize (as a comment to this GeoChallenge posting) your understanding of how the earthquake is explained by Plate Tectonics. Comment further on some aspect of the USGS website that taught you something else interesting about the geology of the earthquake or the Sumatran region. If you run into things you don’t understand pose your questions as part of your comment, as well.

The Challenge: Join the Sternberg Geosciences Club and participate as an active member. To successfully complete this challenge you should participate in at least five (5) Geosciences Club activities (including regular meetings) during the course of the semester, at least one of which must be a fund raiser, field trip, or service project.

The Challenge: E-mail me (rschott@fhsu.edu) a Google Earth placemark of the place where you grew up. In the description box of the placemark you should write up a paragraph about the geology of your hometown, describing the age and rock type of the bedrock in the area at a minimum. If you need to find out about the geology of your hometown you should consult the Geologic Map of Kansas in 213 Tomanek Hall, the Kansas Geological Survey’s website, or consult with me if you grew up somewhere other than Kansas.

The Challenge: Correctly identify and accurately describe the geologic feature or process illustrated by one of the headers to this website.  Credit will only be given for one header description per student - once credit has been given no other student may receive credit for the same header.  If competing descriptions are offered for the same header I’ll only give credit to the one that does the most thorough and accurate job of describing the geology.  Post your descriptions as a comment on this GeoChallenge.

The Challenge: Make regular comments about lectures or material covered in lectures via the blog.  Your comments should be original, thoughtful, timely, and on topic.  To qualify for credit for this GeoChallenge you’ll need to make quality comments at least once a week for a minimum of 10 of the 15 weeks of the semester.  Comments that are redundant, shallow, non-constructive, or disrespectful will not be eligible for credit and may be grounds for disqualification from this challenge.  My aim is to stimulate discussion of the lecture topics beyond the classroom and to seek constructive feedback on my presentation of the materials during lecture.