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Lectures and Exams

Indiana Today

Wednesday, January 9th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

(1) Overview of Indiana's physiography and climate; (2) Introduction to modern biomes; (3) Anthropogenic changes to modern Indiana; (4) Historical view of life and the Earth; (5) Introduction to Earth systems.

The Lay of the Land

Friday, January 11th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Terms associated with surface geology and geomorphology; Processes of weathering, erosion, transport, and deposition; Historical thinking about landforms; Surface geology of Indiana.

A Short History of North America

Wednesday, January 16th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Introduction to Geological Time Scale; Structure of the Earth, formation of rocks and continents; Early history of the Earth; Continental history of the Phanerozoic; Oxygen, carbon dioxide, and sea level through the Phanerozoic. [Geol Timescale Handout]

Where Do Indiana's Rocks Come From?

Friday, January 18th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Sedimentary rocks - definitions and sources; Siliciclastic versus carbonate; Depositional environments; Types of siliciclastic rocks (clays, siltstones/shale, sandstones, conglomerates); Types of carbonate rocks (limestones, dolomites); Rock types in Indiana; Denudation and erosion rates

The Indiana Geological Survey (Guest Lecture by Dr. John Steinmetz)

Wednesday, January 23rd, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Introduction to the Indiana Geological Survey; mission of the Survey; origins with David Dale Owen of New Harmony; primary initiatives; midwest carbon sequestration; restoration at abandoned coal mines; paleo Great Lakes; geothermal data; StateMap and Indiana Map; color orthography and LiDar.

Overview of Indiana Geology

Friday, January 25th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Indiana's bedrock geological map; Cross-section of bedrock geology in Indiana Large and small scale geological maps; William Smith and the first geological map Stratigraphic column of Indiana; Stratigraphic terminology; David Dale Owen and geology of the Mississippi Basin; Overview of events represented in Indiana's rocks.

A Short History of Life

Wednesday, January 30th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

(combined with Metazoa Phyla). Phylogeny and classification; Origin and early history of life; Metazoan radiation and phyla; Diversity and mass extinctions.

Introduction to Metazoan Phyla

Friday, February 1st, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

(combined with Short history of life). Phylogeny and classification; Origin and early history of life; Metazoan radiation and phyla; Diversity and mass extinctions.

No Meeting

Wednesday, February 6th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, None

No Meeting

Friday, February 8th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, None

Midterm I

Wednesday, February 13th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Ordovician: The Cincinnatian and the Richmondian Invasion

Friday, February 15th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

The Ordovician system in Indiana; Cambrian and Ordovician life; Taconic Orogeny and the formation of the Cincinnati Arch; Paleogeography of the Cincinnatian in Indiana; Facies; Cincinnati School of paleontology; Ordovician life; The Richmondian invasion and the end-Ordovician extinction.

Climate and Isotopes in the Ordovician (Guest lecture by Dr. Seth Young)

Wednesday, February 20th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Earth system cycles of sea level, weathering, carbonates, and isotopes; isotopes, chemical reservoirs, and diffraction; Carbon cycle; Ordovician sea level and orogenic events; Isotopic events in Cambrian and Ordovician; End-Ordovician (Hirnantian) extinction.

Silurian and Devonian: Colonization of the Land

Friday, February 22nd, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Climate and atmosphere in the Paleozoic; Silurian and Devonian rock units in Indiana; Events of the Silurian and Devonian; Paleogeography and major structural features, including Illinois and Michigan Basins; Stromatoporoid reefs; First land plants in Silurian; Falls of the Ohio State Park.

Mississippian: the Borden Delta

Wednesday, February 27th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Late Devonian and Carboniferous rocks in Indiana; Borden group formations; Extinctions; Sea level changes, transgressions and regressions; Fluvial and deltaic depositional systems; Mississippi Delta; Borden Delta and Ontario River; Deltaic facies in the Borden Group.

Mississippian: sun, seas, and reefs

Friday, March 1st, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Paleogeography and sea level changes in the later Mississippian; Sanders and Blue River group rocks; Geological map of Monroe and Brown counties; Salem Limestone depositional environments and fossils; Karst formation; Karst, caves, and lost rivers in Indiana.

Carboniferous carbonates in Indiana (Guest lecture by Dr. Brian Keith)

Wednesday, March 6th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Paleogeography of the Mississippian; Tectonic cycles; Paleozoic facies; Industrial uses of the carbonates in Indiana; Modern analogs.

Pennsylvanian: Plants and Climate

Friday, March 8th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Pennsylvanian paleogeography and rock units; Terrestrial life in the Pennsylvanian; Early land plants, lepidodendron forests, Pennsylvanian biomes; Coal and its formation; Transgression, regression, and cyclothems; Carbon and oxygen cycles and the effects of plant burial on atmospheric composition; Cyclothems and an Ice Age in the Pennsylvanian.

Spring Break

Wednesday, March 13th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, None

Spring Break

Friday, March 15th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, None

Midterm II

Wednesday, March 20th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Evolution, Phylogeny, and Taxonomy

Friday, March 22nd, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Basic principles of phylogenetic trees; Terminology of phylogenetic trees and characters; Evidence for phylogeny; Evolution, descent with modification, and natural selection; Phylogeny reconstruction, traits, and parsimony; Metazoan phylogeny; Field gear.

Industry in Indiana: Stone, Coal, and Oil

Wednesday, March 27th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Types of geological industry in Indiana; Stone industry; Hydrocarbons and formation of oil and gas; Trenton gas field and its history; Rise and fall of gas and oil resources.

Coal (Guest Lecture by Dr Maria Masterlerz)

Wednesday, April 3rd, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

What is coal?; coal production and consumption in Indiana; coal geology; coal properties; properties of Indiana's coal; CO2 and coal; coal reserves.

Crossroads Geology Talks

Friday, April 5th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Class time devoted to attending and commenting on Crossroads Geology presentations.

What We Miss: Mesozoic and Cenozoic

Wednesday, April 10th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Late Paleozoic; Assembly of Pangea; Permian-Triassic extinction and its causes; Mesozoic paleogeography and faunas; Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction and its causes; Cenozoic paleogeography and climates; Eocene forests.

Quaternary Environments and Glacial Cycles

Wednesday, April 17th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Quaternary climate in Cenozoic context; Agassiz and discovery of past glaciations; Glacial cycles and relation to orbital cycles; Ice sheets, glacial / interglacial terminology, oxygen isotope stages; Glacial landforms; Methods for absolute age determination and radiocarbon; Glacial history and modern physiography; Distribution of soil types and Quaternary history; Glacial landforms in Indiana.

People Come to Indiana: Late Pleistocene Extinction

Friday, April 19th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Modern mammals and biomes; Quaternary mammals, biomes, and non-analogue faunas; Mammoths, mastodons, and pollen; Early human evolution and expansion into the New World; Late Pleistocene extinctions.

Paleoindians and the White River Valley (Guest lecture by Ed Herrmann)

Wednesday, April 24th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

Classification of Late Pleistocene and early Holocene peoples based on their lithic tools; regional pattern of deglaciation and its effects on fluvial systems; sediments of the White River Valley and terraces; changing land surfaces and the discovery of archaeological sites.

Back to the Present, and the Future

Friday, April 26th, 13:25 - 02:15 PM, GY 447

The pattern of glacial-interglacial cycles; Oxygen isotope proxies for climate; Regional differences in paleoenvironmental change; Late Quaternary extinction and the role of humans; Current changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide and global temperature; Comparison with past; Certainties and uncertainties from a geological and paleontological perspective.

Final Exam

Wednesday, May 1st, 12:30 - 02:30 PM, GY 447