Geology (GEOL) 319

Overview

GEOL 319 considers the Earth's crust from the scale of continents down to that of a single rock outcrop or hand specimen. Mountain building and the resulting rock structures comprise the main theme of the course, although other features such as intrusions, salt domes, and crustal extension, will also be discussed.

Outline

Theory Section

Unit 1: Orogens and Structural Geology: An Introduction to the Earth's Dynamic Crust

Unit 2: Structures in Rocks: Getting Acquainted with Stress, Strain, and Deformed Rocks

Unit 3: Primary Sedimentary and Volcanic Structures: Which Way Is Up?

Unit 4: Faults: The Most Important of All Tectonic Structures

Unit 5: Folds: A Common Structure in Orogens

Unit 6: Fractures and Cleavage: Minor Planar Structures, but Distinctly Different Products of Strain

Unit 7: Nonorogenic Structures: A Mixed Bag of Natural Phenomena

Unit 8: Inside Orogens: The Cordillera as an Example

Practice Section

Lab Unit 1: The Geological Compass: Keeping Track of Your Directions

Lab Unit 2: Outcrop Patterns and Geological Maps: Introduction to Reading Geological Maps

Lab Unit 3: The Stereonet: A Three-dimensional Graphical Calculator

Lab Unit 4: Apparent Dip and Related Structural Geometry

Lab Unit 5: Displacement on Faults: Which Way Did the Rocks Go?

Lab Unit 6: Fold Orientation: Its Determination and Representation

Lab Unit 7: Reading Geological Maps: What Does It All Mean?

Evaluation

To receive credit for GEOL 319, you must complete all of the assignments with a minimum lab average of 60 percent, score at least 50 percent on each of the two components of the final examination, and attain a course composite grade of at least “D” (50 percent). The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:

3 Quizzes	14 Assignments	Final Exam	Total
15%	35%	50%	100%

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.