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2023-2024 College Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
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GLG 110IN - Geological Disasters and Environmental Geology 4 Credits, 6 Contact Hours 3 lecture periods 3 lab periods
Survey of geologic processes with respect to the interactions between humans and the Earth. Includes identifying geologic hazards, understanding the challenges of predicting and preventing natural disasters, and mitigating and preventing pollution; the relationship of natural resources to population distribution, resource usage and impacts, and waste management and pollution prevention; and the hydrologic cycle, plate tectonics, volcanoes, earthquakes, and catastrophic events, such as floods, fires, landslides, earthquakes, and volcanic action. Also includes water quality, resource availability, toxic and radioactive waste disposal problems and proposed solutions, global climate change, sea level rise, greenhouse gases, and extreme weather. Also includes a field trip to investigate local geologic hazards.
Gen-Ed: Meets AGEC - SCI; Meets CTE - M&S.
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Course Learning Outcomes
- Utilize scientific methods to formulate and answer questions.
- Describe plate tectonics, associated hazards such as earthquakes and volcanism, and the techniques used to mitigate these hazards.
- Describe the causes and mitigation techniques associated with mass wasting.
- Identify and discuss the hazards and environmental impacts associated with surface and subsurface water resources.
- List and describe the hazards and mitigation techniques associated with coastlines, extreme climate processes and climate change.
- Describe the formation and environmental impacts of the extraction and utilization of energy and mineral resources.
Performance Objectives:
- Perform activities to demonstrate improvement in the general education goals of communication and critical thinking.
- Describe the fundamental concepts of environmental geology.
- List interactions between humans and their environment that involve geologic processes.
- Describe the relationship between plate tectonics, earthquakes, and volcanoes.
- Describe seismic activity and hazards associated with seismic activity.
- List and describe types of volcanism affecting human habitations and activities.
- Describe the impact of geologic hazards such as volcanoes, land instability, and earthquakes on humans and their property.
- Describe the causes of soil erosion and the techniques for preventing erosion.
- Discuss the processes, hazards, results, and mitigation techniques of mass wasting processes.
- Identify and discuss particular environmental problems associated with the hydrosphere, such as the causes and results of river flooding and prediction/prevention of flooding and resulting erosion.
- Discuss groundwater resources, hazards, pollution, usage, and mitigation and conservation solutions.
- Discuss the hazards, such as tsunamis, hurricanes, erosion, and sea level rise, related to living along or near shorelines.
- Discuss extreme climates and processes, including glaciation, desertification, greenhouse gases, and climate change, through geologic history.
- Describe the location and types of energy and mineral resources, the extraction processes, and environmental impacts involved with their use.
- Discuss the geological basis of global human population distributions and resource usage.
- Explain problems and solutions associated with waste disposal.
- Describe the impact of human waste on the environment and human health.
- Summarize the nature and scope of natural and geological disasters and their effects on human activities
- Describe how the presence of natural resources impacts human populations.
Outline:
- Overview of Geological Hazards, Natural Disasters, and Environmental Geology
- Plate Tectonics
- Earthquakes and Seismic Phenomena
- Volcanoes and Volcanic Hazards
- Weathering, Erosion, and Soil Resources
- Mass Wasting
- Landslides
- Debris flows
- Subsidence
- Hydrologic Cycle
- Rivers and floods
- Erosion
- Groundwater
- Karst Features
- Water supply
- Water quality
- Coastal Hazards
- Tsunamis
- Hurricanes
- Erosion
- Sea-level rise
- Extreme Climates
- Climate Change
- Geologic Resources
- Soil
- Water
- Rocks and minerals
- Energy
- Human-Environment Interaction
- Resource usage
- Air and water pollution
- Waste management
- Land use and global population
- Investigation of Local Geologic Hazards in an Outdoor Setting
Effective Term: Fall 2016
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