University of Georgia - Department of Geology | Course news Syllabus Course schedule Specific course webpages Additional course policies beyond those on the syllabus | |
| This is a page to provide links for topics relevant to the course and to post updates to the course syllabus and course schedule. |
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Course news:
GEOL 1122 will be taught in Fall 2020, either in person (as announced by UGA President Jere Morehead on April 29) and/or via eLC (if the situation evolves away from an on-campus model). Seven learning resources will be available to all students:
Old news from Fall 2019: Final exams for Fall 2019 have been graded, course grades have been reported to the registrar, and the distribution of course grades is now shown on the page of past grade distributions. Roughly forty extra-credit essays were submitted between 7:00 pm Monday 2 December and the deadline 11:00 am Tuesday 3 December 2019. All of them arrived so shortly before the deadline that students' correction and re-submission was not feasible (whereas resubmission had been easy for submissions that began in late September and had continued across the subsequent two months). Those two facts meant that submissions received after 7:00 pm Monday 2 December were not marked with the detail or formality with which earlier submissions were marked, and most were instead only given marks of "+3" or "+0" and were not returned. The Powerpoint file linked for Lecture 26 has been updated with better sound. Three of 134 students took advantage of the opportunity described below for a lab visit to see research of the sort on which this course depends. Rather than a field trip, Railsback's GEOL 1122 offers an optional (not required) lab visit in which students see stalagmites used in paleoclimate research and see some of the equipment used to sample the stalagmites. The lab is in Room 202 GG, across the hall from our lectures in Room 200A GG. Four times for visits are available: 8:45-9:15 am and 12:20-12:50 pm on November 7, 2019, and November 12, 2019. The 12:20-12:50 opportunity can be expanded to see the mass spectrometer in the Department of Geology's Stable Isotope Laboratory too. A one-page introduction to stalagmite-based paleo-environmental research is available at http://railsback.org/FQS/FQSStalagmitesAsRecords01.jpg. Exam II for Section 35645 meeting from 9:30 am to 10:45 am has been graded and will be or was handed back on Thursday 17 October 2019. A histogram of the grades appears below.
>> Live lectures in Room 200A GG, to the extent possible per UGA policies that may evolve through time.
>> Students' lecture notes from those lectures.
>> Lecture summaries (a 68 MB download) specific to this course.
>> Powerpoint recordings of lectures, including all slides and voiced presentation, available via eLC.
>> The textbook for which optional (not required) reading assignments are shown below and on the syllabus.
>> Optional meetings via Zoom for students to ask questions, discuss course content, etc.
>> Email with the professor at rlsbk@uga.edu).
Many of the errors in submissions were those about which warnings had been posted on the web page about the assignment.
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Exam II for Section 13799 meeting from 11:00 am to 12:15 pm has been graded and will be or was handed back on Tuesday 15 October 2019. A histogram of the grades appears below.
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Exam I for Section 35645 meeting from 9:30 to 10:45 am has been graded and will be or was handed back on Thursday 19 September 2019 at the end of class. A histogram of the grades appears below.
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Exam I for Section 13799 meeting from 11:00 am to 12:15 pm has been graded and will be or was handed back on Tuesday 17 September 2019. A histogram of the grades appears below.
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The Scientific Literature Exercise has been graded. The average score for the 106 students who submitted the exercise before the time it was due was 95.4 (and 52 students of those 106 received a score of 100). The average score for all 139 students (including the 12 who submitted it late and the 21 who submitted nothing) was 76.9.
In the 11:00-12:15 section Tuesday 3 September 2019, we did not have time to discuss Creation Story 7. We will sadly have to let it pass and move on to Creation Story #3 on Thursday 5 September 2019. This has no relevance to the 9:30-10:45 section.
The page linked as "Questions asked frequently or recently by 1122 students, and the answers to those questions " has been updated.
Railsback again promises to be in Room 200A Tuesday (27 August) morning from 8:30 to 9:15 to answer questions about the Scientific Literature Exercise.
It seems that students in Section 13799 meeting from 11:00 am to 12:15 pm received an email message on the evening of 22 August 2019 offering the note-taking services of a commercial entity external to the University System of Georgia. This message was not sent by the instructor, the person sending the message was not authorized by the instructor to send a message via eLC, and the instructor in no way endorses the use of any note-taking service. Students should not use eLC as means to send messages on behalf of organizations or commercial entities, because such messages are violations of the University's campus solicitation policy.
The course schedule below has been revised, with a column added so that there are separate columns of dates for the 9:30-10:45 section and for the 11:00-12:15 section. Students in the 9:30-10:45 section can access a new Page 6 of the syllabus.
Syllabi are now available for Section 35645 meeting 9:30-10:45 Tuesdays and Thursdays and Section 13799 meeting 11:00-12:15 Tuesdays and Thursdays in Fall 2019.
Exercise 1, the Scientific Literature Exercise, is due at 5:00:00 pm on 27 August 2019. A link to the exercise appears below.
Students are hereby alerted that GEOL 1122 lectures will be audio-recorded, and thus that things said in Room 200A may be recorded. The recording process is only intended to establish a record of the lecture for possible administrative or legal processes against the lecturer, and it is expected and hoped that the recordings will never be listened to at all.
Ancient news from Fall 2018:
Exam 2 has been graded and will be or was scheduled for hand-back on Thursday 11 October 2018 at the end of class. Histograms of the grades appear below.
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Grades on the 2018 Scientific Literature Exercise for the 9:30-10:45 section were
100: 17 students 95: 4 90: 3 85: 1 80: 1 0: 4
Grades on the 2018 Scientific Literature Exercise for the 11:00-12:15 section were
100: 32 students 95: 4 90: 6 75: 1 0: 13
Links to blank copies of last year's exams now appear below. These blank versions can be used as practice exams to which students have the keys to check their work.
Syllabi are now available for the 2019 9:30-10:45 lecture and the 2019 11:00-12:15 lecture.
*Notes regarding readings: GEOL 1122 webpages: How to do better in GEOL 1122 or How to study for college exams. A little bit of advice for first-semester freshmen. Lecture summaries (a 68 MB download). A letter that student athletes can print out and use to request that their grades by reported to an advisor in the athletic program. After filling all the blanks, they should give the letter to Dr. Railsback. The GEOL 1122 Scientific Literature Exercise. Past grade distributions in Railsback's GEOL 1122 lecture sections. Questions asked frequently or recently by 1122 students, and the answers to those questions. Part 1 of a glossary of terms used in Railsback's lectures in GEOL 1122. Part 2 of a glossary of terms used in Railsback's lectures in GEOL 1122. There's no longer a lecture on evolution of plants, but for persons trying to find one of the readings, here's the link to An Ode to Plants. A second extra-credit exercise. The essay question for, and other information on, this year's final exam. A blank copy of Railsback's GEOL 1122 Exam 1 from 2019. Additional GEOL 1122 policies: Powerpoint files of illustrations used in lecture, but not lecture outlines, will be available on eLCnew. However, no other functions of eLCnew will be used for Railsback's GEOL 1122 course. Email messages sent to Railsback via eLCnew will not be received. Send email to him at rlsbk@gly.uga.edu. The following is a grading rubric to guide determination of the GEOL 1122 participation grade arising from recounting of creation stories: i. Student coherently recounts the story, to the story's end, in no more than 120 seconds: 100%! ii. Student recounts much of the story but does not reach the story's end in 120 seconds, or gives an incoherent presentation of the story that reaches the story's end: 60% iii. Student reports that he or she is unprepared to recount the story: 20% iv. Student is not present: 0% v. Student tries to recount the story but gets through only little of the story, or gives a strikingly incoherent or inappropriate recounting of the story: 0% With regard to the Academic Honesty Policy of University of Georgia, if a student is called upon and is given notes or text by another student, this will be treated the same as sharing answers on an exam, which would be a violation of that policy. Part iii is included so that the everyone can avoid Part v. If the distinction between WP and WF is relevant, persons withdrawing before the midterm withdrawal deadline will be given WPs, not WFs. GEOL 1122 lectures will be audio-recorded, and thus that things said in Room 200A may be recorded. The recording process is only intended to establish a record of the lecture for possible administrative or legal processes against the lecturer, and it is expected and hoped that the recordings will never be listened to at all. Email to Railsback (rlsbk@gly.uga.edu)
Schedule for Railsback's GEOL 1122 for Fall 2020 Lxr Date for 9:30-10:45 Date for 11:00-12:15 Topic or Business Reading* Part I. Basic Materials in Historical Geology 1 8/20/20 8/20/20 Introduction; Minerals Syllabus (read it!); 31-35; Introduction to GEOL 1122; Basics of geology; More basics of geology; Geologic time scale; Minerals in perspective; -ide and -ate minerals; Non-silicate minerals; Trends in silicate minerals 2 8/25/20 8/25/20 Igneous & Metamorphic Rocks; Isotopes 35-38, 45-47; 28-29, 235-236; Cooling of magma and igneous rocks; Bodies of igneous rocks; Metamorphic rocks; Isotopes(1); Isotopes(2); Carbon isotopes; CS #1 3 8/27/20 8/27/20 Sedimentary Rocks, and Fossils 6-7, 38-45, 98-102, [103-126], 52-55; Weathering-to-lithification; Steno's Principles; Unconformities ; Fossils 4 9/1/20 9/1/20 Structural Geology & Plate Tectonics 186-201, 209-211; Structural Geology diagram; ["Earth to scale" cross-section]; Plate tectonic boundaries; Plate tectonics and Earth dynamics; Divergent plate boundaries sketches; Convergent plate boundaries sketches Part II. Basic Principles and Geologic Time 5 9/03/20 9/03/20 Goals and Theories "What is Science?";"Ways of Understanding"; A quick assignment; CS #21 6 9/08/20 9/08/20 Correlative and Relative Dating 146-148; Facies diagram in 3D, Movement of facies,Lecture cross-sections 1,2,3, and 4,Correlation ppt file,An optional stratigraphy exercise and its solution, Practice cross-sections and their key; CS #7 7 9/10/20 9/10/20 Absolute Dating [28-29 on isotopes], 141-144; [Atoms, Isotopes]; Half-lives; A table of parents and daughters; CS #3 8 9/15/20 9/15/20 Age of the Earth & Geologic Time Scales 140-141, 10-13, 150-151; Lead isotope diagram; Geologic time scale; Sequences - 9/17/20 9/17/20 Exam 1 - - Part III. Biological Evolution of the Earth 9 9/22/20 9/22/20 Explanations of Biological Evolution 156-162; Modern Example 1; Modern Example 2; Modern Example 3; [Modern human evolution]; Model Part 1; Model Part 2; Artificial Selection 1; Artificial Selection 2; Artificial Selection 3 10 9/24/20 9/24/20 Mechanics of Biological Evolution 162-180; Alleles, Genes, Chromosomes, etc. ; WWW Life ; CS #10 11 9/29/20 9/29/20 Precambrian Life 268-272, 281-287, 304-311; Cells, [Prokaryotes], Cellular Evolution (Small printer-friendly version); Intra-cellular symbiosis; An endosymbiotic experiment; Slime Molds; Evolution of multicellularity; A summary of early evolution; CS #11 12 10/01/20 10/01/20 Evolution of Vertebrates I 73-77, 335-338, 341-345, 367-371; Chordate Evolution (jpg) 13 10/06/20 10/06/20 Evolution of Vertebrates II 399-411 (incl. ESS 16-1); Revised chart, CS #13 14 10/08/20 10/08/20 Evolution of Vertebrates III 396-398, 429-433, 457-458; ESS 17-1 15 10/13/20 10/13/20 Evolution of Mammals & Hominids 454-457, 509-519; Hominid Cranial Sizes ; Primate Brain Structure; Primate Evolution jpeg or pdf ; A short essay; Human cognition Slide 1, Slide 2 , Slide 3 , and Slide 4. - 10/15/20 10/15/20 Exam II Part IV. Environmental Evolution of the Earth 16 10/20/20 10/20/20 Evolution of the Earth 257-266, [191], 297-299, 345, 350-352; 379-381; maps in cover and on 277, 297-299, 303, 317, 319, 359, 372, 375, 391, 411, 423, 434, 451, 461; Craton Growth;Early Earth 1;Early Earth I1;Early Earth III;Early Earth 1V; "The Fall Line" and "The Fall Line in Georgia"; Phanerozoic tectonic events in eastern North America. CS #16 17 10/22/20 10/22/20 The Evolution of the Ocean & Atmosphere 259-272, 287, 227-243; Phanerozoic environmental time line as a jpeg; [Limestones and CO2]; [Bob Berner's box models]; [Soil carbonate and ancient PCO2]; [Boron and ancient PCO2]; CS #14 and 15 18 10/27/20 10/27/20 Phanerozoic Sea Level; O isotopes 148-151; 231-235 "Possible causes of sea-level change"; O isotopes in minerals like calcite; O isotopes in glacial ice; clumped isotopes; TEX86. 19 10/29/20 10/29/20 Climate, Cretaceous, & PETM 435-457, 460-465 20 11/03/20 11/03/20 The Cenozoic; Glaciers 485-489; Cenozoic O isotope records; ["O Isotopes", Glaciers]; CS #12 21 11/05/20 11/05/20 Quaternary Glaciation 108-109, 489-494; [Glaciers]; North American glacial phases, Pulse of Pleistocene, Milankovitch Cycles I, II, and III, a CO2 record 22 11/10/20 11/10/20 The Last Glacial Cycle ESS19-1 on 490-491; Last 4 my, Last 120 ka, Later Quaternary events, D-O cycles, AMOC & Bipolar Seesaw, "Changing the World" 23 - - - - - - The Holocene I - "Changing the World" 24 11/12/20 11/12/20 The Holocene II - the last 11,700 years 524-538; Later Quaternary events, Holocene events, "Changing the World" 25 11/17/20 11/17/20 Holocene III - Some 20th-21st Century Environmental Issues Web pages 1,2,3,4,5, 6, 7, and 8, 26 - - - - - - The Holocene IV - Resource Issues on a Finite Earth (revised file) Resource Issues on a Finite Earth (revised file) 27 11/19/20 11/19/20 Holocene VA - Greenhouse effect & global warming 540-546; Scripps CO2 page;Temperature from 22ka to the future 28 11/24/20 11/24/20 Holocene VB - Greenhouse effect & global warming 540-546; Scripps CO2 page; Temperature from 22ka to the future; Changing Arctic ice 29 - - - - - - The Holocene VI - Alternatives for the Late Holocene New 2019 item; Illustrations already in show available at left: Human lifestyles; Lifestyle effects; US energy consumption;; World energy consumption;; Human footprint data. 30 12/01/20 12/01/20 The Holocene VII - Changing ecologies Lecture Illustration #0 , #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, and #8; CS #4. 31 12/03/20 12/03/20 Summary and Review The Land Ethic Revisited; A time line; Primate brain volumes revisited; - R 12/17/20 - Final Exam for Section 35645 (Period TR2) 8:00am-11:00 am Room 200A GG - - T 12/15/20 Final Exam for Section 13799 (Period TR3) 12:00pm-3:00pm Room 200A GG
All readings are in Stanley and Luczaj's Earth System History (4th edn), except for linked web pages and for numbers labeled "CS", which are numbers for stories in Creation Stories from around the World.
Pages in brackets are suggested reading that may make lecture material easier to understand.
Reading assignments do not include "Earth System Shift" ("ESS") inserts unless specifically noted.
Reading assignments include all figures to which reference is made, even if the figures fall outside the page range indicated.
A blank copy of Railsback's GEOL 1122 Exam 2 from 2019.
A blank copy of Railsback's GEOL 1122 Exam 3 from 2019.
The key for Railsback's GEOL 1122 Exam 1 from 2019.
The key for Railsback's GEOL 1122 Exam 2 from 2019.
The key for Railsback's GEOL 1122 Exam 3 from 2019.
The availability of these Powerpoint files in no way indicates that attendance in lecture is unimportant, nor that one can do well in the course without coming to lecture. Exams in Railsback's GEOL 1122 course will continue to examine material covered in lecture, including thoughts discussed in response to student questions. These Powerpoint files are therefore not an adequate resource in preparing for exams.
Railsback's main web page
UGA Geology Department web page
