Dr. Ben Waggoner
020 Lewis Science Center
Office phone: 450-5037
Department phone: 450-3146
Department FAX: 450-5914
E-mail: ediacara@cyberback.com

Lecture: Tuesday and Thursday, 9:25-10:40 AM: LSC 025
Lab: Thursday, 2:40-5:20 PM: LSC 025
Office Hours: Tuesday, 2:40-5:20; Wednesday, 2:00-5:00 PM; or by appointment
Course Web Page: http://faculty.uca.edu/~benw/sci3410/. If you're reading this, you're there.
Prerequisites: Biology 1400 (Biology for General Education); Physics 1400 (Physical Science for General Education)
Optional Textbook: Edward J. Tarbuck and Frederick K. Lutgens. Earth Science. 11^th edition. Prentice-Hall. http://wps.prenhall.com/esm_tarbuck_escience_11

Other Books: You will select from a list of books on earth science topics and write reports on them during the semester. More information will be forthcoming soon.

You are encouraged to familiarize yourselves thoroughly with all policies listed in the Student Handbook, including but not limited to:

Harassment: Sexual harassment of any faculty member, staff member, or student, by any faculty member, staff member, or student, is a violation of both law and university policy and will not be tolerated at the University of Central Arkansas. Sexual harassment of employees is prohibited under Section 703 of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Sexual harassment of students may constitute discrimination under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

As far as I, the professor, am concerned, non-sexual harassment based on race, religion, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, social class, or age also falls into this category, and I will treat it in an equivalent fashion.

The University's official definitions of sexual harassment, and the steps that one should take in the event of harassment, are available on-line at http://www.uca.edu/divisions/admin/board/policies/511.html. Any incidents should be reported to the professor in charge of the class, to the department head or academic dean, or directly to the University's General Counsel (Tom Courtway: tcourtway@uca.edu; 207 Wingo; 450-3170) or the Affirmative Action officer (Jack Gillean: jgillean@uca.edu; 332 Torreyson; 450-3170).

Disabled students: The University of Central Arkansas adheres to the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you need an accommodation under this Act due to a disability, contact the UCA Disability Support Services office in suite 212 of the Student Health Center, by phone at 450-3613, by FAX at 450-5664, on the Web at http://www.uca.edu/divisions/student/disability/ , or by e-mail to the director, Crystal Hill, at crystalh@uca.edu.

Statement on academic misconduct: The University defines academic misconduct as follows:

1. In connection with the taking of, or in contemplation of the taking of any examination, any student who (a) knowingly discovers or attempts to discover the contents of an examination before the contents are revealed by the instructor; (b) obtains, uses, attempts to obtain or use any material or device dishonestly; or (c) supplies or attempts to supply to any other person any material or device dishonestly; or (d) during the course of an examination obtains or attempts to obtain unauthorized information from another student or from another student's test materials.
2. Any misrepresentation of academic work by a student as the product of their own study and efforts.
3. The unauthorized possession, taking, or copying of solutions manuals or computerized solutions for homework or research problems assigned by a professor and/or instructor.

Inclement Weather Policy: If the weather is bad on a scheduled class day, check the UCA main website (http://www.uca.edu/), KUCA (91.3 FM) radio, or local TV for announcements (I find that KARK, Channel 4, is very good about announcing school closures; also try http://www.kark.com/). If the campus is officially closed, classes will of course be canceled. If the campus isn't closed, then classes will be held as normal, but use your own judgment in deciding whether to attend. Some students have to commute a long way and may not be able to reach campus safely. I expect everyone to make a reasonable effort to show up -- but don't risk your life, health, or property to get here! Severe weather counts as an excusable reason for absence; assignments that you miss due to bad weather may be prorated, postponed, or canceled at the instructor's discretion (see below).

Scholarships: Students who are on academic scholarships should be aware that most schoolarships require full-time enrollment (at least 12 hours). Some individual scholarships require that students complete a total of 15 hours each semester in order for the scholarship to be renewed. If you are on scholarship, please keep your scholarship requirements in mind when setting or making changes to your schedule. Most scholarships also require that you maintain a set grade point average. For more specific information, see http://www.uca.edu/divisions/academic/undergradstudies/scholarships/, or contact the Division of Undergraduate Studies at (501) 450-3125.

Labs: Handouts for each lab will be provided to you several days in advance. Most of the labs will have instructions for completing the accompanying lab write-up that you will turn in for a grade. Each will be worth ten or twenty points, for a total of 200 points.

Trips: Three of our labs will be scheduled as field trips to points of geological interest in the Conway and Little Rock areas. The trips will depart from UCA at the beginning of the lab period, and will be timed to return everyone to UCA by the end of the lab period. One Saturday field trip is also on the schedule; this will depart the UCA campus early in the morning and return by mid-afternoon. Participation in these trips is mandatory, and the usual absence policy applies. Transportation will be arranged for students who do not have their own; however, we cannot transport every student, and many will need to carpool in their own vehicles.

Book Reports: At the end of this syllabus you will find three lists of books on earth science topics. I have not ordered any of these books through the campus bookstore, but they should be easy to find -- in local bookstores, on Amazon.com or other online retailers, or even in the UCA or public libraries. You are to pick one book from each list, read it, and write a report on it. Each report is worth 50 points.

NEW! Now you can download instructions for writing your book reports! In handy PDF format!

Internet Resources: I use the World Wide Web (WWW) extensively in this course. The course WWW page is http://faculty.uca.edu/~benw/sci3410/. If you're reading this, you're there. Congratulations.

Electronic versions of course handouts will be available here, including this syllabus. Printable versions of the PowerPoint electronic slide presentations that I use will also be here; this will enable you to review my slides at your own pace, as often as you like.

Midterm exam 1: 100 pts.
Midterm exam 2: 100 pts.
Final exam: 200 pts.
Labs: 200 pts.
Book reports: 150 pts.
TOTAL: 750 pts.

Letter grades will be assigned in 10% increments: thus a score of 90-100% (540-600 pts.) is an A, 80-89.9% (480-539 pts.) is a B; 70-79.9% (420-479 pts.) is a C, 60-69.9% (360-419 pts.) is a D, and anything under 60% (0-359 pts.) is a grade of F. There will not be a curve. No extra credit or bonus points will be given. Except in the case of an arithmetic or accounting error on the professor's part, final grades will not be changed for any reason after the end of the course. Don't ask.

DATES	LECTURE TOPICS	LABS	READINGS
Aug 21	Intro, getting acquainted	NONE	Ch. 1
Aug 26, 28	Mineralogy Minerals I Minerals II	Mineral ID	Ch. 2
Sep 2, 4	Petrology Igneous Rocks Sedimentary and Metamorphic Rocks	Rock ID	Ch. 3
Sep 9, 11	Plate tectonics Plate Tectonics I Plate Tectonics II	FIELD TRIP: Igneous Rocks	Ch. 8
Sep 16, 18	Volcanoes Volcanoes I Volcanoes II	Volcanoes CD-R	Chs. 9, 10
Sep 23, 25	Earthquakes Faults and Joints. EXAM 1 Faults and Joints	Map Reading	Ch. 7
Sep 30, Oct 2	Intro to Stratigraphy Folds and Faults Quakes / Stratigraphy I	FIELD TRIP: Sedimentary Rocks	Ch. 11
Oct 7, 9	Paleontology Earth History I: Steno and Hutton Earth History II: Smith, Cuvier, and Lyell	Fossil Interpretation	Ch. 11
Oct 14	Geologic Time Telling Time: Correlation and Radiometric Dating	NONE -- Fall Break
Oct 21, 23	Coal, Oil and Gas Radiometric Dating Oil and Gas I Video of the Lake Peigneur disaster -- watch this, it's cool! And it's relevant to the lecture material. . .	Structural Geology	Ch. 11, 12
Oct 28, 30	Resources. EXAM 2 Oil and Gas II	Fossils. FIELD TRIP NOV. 1.	none
Nov 4, 6	Water and hydrology Hydrology I: Rivers Hydrology II: Rivers, Groundwater, and a Little About Glaciers	Stream Tray	Ch. 5
Nov 11, 13	Oceans Oceans I: Currents Oceans II: Zones and Beaches	FIELD TRIP: Ark. Geol. Comm.	Chs. 13, 15
Nov 18, 20	Atmosphere and Weather Atmosphere and Weather I	Ionospherics	Ch. 4
Nov 25	Erosion and Landforms	NONE - Thanksgiving	Ch. 6
Dec 2, 4	Global Climate	Ancient Climates	Ch. 19

FINAL EXAM: Thursday, December 11, 8:00-10:00 AM

August 26, Tuesday: Change-of-course period ends. Last date to register, add classes, change from credit to audit or audit to credit

September 19, Friday: Final date to make degree application for December graduation

October 15, Wednesday: Mid-term grades report due at noon

October 18 - 19, Thursday/Friday: Fall Break

October 31, Friday: Final date to officially withdraw from a Aug 23 - Dec 14 course or the university with a W grade

November 3 - 25: Advance Registration

November 26 - 28, Wed - Fri: Thanksgiving Holiday

December 5, Friday: Study Day. Final date to officially withdraw from a Aug 23 - Dec 14 course or the university with a WP or WF grade.

December 13, Saturday: Winter Commencement

December 15, Monday: Final grades report due at noon

Every student in this class is required to select one book from each of the following three lists. Your report on your book from list 1 is due on the same day as the first exam; your report on your from list 2 is due on the same day as the second exam; and your report on your book from list 3 is due on the same day as the final. Each report is worth fifty points.

NEW! Now you can download instructions for writing your book reports! (PDF format)

LIST 1:

1. Feldman, Jay. When the Mississippi Ran Backwards : Empire, Intrigue, Murder, and the New Madrid Earthquakes.
2. McPhee, John. Basin and Range.
3. McPhee, John. Assembling California.
4. McPhee, John. Rising from the Plains.
5. McPhee, John. In Suspect Terrain.
6. Nield, Ted. Supercontinent: Ten Billion Years in the Life of Our Planet.
7. Officer, Charles and Page, Jake. The Big One: The Earthquake That Rocked Early America and Helped Create a Science.
8. Oreskes, Naomi. Plate Tectonics: An InsiderŐs History of the Modern Theory of the Earth.
9. Winchester, Simon. Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883.
10. Winchester, Simon. A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906.

1. Benton, Michael. When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time.
2. Cutler, Alan. The Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Story of Science, Sainthood, and the Humble Genius Who Discovered a New History of the Earth.
3. Erwin, Doug. Extinction: How Life on Earth Nearly Ended 250 Million Years Ago.
4. Gould, Stephen J. Wonderful Life.
5. Knoll, Andrew. Life on a Young Planet: The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth.
6. Lewis, Cherry. The Dating Game: One Man's Search for the Age of the Earth.
7. Repcheck, Jack. The Man Who Found Time: James Hutton and the Discovery of Earth's Antiquity.
8. Shubin, Neil. Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body.
9. Winchester, Simon. The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology.

1. Alley, Richard B. The Two-Mile Time Machine: Ice Cores, Abrupt Climate Change, and Our Future.
2. de Villiers, Marc. Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource.
3. Deffeyes, Kenneth. Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak.
4. Deffeyes, Kenneth. Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage.
5. Flannery, Tim. The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth.
6. Kolbert, Elizabeth. Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change.
7. MacDougall, Doug. Frozen Earth: The Once and Future Story of Ice Ages.
8. McPhee, John. The Control of Nature.
9. Nash, J. Madeleine. El Nino: Unlocking the Secrets of the Master Weather-Maker.