Course Outline
Student Profile
Jessica Lu, Upper Level Biology Major
“The discussion board [enables students] to ask questions about the learning material, as well as answer all the review questions posted up by the instructor.”
EOSC116 introduces the Earth as a complex system that can be modeled using a multidisciplinary approach drawing from expertise in EOS including geology, geophysics, atmospheric sciences, oceanography and paleontology. The course also develops the local geology of BC in terms of a “Mesozoic laboratory” where many of these ideas can be investigated and tested. Particular reference is given to the dinosaurs as a component of this system and historical and modern understanding of the group are critically examined with reference to a variety of media, including movies and documentaries.
Course Description
Unit 1. – The Dinosaurs in Time / the Wandering Earth: Plate tectonics and continental drift. Measuring geologic time; stratigraphy / biostratigraphy / radiometric dating. Deep time; Early Life. Placing the Mesozoic (age of the dinosaurs) in time context.
Unit 2. – Dinosaur Weather Report: Mesozoic climate and ocean circulation environment, and its evolution.
Unit 3. – The Changing Face of BC: major geological events in BC, volcanology and major volcanic episodes during the Mesozoic, tectonic assembly of B.C. and Western Canada.
Unit 4. – Reading Life’s Story: What is a fossil? Plants, vertebrate paleontology including dinosaurs. Extinctions.
