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Earth and Life Through Time

Earth and Life through Time (01:460:212:01) Fall 2008
Time/Place: Period 4: TuTh 1:50?3:00 pm,
Place: Wright (Chemistry) Auditorium, Wright-Rieman Labs (Busch campus)
Instructor: Dennis Kent dvk@rci.rutgers.edu
Office: 101 Geological Sciences Labs Building, 117 Bevier Rd. (Busch)
Office hours: TuTh 3:15-4:00pm, W 1:30?3:00 pm
or by appointment
Department Office: 250 Wright-Rieman Labs (Busch)
Administrative AssistantJovani Reaves
Tel: 732 445-2044
Text: Steven M. Stanley, 2005. Earth System History (W.H. Freeman), 567p.
(Texbook is optional and supplements the lectures, which will be the basis for the exams and quizzes.)
Website: http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~dvk/
Grading: Each exam counts 30%; 5 pop quizzes count 10% of final grade.
Departmental policy: "No make-up exams will be given without written documentation from a Rutgers University official."

Syllabus

# Day Date Topic Suggested
readings
(Stanley)
1 Tu Sep 02 Scientific method
2 Th Sep 04 Earth in space Ch. 1
3 Tu Sep 09 Hadean Ch. 11
4 Th Sep 11 Concepts of time Ch. 6
5 Tu Sep 16 Climate system Ch. 4
6 Th Sep 18 Archean origins Ch. 11
7 Tu Sep 23 Diversity of Life Ch. 3
8 Th Sep 25 Evolution and the fossil record Ch. 7
9 Tu Sep 30 Catch-up and Review
10 Th Oct 02 Exam #1
11 Tu Oct 07 Proterozoic continents & early atmosphere Ch. 12
12 Th Oct 09 Polar wander and plate tectonics Ch. 8 & 9
13 Tu Oct 14 Carbon cycle Ch. 10
14 Th Oct 16 Snowball Earth Ch. 12
15 Tu Oct 21 Cambrian Explosion: Burgess shale Ch. 13
16 Th Oct 23 Invasion of land Ch. 14
17 Tu Oct 28 Assembly of Pangea Ch. 15
18 Th Oct 30 Catch-up and Review
19 Tu Nov 04 Exam #2
20 Th Nov 06 Breakup of Pangea Ch. 16
21 Tu Nov 11 K/T impact & extinction event Ch. 17
22 Th Nov 13 Evolution of mammals Ch. 18 & 19
23 Tu Nov 18 Himalayan orogeny: hothouse to icehouse Ch. 18 & 19
24 Th Nov 20 Early Man Ch. 19
25 Tu Nov 25 Last Glacial & Holocene Ch. 20
Th Nov 27 Thanksgiving, No Class
26 Tu Dec 02 Modern global change Ch. 20; IPCC report
27 Th Dec 04 Catch-up and Review
28 Tu Dec 09 Exam #3