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Earth and Life Through Time

Earth and Life through Time (01:460:212:01)
Time/Place: Period 4: TuTh 3:20-4:40 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: TBA
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   Scientific method
2   Earth in space Ch. 1
3   Hadean Ch. 11
4   Concepts of time Ch. 6
5   Climate system Ch. 4
6   Archean origins Ch. 11
7   Diversity of Life Ch. 3
8   Evolution and the fossil record Ch. 7
9   Catch-up and Review
10   Exam #1
11   Proterozoic continents & early atmosphere Ch. 12
12   Polar wander and plate tectonics Ch. 8 & 9
13   Carbon cycle Ch. 10
14   Snowball Earth Ch. 12
15   Cambrian Explosion: Burgess shale Ch. 13
16   Invasion of land Ch. 14
17   Assembly of Pangea Ch. 15
18   Catch-up and Review
19   Exam #2
20   Breakup of Pangea Ch. 16
21   K/T impact & extinction event Ch. 17
22   Evolution of mammals Ch. 18 & 19
23   Himalayan orogeny: hothouse to icehouse Ch. 18 & 19
24   Early Man Ch. 19
25   Last Glacial & Holocene Ch. 20
  Thanksgiving, No Class
26   Modern global change Ch. 20; IPCC report
27   Catch-up and Review
28   Exam #3