Major and Minor Requirements

Overview

• Major Requirements: Geology Track
• Declaring a Major or Minor in Geological Sciences
• Minor Requirements
• Departmental Honors Program
• Course Schedule: FAS Geology Track
• Course Schedule: Cook Geology Track
• Recent Independent Study and Honors Projects
• Field Requirement
• Undergraduate Honors

Major Requirements

In addition to the core courses listed below, students are encouraged to take additional courses in geology, mathematics, computer science, statistics, and the physical and biological sciences. Students planning professional careers in geology-including graduate study-should take at least two additional courses in mathematics beyond the requirements listed below and would benefit from a minor in mathematics, physics, chemistry, or biology. A faculty adviser-assigned by the departmental office at the time the student declares the major-recommends elective courses that best suit the student's career options.

Foundation Courses

• 01:160:161-162 General Chemistry (4,4)
• 01:160:171 Introduction to Experimentation (1)
• 01:460:101 Introductory Geology: Physical (3)
• 01:460:103 Introductory Geology Laboratory (1)
• 01:460:102 Introductory Geology: Historical (3)
• 01:640:CALC1-CALC2 Calculus (4,4)
• 01:750:203-204 General Physics (3,3)
• 01:750:205-206 General Physics Laboratory (1,1)

Geology Core Courses

• 01:460:301 Mineralogy (4)
• 01:460:302 Petrology (4)
• 01:460:303 Paleontology (4)
• 01:460:307 Structural Geology (4)
• 01:460:340 Sedimentology (4)
• 01:460:341 Stratigraphy (4)
• 01:460:410 Field Geology (3) or equivalent (see Field Requirement)
• 01:460:412 Introduction to Geophysics (4)

Minor Requirements

The minor in geology requires completion of 01:460:101 Introductory Geology and 01:460:103 Introductory Geology Laboratory plus five additional geology courses, of which at least two must be at the 300-400 level.

Departmental Honors Program

Students may be admitted to candidacy for honors in geology if they make written application to the department chairperson before May 1 of their junior year. To qualify, a student must have a minimum overall cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 and a minimum grade-point average in major courses of 3.4. In addition, the student must have completed all geology core courses except 01:460:410 and 412. Honors students must successfully complete at least two additional 3-credit courses in geology (at the 400 level) and/or in the allied sciences as well as 01:460:495,496 Honors in Geology. In consultation with a faculty adviser, students choose an honors research project for which they write an honors paper and demonstrate their competence in a comprehensive examination. Examples of independent study projects and honors projects are given below.

Course Schedule: FAS Geology Track

First and Second Years

Complete the Foundation Courses: Introductory Geology with Lab, Calculus I and II, General Chemistry I and II, General Physics I and II.

Third Year, Fall Term

• Mineralogy
• Sedimentology
• Paleontology

Third Year, Spring Term

• Petrology
• Stratigraphy
• Structural Geology

Fourth Year, Fall Term

• Geophysics
• Field Geology or equivalent (see Field Requirement)
• 400-level Geology courses
• Independent Study/Honors**

Fourth Year, Spring Term

• 400-level Geology courses
• Independent Study/Honors**
  
  **Qualified students are urged to undertake independent study projects and honors research in their senior year.

Note About Prerequisites: Introductory Geology is a prerequisite for all upper-level geology courses. Chemistry is a prerequisite for Mineralogy, which is a prerequisite for Petrology. Physics is a pre- or corequisite for Geophysics. Sedimentology is a prerequisite for Stratigraphy. Structural Geology and Stratigraphy (or Sedimentary Geology) are prerequisites for Field Geology.

Examples of Recent Independent Study and Honors Projects

• Seth Fankhauser '99 Indepdendent Study: "Fracture Mapping in the Princeton-Pennington Region, Central Newark Basin"
• Martin D. Finn '96 Independent Study: "Fracture Occurrence Correlations between Core Data and Borehole Televiewer Data of the Somerset Core, Newark Basin Coring Project"
• Amber Granger '02 George Cook Scholar: "3-D Geometry of Normal Fault Population in a Scaled Physical Model"
• Gary Katz '96 Independent Study: "High-Resolution Seismic Stratigraphy of Quaternary and Cretaceous Coastal Plain Sediments of Sandy Hook, Central New Jersey"
• John Hernandez '00 Honors Project: "⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr dating of Upper Cretaceous (Campanian and Santonian) depositional sequences: Bass River and Ancora, NJ ODP Leg 174 AX"
• Zev Laden '93 Independent Study: "A Study on Karst Distribution in Dauphin County and Franklin County, Pennsylvania"
• Frank Marascia '97 Independent Study: "Seismic Reflection Profiling of Sandy Hook"
• John Metzger '96 George Cook Scholar: "Pass-Through Core Measurements of Magnetic Susceptibility and Natural Gamma Ray, New Jersey Coastal Plain Leg 150x: Sequence Stratigraphic Implications"
• Stefan Muszala '96 Senior Honors: "Seismic Refraction Study of a Portion of the Newark Basin"
• Holly Peterson "02 Senior Honors Thesis: "Displacement-Thickness Scaling of Normal Faults in Mudstones of the Newark Rift Basin"
• Steve Rehmer '96 Independent Study: "Upper Eocene to Lowest Miocene Standard Section Refinement: Revision and Evaluation of Strontium Isotope Stratigraphic Resolution From DSDP Site 522"
• Tim Reilly '96 Independent Study: "Upper Eocene to Oligocene Standard Section: Revisions to the⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr Regression of DSDP site 522"
• Jonathan Schoudt & Sandra Simchick '97 Independent study: "Characterization of the Urbanized Channel of the Second River, Newark, NJ"
• Peter Thibodeau '91 Independent Study: "Rift Basin Filling Models Using Variable Sediment-Supply Rates"
• Julie Trotta '01 Douglas College Honors Project: "Analysis of fluid seeps on the NJ Continental Margin using Seismic Reflection Data"
• Michael G. Viersma '97 Independent Study: "Variations in Strain Accommodated by Faults in a Scaled Physical Model"
• Jaime S. Whitlock '99 George Cook Scholars: "Tectonic Geomorphology of the Molvik Graben, Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland"
• Scott S. Young '96 Henry Rutgers Scholar: "Analysis of Micro-normal Fault Populations in Selected Mesozoic Rift Basins of North America"

Field Requirement

All geology majors must take a minimum of 3 credits in field geology. Students can satisfy this requirement by taking the Rutgers Field Geology (460:410) course or an external field camp. Many geology departments offer external field camps. For information, consult promotional fliers in the filing cabinet in the student-faculty lounge or the Directory of Geoscience Departments available in the departmental office (Room 250). Students who choose an external field camp may still take Field Geology (460:410) for credit and to gain additional field experience, especially in geologic mapping, seismic interpretation, and regional synthesis. Students who choose an external field camp and/or the Rutgers Field Geology course (460:410) may take Geologic Field Methods (460:411) for credit and to gain additional field experience, especially in surveying methods and use of computers to collect, analyze, and present field data. Note that Geologic Field Methods by itself does not satisfy the departmental field requirement. The table below looks at some of the features of external field camps and the Field Geology and Geologic Field Methods courses. It also lists their advantages and disadvantages.