EOS 260: Earth System Evolution through Deep Time

Earth evolution has involved long periods of stability punctuated by catastrophic irreversible crises. This course focuses on multidisciplinary research into the causes and consequences of key planetary crises including: birthing of the moon, the great oxidation event, the Neoproterozoic snowball Earth, the great Permian extinction, and the Cretaceous superplume. Implications for the future evolution of the Earth system are investigated.

EOS 400: Advanced Field School

A two-week field trip aimed at providing students with the opportunity to understand the processes that give rise to and shape orogens, to appreciate the role orogens play in continental growth, and to investigate the role of orogens in the evolution of the biosphere, atmosphere and solid earth. Generally the field school consists of a transect through the Southern Canadian Cordillera, examining the rock units and structures of the major tectonic elements in southern British Columbia and Alberta. In 2008 our field school entails a transect of the Variscan orogen of northern Iberia, including an examination of the Iberian Orocline.

EOS 410: Global Tectonics

A study of global tectonic systems including geological, geophysical, geochemical and paleogeographic perspectives on plate tectonics. A wide range of examples from different continents and orogens are explored.

EOS 202: Structural Geology

Geometric, kinematic and dynamic analysis of deformation structures in rock bodies at different scales, in both brittle and ductile regimes. Stress and strain in rocks and their relationship to geologic structures. Interpretation of the physical mechanisms of folding and faulting in rocks using structural data and geological maps. The origin of crustal deformation zones in the context of plate tectonics. Our main focus is on learning to read and interpret geological maps.