Course Description

undergrad

 

Summary of Undergraduate Courses and Prerequisites

Courses: Geology (GEOL)
College: Natural Sciences & Mathematics



1130: Physical Geology Laboratory
Cr. 1. (0-3). Prerequisite: credit for or concurrent enrollment in GEOL 1330. Weekend field trip may be required; cost to be defrayed by student. Supplementary to lecture; study of minerals, rocks, and maps. Required course for BS Geology, BS Geophysics, BA Earth Science.

1176: Historical Geology Laboratory
Cr. 1. (0-3). Prerequisites: GEOL 1130 and credit for or concurrent enrollment in GEOL 1376. Weekend field trip may be required; cost to be defrayed by student. Supplementary to lecture; study of rocks, fossils, and maps. Required course for BA Earth Science

1197: Selected Topics-Geosciences
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. May be repeated for credit when topics vary. Current topics in geology and geophysics.

1302: Introduction to Global Climate Change
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: MATH 1310 or MATH 1315. Natural and human-induced variations in the earth’s climate, monitoring climate variations, global warming and the greenhouse effect, air-sea climate variations, depletion of ozone in the upper atmosphere, implications of climate change for agriculture, water resources, energy use and public policy.

1330: Physical Geology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Principles of geology; emphasis on surface and internal processes of the earth. Required course BS Geology, BS Geophysics, BA Earth Science.

1340: Introduction to Earth Systems (formerly GEOL 1440)
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: MATH 1310 or 1315. Earth's dynamic systems emphasizing the interactions among the atmostphere, hydrophere and lithosphere. Includes the processes by which the earth was formed and continues to be modified as well as how humans affect and are affected by those processes.

1350: Introduction to Meteorology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Corequisite: MATH 1310 or 1311. Basic concepts and principles of meteorological processes including clouds and precipitation, local and global circulation, air masses and fronts, and sever weather systems.

1376: Historical Geology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: GEOL 1330. Geologic history of the earth; introduction to the uses of geological principles to interpret earth history. Required course BA Earth Science.

1397: Selected Topics-Geosciences
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. May be repeated for credit when topics vary. Current topics in geology and geophysics.

3101: Geologic Field Trip
Cr. 1. (0-3). Prerequisites: GEOL 1330 and consent of instructor. May be repeated for credit when content varies. Cost of field trip to be defrayed by student. Five- to seven-day field trip to areas of geologic interest (e.g., Big Bend National Park), taken over Spring Break.

2179: Atmospheric Instrumentation Laboratory
Cr. 1. (0-3). Principles and practice of instrumental operation for acquisition and analysis of atmospheric data.

3130: Paleobiology Laboratory
Cr. 1. (0-3). Prerequisite: credit for or concurrent enrollment in GEOL 3330. Undergraduate credit only. Weekend field trips required. Cost to be defrayed by student. Introduction to invertebrate fossils. Required course for BS Geology.

3145: Structural Geology Laboratory
Cr. 1. (0-3). Prerequisite: credit for or concurrent enrollment in GEOL 3345. Five-day field trip required; expense to be defrayed by student. Techniques for solving problems in structural geology. Required course for BS Geology, BS Geophysics.

3150: Principles of Stratigraphy Laboratory
Cr. 1. (0-3). Prerequisite: concurrent enrollment in or credit for GEOL 3350. Field trip required; expense to be defrayed by student. Stratigraphic problem solving. Required course BS Geology, BS Geophysics.

3177: Introductory Oceanography Laboratory
Cr. 1. (0-3). Prerequisite: credit for or concurrent enrollment in GEOL 3377. One weekend field trip may be required; cost to be defrayed by student. Supplementary to lecture in GEOL 3377. Examination of water and sediment properties. Required course BA Earth Science.

3178: Weather Information
Cr. 1. (0-3). Use of computers to obtain weather information and to make weather forecasts. Required course BA Earth Science.

3301: Dinosaurs, Mars and The Age of the Earth: Applications of the Scientific Method
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: GEOL 1330. Science and the scientific method exemplified by applications to important questions in planetary science.

3325: Rocks and Minerals
Cr. 3. (2-4). Prerequisites: GEOL 1130, 1330 and credit for or concurrent enrollment in CHEM 1111, 1331. Field trips may be required; cost to be defrayed by student. Minerals and megascopic petrography of common rocks. Classification, identification, description and interpretation of rocks in hand specimen and in the field.

3330: Principles of Paleobiology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: GEOL 1330 and 1130; and credit for or concurrent enrollment in GEOL 3130. BIOL 1431;1432 recommended. Principles and methods of interpreting fossils, including functional morphology, systematics, paleoecology, paleoceanography, evolution, biostratigraphy, and paleobiogeography. Required course BS Geology.

3331: Environmental Geology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: GEOL 1130 and 1330. Geosciences related aspects of the interaction between people and the physical environment, including 1) philosophy and fundamental principles, 2) hazardous earth processes, 3) human interaction with the environment, 4) minerals, energy and environment, and 5) global change, land use planning, and decision making.

3332: Geology of U.S. National Parks and Monuments
Cr. 3. (2-2). Prerequisite: GEOL 1330. Geologic evolution of North America and its landscape as illustrated by selected national parks and monuments of the United States.

3333: Earth Resources
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: GEOL 1330. Mineral and energy resources of the planet Earth; their origin and discovery. Environmental impact of their exploitation; future prospects.

3334: Earthquakes
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: GEOL 1330. Causes of earthquakes; questions of earthquake prediction, earthquake hazards, and social policy development associated with land use planning and building design.

3335: Petrogenesis (formerly 2335)
Cr. 3. (2-3). Prerequisites: CHEM 1112 and 1332; GEOL 3370, 3235 and 3371. Field trips may be required; cost to be defrayed by student. Nature and origin of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks.

3336: Water in the Environment
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: one of the following: CHEM 1301 or 1331; GEOL 1330; PHYS 1301 or 1321; or BIOL 1310 or 1161/1361. How water affects us and our environment as it moves through the hydrologic cycle. Topics include the role of water in landslides, rivers and flooding, pollution of our water supply, water quality, water as an energy resource, wetlands, and coastal erosion.

3338: Environmental Hydrogeology.
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: CHEM 1331, PHYS 1321, MATH 1431, and GEOL 1130 and 1330. Principles of groundwater and surface water flow and interaction with the environment: water quality and pollution.

3340: Geologic Field Methods
Cr. 3. (2-3). Prerequisites: GEOL 3370. Five- or seven-day field trip required; expense to be defrayed by student. Interpreting topographic and geologic maps; solving geologic problems using trigonometry and descriptive geometry, field mapping, and report writing. Required course BS Geology, BS Geophysics, BA Earth Science.

3342: Introduction to Air Pollution
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: GEOL 3378 or consent of instructor. Air pollution issues and problems, atmospheric processes, structure of the atmosphere, anthropogenic and natural emissions of pollutant precursors, meteorological influences on pollution transport and diffusion, chemical reactions in the atmosphere, and health effects of pollution.

3345: Structural Geology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: GEOL 3325 and 3340, MATH 1431, PHYS 1301 or 1321, and credit for or concurrent enrollment in GEOL 3145. Properties of earth minerals and their behavior in stress fields; description, classification, and interpretation of geologic structures. Required course BS Geology, BS Geophysics.

3350: Principles of Stratigraphy
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: GEOL 3325 and 3340, and credit for or concurrent enrollment in 3150. Principles of stratigraphy applied to problems of geometry, composition, and time relations of stratified rocks. Required course BS Geology, BS Geophysics.

3355-3360: Field Geology (summer only, 6 weeks)
Cr. 3 per course. (0-9). Prerequisites: GEOL 3145, 3345, 3150, 3350, and 3340. Concurrent enrollment only. Offered only during first summer session. Field trips required; cost to be defrayed by student. Geological mapping of topographic and aerial photographic bases, with visits to features of geologic interest. Required course BS Geology. GEOL 3355-3360 serves as a Capstone course for Geology majors.

3365: Exploring the Planets
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: One semester of a college level course in the physical sciences and consent of instructor. Survey of the nature and evolution of the solid bodies in the solar system: the inner planets, including earth and its moon, the outer planets and their moons, meteorites, asteroids and comets.

3370: Mineralogy
Cr. 3. (2-4). Prerequisites: GEOL 1330 and 1130, CHEM 1111 and 1331. Field trips may be required; cost to be defrayed by student. Crystallographic, physical, chemical, and structural properties of minerals. Crystal symmetry and form, stereographic projection, mineral structures and formulae, identification and description of minerals. Required course BS Geology, BS Geophysics, BA Earth Science.

3371: Optical Mineralogy (formerly 4135 and 4235)
Cr. 3. (2-3) Prerequisites: CHEM 1111 and 1331, and GEOL 3370. The theory and practice of optical mineralogy in the study of rocks. The use of the petrographic microscope, measurement of optical properties in minerals, introduction to microscopic petrography of the common rocks.

3376: Life of the Geologic Past
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: Three hours of core approved Biology or Geology. Concurrent enrollment in GEOL 3176 is recommended. Survey of the history of life on earth as interpreted from the fossil record.

3377: Introductory Oceanography
Cr. 3. (3-0) Prerequisites: MATH 1310 and one of the following: CHEM 1301 or 1331; GEOL 1330 or 1340; PHYS 1301 or 1321; or BIOL 1310 or 1431. An introduction to the world's oceans, emphasizing geologic origin, chemical composition, physical processes, and marine ecology. Required course BA Earth Science.

3378: Introduction to Atmospheric Science (also PHYS 3378)
Cr.3. (3-0). Prerequisites: MATH 1310 and CHEM 1301 or 1331 or GEOL 1330 or 1340 or PHYS 1301 or 1321. The earth's atmosphere with emphasis on the properties of air, the structure of the atmosphere, the development of storms, and the fundamentals of global climate patterns. Use of weather maps and diagrams will be emphasized. Required course BA Earth Science.

3380: Physical Meteorology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: PHYS 1322, MATH 2433 and GEOL 3378. Fundamental physical processes in the atmospheric sciences. Topics include thermodynamics, radiative transfer, and cloud microphysics.

3381: Micrometeorology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: PHYS 1322, MATH 2433 and GEOL 3378. Behavior of the atmosphere, radiation, and energy balance near the earth’s surface; transfer of heat, mass and momentum; pollutants, microclimate, and land-surface effects on the atmospheric boundary layer.

3382: Atmospheric Chemistry
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: GEOL 1340 or 1350, CHEM 1331, and credit for or concurrent enrollment in CHEM 1332. Emission sources and chemical transformations associated with urban, regional and global scale air pollution, including gas phase and liquid phase reactions, nucleation processes, particulates, and acid deposition.

3383: Remote Sensing
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: GEOL 1330, CHEM 1332, MATH 1432, and PHYS 1322 or consent of instructor. Acquisition, processing, and interpretation of multispectral remote sensing data from aircraft and satellites, applied to geologic, environmental, and land use studies. Counts as a Geophysics elective.

3396-4396: Senior Research Project
Cr. 3 per semester. Prerequisite: approval of chair. Directed research project culminating in a departmentally approved report.

3399-4399: Senior Honors Thesis
Cr. 3 per semester. Prerequisite: approval of chair.

4197:4397: Selected Topics in Geology
Cr. 1 or 3 per semester or more by concurrent enrollment. (1-0;3-0). Prerequisite: consent of instructor. May be repeated for credit when topics vary. Current topics in geology and geophysics.

4198:4298: 4398:4498: 4598: Special Problems
Cr. 1-5 per semester or more by concurrent enrollment. Prerequisites: senior standing and approval of chair.

4330: Introduction to Geophysics
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: GEOL 1330, MATH 2433 and PHYS 1322. Principles of seismology, gravity, geomagnetism, radioactivity, electromagnetism and heat flow, and their use in geological interpretation. Required course BS Geology, BS Geophysics.

4331: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: upper division standing in Natural Sciences and Mathematics or consent of instructor. Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems, databases, geospatial metadata; hands-on experience with GIS and graphics hardware and software.

4333: Mesoscale Meteorology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: GEOL 3342. Physical nature and practical consequences of mesoscale atmospheric phenomena. Mesoscale convective systems, fronts, terrain-forced circulations, observations, analysis, and prediction of mesoscale phenomena.

4335: Geophysical Measurements in Laboratory and Field
Cr. 3. (2-3). Prerequisite: GEOL 4330. Acquisition of seismic, gravity, and magnetic data and interpretation. Deals with problems of actual prospecting. Counts as a Geophysics elective.

4340: The Geophysical Study of the Earth
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: GEOL 4330. Application of geophysical data to the study of various aspects of the earth, including its internal compositon, large-scale processes such as plate tectonics, and the distribution of important mineral and energy resources. Counts as a Geophysics elective.

4341: Dynamic Meteorology.
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: GEOL 3378. Principles of atmospheric motions, continuity and momentum equations, atmospheric thermodynamics, planetary boundary layer and free tropospheric motions, mesoscale and synoptic systems, general circulation. Counts as a Geophysics elective.

4358: Introduction to Depositional Models
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: GEOL 3235; 3350 recommended. Credit may not be received in both GEOL 4358 and 6358. Field trips required; cost to be defrayed by the student. Recent sedimentary depositional environments as a basis for interpreting the sedimentary rock record.

4366: Groundwater Modeling
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: MATH 2433 and COSC1301 or 1410. Theory of mass transport and numerical solutions used in simulation of groundwater flow and transport applied to hydrogeological and environmental problems.

4378: Introduction to Seismic Prospecting
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisite: GEOL 4330. Acquisition, processing, reduction, and interpretation of seismic reflection and refraction data as applied to oil and gas exploration. Counts as a Geophysics elective.

4379: Methods in Groundwater and Engineering Geophysics
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: GEOL 4330, or consent of instructor. Methods of characterizing shallow, subsurface conditions, including the influence of fluids on the physical properties of near-surface materials; electrical, high-resolution seismic and gravity methods. Counts as a Geophysics elective.

4382: Introduction to Petroleum Geology
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: GEOL 3145, 3345, 3150, 3350, and consent of instructor. Fundamentals of petroleum geology; source rock, reservoir, and trap studies. Practical exploration methods such as subsurface stratigraphy and mapping.

4383: Introduction to Well Logging
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: GEOL 3350 and 3150 and consent of instructor. Introduction to well logging techniques, emphasizing geologic applications. Counts as a Geophysics elective.

4384: Introduction to Gravity and Magnetic Prospecting
Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: MATH 2433 and PHYS 1322. Principles, field techniques, and interpretation procedures involved in exploration with potential field methods. Counts as a Geophysics elective.