Graduate Geology Courses
GEOL 6002 INTRODUCTION TO OCEANIC ENVIRONMENTS 3.0
Prerequisites: Geol 1121K and completion of eight semester hours of laboratory science. (Same as Geog 6670.) Three lecture hours a week and one weekend field trip. Geological, chemical, physical and biological aspects of oceanic environments; oceanographic field methods; role of the oceans in global change and environmental impacts of human activity.
GEOL 6003 AQUEOUS GEOCHEMISTRY 4.0
Prerequisites: Geol 1121K, 1122K, Math 2212, and Chem 1212K. (Same as Geog 6680.) Four lecture hours a week. Theoretical aspects of aquatic chemistry with applications to natural water systems. Major topics include thermodynamic theory, sorption systematics, oxidation-reduction reactions, mineral-water interaction, and isotope geochemistry applied to hydrogeology.
GEOL 6005 GEOLOGY OF GEORGIA 3.0
Prerequisite: Geol 1121K or equivalent or consent of the instructor. One lecture hour a week. A minimum of five days in the field must be fulfilled to receive credit in the course. Before enrolling in the course, students should confirm in advance their availability on announced weekends. Nature, distribution, and significance of lithologies, structures, and ages of rocks in Georgia and other southeastern states. Geologic and tectonic history of the southern Appalachians, with emphasis on plate tectonic models. Critical discussion of the literature with emphasis on notable controversies.
GEOL 6006 SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS &STRATIGRAPHY 4.0
Prerequisite: Geol 3002. Three lecture and three laboratory hours a week, plus field trips. Properties of sediments; origin, classification, and description of sedimentary rocks; principles of stratigraphy; analysis of sedimentary facies and environments of deposition.
GEOL 6007 HYDROGEOLOGY 4.0
Prerequisites: Geol 1121K, 1122K and Math 2212. Four lecture hours a week. Overview of the principles of hydrogeology and their application, including the hydrological cycle, geology of groundwater occurrence, mathematical development of flow equations, surface-groundwater interaction, flow to wells, and advection-dispersion theory.
GEOL 6008 ROCK FRACTURE AND FLUID FLOW 4.0
Prerequisites: Geol 3003 and 4007. Four lecture hours a week. Formation and analysis of rock fracture and its relation to hydraulic properties of fractured rocks; physical characteristics and patterns of rock fracture; fundamental processes in rock fracture; detection methods; induced changes to fracture systems; case histories.
GEOL 6011 PRINCIPLES OF PALEONTOLOGY 4.0
Prerequisite: Geol 1122K. Two lecture and two laboratory hours a week. An introduction to the principles of paleontology by examination of the fossil record, supplemented by study of selected examples of commonly preserved organisms. The use of fossils in paleoenvironmental reconstruction and biostratigraphic correlation will be stressed as well as morphology and systematics.
GEOL 6012 ADVANCED QUANTITATIVE HYDROGEOLOGY 3.0
Prerequisites: Geol 6007 and Math 2212. Three lecture hours a week. Quantitative modeling of groundwater flow, aquifer characterization, contaminant transport in the subsurface, and groundwater engineering. Computer applications in numerical groundwater modeling.
GEOL 6013 STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY 4.0
Prerequisites: Geol 1121K, 1122K and 3002. Three lecture and three laboratory hours a week. Introduction to the principles of structural geology including theories and methods of analysis of: stress, strain, rheology, fractures, folding, faulting, foliation, and lineation. The study of geologic maps and cross sections.
GEOL 6015 CRYSTALLOGRAPHY AND OPTICAL MINERALOGY 4.0
Prerequisite: Geol 3002. Three lecture and three laboratory hours a week. Principles of crystallography and optical mineralogy. Laboratory study of minerals using the polarizing microscope.
GEOL 6016 IGNEOUS & METAMORPHC PETROLOGY 4.0
Prerequisite or corequisite: Geol 6015. Three lecture and three laboratory hours a week. Nature, distribution, and origin of igneous and metamorphic rocks in relation to tectonic setting and experimental studies. Laboratory study of igneous and metamorphic rocks in hand specimen and thin section
GEOL 6017 ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY 4.0
Prerequisites: Geol 1121K and Chem 1211K. Four lecture hours per week. Application of geological and geochemical concepts to the study of Earth’s near surface environment. Topics may include water supply and pollution, global warming, ozone depletion, soil contamination, natural disasters, mineral resources, environmental management, and selected regulations. Quantitative treatment of population growth and water resources.
GEOL 6018 CARBONATE GEOLOGY 3.0
Prerequisities: Geol 1121 and 1122, or 7021 and 7022, or permission of instructor. Three lecture hours a week. Offered with Geol 6018 (Field Experiences in Carbonate Geology). Introduction to the carbonate system, including carbonate chemistry, rock classifications, and depositional environments. Reefs and reef ecology and regional carbonate geology (Georgia, Florida, the Bahamas) as well as changes in reefs through time, are also discussed.
GEOL 6042 ANALYTICAL METHODS 3.0
Prerequisites: Chem 1211, Math 2212. Two lecture and two laboratory hours per week. Principles and practical applications of modern analytical methods in environmental geology, geochemistry, petrology, and related fields. Theory and methods of chemical and isotopic analysis, including mass spectrometry, laser ablation mass spectrometry, electron microprobe, electron microscopy, Xray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, and atomic absorption. Overview of related methods. Radiation safety.
GEOL 6095 SEMINAR IN GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES 1.0
Prerequisite: At least 12 hours in geology. One lecture hour a week. Current research topics in geological sciences. May be repeated once.
GEOL 6097 TOPICS IN GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES 1.0 to 3.0
One to three lecture hours a week. Detailed presentation of a selected topic in geological sciences. May be repeated for credit for a maximum of 6 credit hours if topic is different.
GEOL 6120 BASIC FIELD GEOLOGY 3.0
Prerequisite: Completion of a core-curriculum science sequence and consent of instructor.
Nine hours a day, six days a week for three weeks. Introduction to field geology in the Rocky Mountains of Montana, with emphasis on basic concepts and field methods. Construction of simple geologic maps, cross sections, and stratigraphic columns, using topographic maps and aerial photographs in the field. Includes a seven-day excursion to geologically interesting areas of the U.S. Northwest. Open to teachers and students majoring in Geography, Anthropology, Biology, Environmental Science, or others who are seeking a geological field experience.
GEOL 6121 ADVANCED FIELD GEOLOGY 3.0
Prerequisites: Geol 4006 and 4013, and consent of instructor; Prerequisite or corequisite: Geol 4120/6120 or equivalent.
Nine hours a day, six days a week for three weeks. Intensive geologic mapping and interpretation in the Rocky Mountains of Montana, with particular emphasis on complexly deformed areas. Includes mapping in folded and faulted sedimentary rocks, intrusive and volcanic igneous rocks, and high-grade metamorphic basement terrain. Construction of multiple cross sections for complex structures and advanced interpretation of geologic history of complex areas. Involves extensive, rough, off-trail hiking.
GEOL 6530 INTRODUCTION TO REMOTE SENSING 4.0
Prerequisite: 6 hours of natural science laboratory sequence or consent of the instructor. (Same as Geog 6530.) Three lecture and two laboratory hours a week. A survey of remote sensing technology, aerial photograph and satellite image interpretation and digital processing, and applications in engineering and environmental sciences.
GEOL 6640 GEOMORPHOLOGY 4.0
Prerequisite: Geog 1113 or Geol 1122K, or consent of the instructor. (Same as Geog 6640.) Three lecture and two laboratory hours a week. Classification and analysis of land forms using theoretical and quantitative approaches. Emphasis upon surface processes in various environments.
GEOL 6644 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION 4.0
Prerequisite: Geol 1121K and 1122K, or Geog 1112 and 1113, or consent of the instructor. (Same as Geog 6644.) Three lecture hours a week. Social and policy perspectives of natural resource management; development of the American conservation movement, federal land policy, and significant environmental legislation; analysis of local and global environmental issues.
GEOL 6650 APPLIED HYDROLOGY 4.0
Prerequisite: consent of the instructor. (Same as Geog 6650.) Three lecture hours and two laboratory hours a week. Applications of principles of hydrology to urban development, flood forecasting, agricultural and forestry, and water resources management; statistical and modeling techniques in hydrology.
GEOL 7002 INTRODUCTION TO EARTH MATERIALS 4.0
Prerequisite: Geol 1121K. Three lecture and three laboratory hours a week, plus field trips. Fundamentals of crystallography and mineralogy; classification, identification and origin of the common rock-forming minerals and rocks. (For teachers).
GEOL 7021 GENERAL GEOLOGY FOR TEACHERS I 4.0
Three lecture and three laboratory hours per week. Designed to give teachers a basic understanding of the Earth and Earth systems, with emphasis on internal processes. Topics include minerals, rocks and the rock cycle, structure of the Earth’s interior, volcanic activity, earthquakes, economic resources, plate tectonics, and the origin of mountain belts. For general science and Earth science teachers. Not open to students who have taken Geol 1121K or its equivalent
GEOL 7022 GENERAL GEOLOGY - TEACHERS II 4.0
Prerequisite: Geol 7021 or equivalent. Three lecture and three laboratory hours per week. Designed to extend the teacher’s understanding of the Earth and Earth systems, with emphasis on external processes and Earth history. Topics include sedimentary processes and environments, landscape development, geologic time and the fossil record, radiometric dating of rocks, and the origin of the Earth. For general science and Earth science teachers. Not open to students who have taken Geol 1122K or its equivalent.
GEOL 8000 ADVANCED PHYSICAL & HISTORICAL GEOLOGY 4.0
Four seminar hours per week. This course covers major topics in both physical and historical geology and provides graduate students with foundation for further research and course work in geology. Topics include geologic time, origin and history of life on earth, physics of the earth, evolution of the crust and lithosphere, geologic history of North America.
GEOL 8001 SOILS, CLAYS, AND WEATHERING 4.0
Prerequisties: Geol 1121K, Geol 3002, and Chem 1212K. (Same as Geog 8044.)
Three lecture hours and three laboratory hours per week. A study of the processes forming clay minerals in rocks and soils. Introduction to X-ray diffraction as a technique to identify clay minerals and common rock-forming minerals in rocks and soils.
GEOL 8005 CENOZOIC GLOBAL CHANGE 4.0
Prerequisites: Geol 8000 or consent of the instructor. Four lecture hours a week. Patterns of climatic and oceanographic change during the last 66 million years with an emphasis on the sedimentary record. Examination of methods used to reconstruct paleoclimate and paleoceanographic changes. Detailed analysis of major global events of the Cenozoic including intensification of northern hemisphere glaciation and the evolution of modern ocean circulation.
GEOL 8007 LIFE OF THE CENOZOIC ERA 4.0
Two lecture and two seminar hours per week. An intensive study of ecosystems, environmental change, and adaptations as recorded in the fossil record of the Cenozoic Era. Includes effects of climate change, migrations, and evolution with special emphasis on the United States.
GEOL 8010 CHEMICAL PETROLOGY 3.0
Three lecture hours a week. Application of geochemical principles to petrologic processes; origin of the earth, geochemical variation within the earth, thermodynamic principles and their application to minerology and petrology, principles of stable and radiogenic isotope geochemistry.
GEOL 8012 ADVANCED QUANTITATIVE HYDROGEOLOGY 3.0
Prerequisites: Geol 4007/6007 and Math 2212. Three lecture hours a week. Quantitative modeling of groundwater flow, aquifer characterization, contaminant transport in the subsurface, and groundwater engineering. Computer applications in numerical groundwater modeling.
GEOL 8014 DEFORMATION AND TECTONICS 4.0
Four lecture hours a week. Plate tectonics with focus on stability of triple junctions, relative and absolute plate kinematics, properties of the mantle, driving forces of plate tectonics, divergent plate margins and rifting, oceanic spreading centers, transform faults, active continental transform faults, convergent margins,
accretionary prisms, emplacement of ophiolites, metamorphism and tectonics, and neotectonics.
GEOL 8040 SEMINAR: GEOMORPHOLOGY & HYDROLOGY 4.0
Prerequisites: Geol/Geog 6640, 6650, or equivalents, or consent of the instructor. (Same as Geog 8040.) Advanced topics in theories and research methods of geomorphology and surface-water hydrology. May be repeated if topics vary.
GEOL 8050 SEMINAR: ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES 4.0
Prerequisite: Consent of the instructor. (Same as Geog 8050.)
Various environmental issues confront society. May be repeated if topics vary.
GEOL 8095 LAB INSTRUCTION - PRACTICUM 3.0
Prerequisite: consent of the instructor. Three laboratory hours a week. Required for all graduate assistants in the geology department who are assigned teaching duties. Course may be taken multiple times. Credit
hours are not applicable to a degree program.
GEOL 8097 DIRECTED STUDY IN GEOLOGY 1.0 to 15.0
Prerequisite: consent of the instructor. Area of study and credit to be determined by the department.
GEOL 8150 GEOLOGY OF THE MOON AND MARS 4.0
Two lecture and two seminar hours a week. In-depth assessment and discussion of state of our knowledge of the geology of the Moon and Mars, based on data collected by landing and orbiter missions and by Earth-based studies. Includes gravitational, magnetic, seismic, and heat flow studies, as well as petrological and geochemical studies of rocks and soil. Investigation of planetary origins and evolution, particularly in relation to Earth history and the formation of the Solar System.
GEOL 8500 INTRODUCTION TO GEOPHYSICS 4.0
Prerequisites: Geol 1121 and 1122, Math 1113 or equivalent. Three lecture hours and two laboratory hours per week. The application of physical principles to the study of solid earth. Gravity, magnetism, DC resistivity, seismic refraction studies, global seismology, and the study of earthquakes.
GEOL 8999 THESIS RESEARCH 1.0 to 15.0
Thesis Research.
GEOL 9999 DISSERTATION RESEARCH 1.0 to 15.0
Dissertation Research.
