GEOL/ASTR 117 – SYLLABUS
– SPRING 2006 – SECOND MODULE
"Meteorite
Impacts in Space and Time"
Instructor: BRUCE
SIMONSON
Office/Hours: Carnegie 401/MONDAY 10
AM-Noon, WEDNESDAY 1:30-3:30 PM, or by appointment
e-mail: bruce.simonson@oberlin.edu
voice: x58347
Lectures: MONDAY,
WEDNESDAY, and/or FRIDAY, 9:00-9:50 AM, SEVERANCE 108
NOTE
THAT ACTUAL MEETING DAYS DIFFER FROM WEEK TO WEEK
This
course focuses on what happens when two big chunks of rock and/or ice collide
at what's known as Òcosmic velocity.Ó A tentative schedule of topics weÕll
cover is given below. I highly recommend that you purchase a copy of The New
Solar System (4th edition) at the
Oberlin Bookstore or elsewhere and read the chapters listed below. There is a
lot of extraneous material, but also lots of good information about IMPACTS, so
concentrate on those parts. A few readings from VERSCHUURÕs Impact! The
Threat from Comets and Asteroids and
NORTONÕs Rocks from Space (2nd
ed.) are also listed. One copy of each of these books is on reserve in the
Science Library, plus a single copy of The New Solar System (NSS). The readings from Verschuur and Norton should also
be on e-res, but not the stuff in NSS. You can also find lots of useful info
about impacts etc. on the internet through your favorite search engine. My personal favorite is NASA
Near Earth Objects ProgramÕs website at http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ where you can take
potentially hazardous asteroids for a spin around the Solar System!
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF TOPICS, READINGS, AND EXAMS
|
Day |
Date |
Topic |
Readings |
|
MON |
4/3 |
Preview of coming attractions |
NSS
Chapter 1, especially "Planetary Toolkit" on p. 3-4 |
|
WED |
4/5 |
Did an impact take down the dinosaurs? |
VERSCHUURÕs Chapters 1 & 2 |
|
FRI |
4/7 |
How
we read EarthÕs history and the concept of Òdeep timeÓ |
NSS Chapter 9 |
|
MON |
4/10 |
Plate tectonics + Impacts in real time: Tunguska
and Sikhote-Alin |
NORTON Chapter 6 |
|
WED |
4/12 |
Two classics: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 and Meteor
Crater |
NSS Chapter 6 |
|
FRI |
4/14 |
NO CLASS MEETING
|
- - |
|
MON |
4/17 |
Other
terrestrial craters and the craters of the Moon |
NSS Chapter 10 |
|
WED |
4/19 |
Impacts on other terrestrial planets:
Mercury and Venus |
NSS Chapters 7 and 8; also good summary info in NSS Chapter 12 |
|
FRI |
4/21 |
NO
LECTURE – REVIEW SESSION FOR EXAM #1
|
- - |
|
MON |
4/24 |
EXAM #1 (covers ALL material up to this point) |
- - |
|
WED |
4/26 |
Impacts on Mars + how Martian rocks (and fossils?)
got to Earth |
NSS
Chapters 11 and p. 369-375 |
|
FRI |
4/28 |
NO CLASS MEETING
|
- - |
|
MON |
5/1 |
ET life, meteorites, and the asteroids they came
from |
NSS Chapters 2, 25, and 26 |
|
WED |
5/3 |
How the Solar System formed + how
impacts helped rearrange it |
NSS Chaps. 5 and 24 + review
Chap 2, p. 136-8 |
|
FRI |
5/5 |
NO CLASS MEETING
|
- - |
|
MON |
5/8 |
Comets + icy impacts throughout the
outer Solar System |
NSS Chapters 17 thru 23 (sorry, theyÕre all interesting) |
|
WED |
5/10 |
Have impacts influenced the evolution
of life on Earth? |
VERSCHUUR
Chap. 11 |
|
FRI |
5/12 |
Could an impact end life as we know it
in the future? |
VERSCHUUR Chapters 16 and 17 + review NSS Chapter 6 |
|
WED |
5/17 |
REVIEW
SESSION FOR EXAM #2, probably at 8 PM in Sev. 108
|
- - |
|
TH |
5/18, 9 AM |
EXAM #2 (mainly covers material from 4/26 on) |
- - |
Your GRADE in this course will be calculated using
something close to the following formula:
two
hour-long exams, both closed-book, closed notes
first exam 35%
second exam 45%
ca.
4 equally weighted hand-in exercises 20%
TOTAL 100%