GEOL/ASTR 117 – SYLLABUS
– SPRING 2008 – SECOND MODULE
"Meteorite
Impacts in Space and Time"
Instructor: BRUCE
SIMONSON
Office/Hours: Carnegie 401/TUESDAY and 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 - BUT BEWARE: CLASS ONLY MEETS TWICE A WEEK ON AVERAGE
AND MEETING DAYS DIFFER ONE WEEK TO THE NEXT
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 you get ahold of 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 web through your favorite search engine. My personal favorite is the 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! Another good one is the ÔofficialÕ list of terrestrial impact sites at http://www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase/index.html.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF TOPICS, READINGS, AND EXAMS
– CHANGES WILL BE POSTED BLACKBOARD (I hope)
|
Day |
Date |
Topic |
Readings |
|
MON |
3/31 |
Pass out syllabus and do the ADD-DROP thing |
- - |
|
WED |
4/2 |
Preview of coming attractions |
NSS
Chapter 1, especially "Planetary Toolkit" on p. 3-4 |
|
FRI |
4/4 |
Did an impact take down the dinosaurs? |
VERSCHUURÕs Chapters 1 & 2 |
|
MON |
4/7 |
NO CLASS MEETING
|
- - |
|
WED |
4/9 |
How
we read EarthÕs history and the concept of Òdeep timeÓ |
NSS Chapter 9 |
|
FRI |
4/11 |
Plate tectonics + Impacts in real time: Tunguska
and Sikhote-Alin |
NORTON Chapter 6 |
|
MON |
4/14 |
NO CLASS MEETING
|
- - |
|
WED |
4/16 |
Two classics: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 and Meteor
Crater |
NSS Chapter 6 |
|
FRI |
4/18 |
Other
terrestrial craters and the craters of the Moon |
NSS Chapter 10 |
|
MON |
4/21 |
Impacts on other terrestrial planets:
Mercury and Venus |
NSS Chapters 7 and 8; also good summary info in NSS Chapter 12 |
|
WED |
4/23 |
Impacts on Mars + how Martian rocks (and fossils?)
got to Earth |
NSS
Chapters 11 and p. 369-375 |
|
FRI |
4/25 |
ET life, meteorites, and the asteroids they came
from |
NSS Chapters 2, 25, and 26 |
|
SUN |
4/27 |
REVIEW
SESSION FOR EXAM #1, probably at 8 PM in Sev. 108
|
- - |
|
MON |
4/28 |
EXAM #1 (covers material up thru Venus) |
- - |
|
WED |
4/30 |
How the Solar System formed + how
impacts helped rearrange it |
NSS Chaps. 5 and 24 + review
Chap 2, p. 136-8 |
|
FRI |
5/2 |
Comets, the Kuiper Belt, and icy
impacts throughout the outer Solar System |
NSS Chapters 17 thru 23 (sorry, theyÕre all interesting) |
|
MON |
5/5 |
Have impacts influenced the evolution
of life on Earth? |
VERSCHUUR
Chap. 11 |
|
WED |
5/7 |
Could a future impact end civilization
or life as we know it? |
VERSCHUUR Chapters 16 and 17 + review NSS Chapter 6 |
|
FRI |
5/9 |
Final wrap-up and overview |
- - |
|
WED |
5/14 |
REVIEW
SESSION FOR EXAM #2, probably at 5 PM in Sev. 108
|
- - |
|
TH |
5/15, 9 AM |
EXAM #2 (mainly covers material from Mars 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%