Announcements
Dynamic Earth
Fall, 2008 (most recent listed first)

Remaining Wasmups

Rivers, 8 am, Wednesday, April 16

Groundwater, 8 am, Monday, April 21

Glaciation, 8 am, Friday, April 25

Nicole Schoolmeesters will hold two review sessions. The first is today (April 14) from 6-7:30 pm in SLC 178. The second is next Monday, April 21, from 6-7:30 in SLC 178. If you have any questions about tutoring, go to www.winona.edu/tutoring for assistance. If there is a need, demonstrated by attendance at these review sessions, Nicole will try to arrange a third session Monday night during finals week.

A warmup on the work of rivers is due at 8 am Wednesday, April 16.

Our next warmup will be due at 8 am, Monday, April 7. It will be available Wednesday the 2nd of April after class, and it deals with mass wasting. You should also review the mass wasting notes that are posted on our web page. The warmup is based in part on these notes. You can get to the notes from here.

Finally, there is an activity on our web page that you should complete. It is not assigned for turn-in, but it will help you understand the various processes of mass wasting. Access the activity here. I will post the answers after we finish mass wasting on Friday.

Examination #3 will be at 9 am on Monday, March 31. It's longer than the last exam, so be on top of the material and work diligently

A warmup on earthquakes is due on Monday, March 17, at 8 AM.

VERY IMPORTANT LABORATORY ANNOUNCEMENT AND PRE-LAB ASSIGNMENT

Before next lab meeting on March 18, you must do the following pre-lab work. We will check all maps at the beginning of lab and will count as one absence any unfinished pre-lab work.

Use the sea floor map that shows topography in relief (the Physiographic Chart of the Sea Floor is at the rear of your lab packet) for the following plots (numbers 1 and 2 of the first Plate Tectonics Laboratory Exercise).

1. Use the recent Earthquake data from the following url to plot the locations of recent earthquake epicenters. Plot the epicenters with small circles (·) using the following key: plot shallow-focus earthquakes (depths < 75 km) in blue and plot deep-focus earthquakes (depths > 75 km) in green. Go down the list from most recent to least recent, and stop when you have plotted at least 10 deep focus quakes (and, of course, all the shallow-focus 'quakes along the way).

USGS National Earthquake Information Center

2. Use the recent volcanic activity data from the following url to plot the locations of world volcanoes. Plot the locations of volcanoes on your base map with red triangles (s). Go down the list from most recent to least recent, and stop when you have plotted 50 eruptions.

Volcano World

The plotting is done by latititude and longitude. If you don't understand how to plot in this coordinate system, please find out ASAP. By the way, if latitude is given in + and - instead of north and south, note that + is north and - is south. Latitude is plotted from the equator, which is zero, toward the poles, which are 90. If longitude is given in + and - instead of east and west, note that + is east and - is west. Longitude is plotted from the Prime Meridian (it goes through Greenwich, England), which is zero, east to 180 or west to 180 (180 is approximately the international date line).

Be certain to bring this map with the data plotted to your next lab session. We will check everyone's work - if you have not completed the assignment, you will be marked absent for one lab session, which is minus 2% off your overall grade.

A warmup on metamorphic rocks is available and is due at 8 am Wednesday, February 2

A warmup on volcanism is due on Friday, February 8 at 8 am. It will be available today (Wednesday, Feb. 6) at noon.

I have made changes to our assignment page from March 28 through the end of the semester. This also involves moving the date of the third exam to a Monday instead of the following Wednesday. Days on which class will not meet have also been changed for that interval of time. Please make note of these important changes!

A warmup on textures of igneous rocks is due on Monday, February 4, at 8 am. It will be available Wednesday evening at 7 pm.

A warmup on igneous rock magmas and their crystallization is due on Friday, February 1 at 8 am. It's available now.

A useful exercise on calculating Si weight percent for silicate minerals that belong in different structural groups is available from the course index page. It's for practice, and you should consider working on it and bringing it to SI.

SI sessions will meet in SLC 178 as follows:

Mondays 6-7:30 PM
Wednesdays 7:30-9 PM

A warmup on the silicate minerals is due on Wednesday, January 30, at 8 am. It will be available at 10 am Wednesday, January 23.

A warmup on minerals is due on Friday, January 18 at 8 AM. It will be available by noon today (Wednesday). Remember that to get credit, all questions must be answered, and the all points of discussion asked for in the essay must be addressed.

There is an error in the original assignment page. I had scheduled our third exam on Spring Break Day, April 4. That exam has been moved!!! Pay close attention to the change!!! It will be administered on Wednesday, April 2. Also, note the associated changes in lecture topics during the end of March (especially March 31) and early April that have to be made as a result of moving the exam. You are expected to be present for the exam on April 2, subject to the policay on exam attendance that is summarized in the course syllabus.

Throughout the course I will be making periodic assignments in the module "Geology of the Upper Mississippi Valley and Western Superior Basin." Please add them to your list of readings as they are given.

Here are the email addresses for our lab assistants:

T, 11:00 Aaron Magnuson (ALMagnuson06); Eric Sonnentag (ERSonnen6329@winona.edu)

T, 1:00 Nathan Rossman (NRRossma6723@winona.edu); Eric Sonnentag (ERSonnen6329@winona.edu)

SI sessions will be scheduled for twice weekly, probably Monday and Wednesday evenings. I'll let you know when Brian has finalized the schedule.

All sessions meet in SL 178.

If you have difficulties with D2L, please do NOT contact me. Instead, email elearning@winona.edu.

SL 178 is available for lab study, anytime the building is open except for our lab times Tuesday 11-3

It is your responsibility to read the syllabus thoroughly. There are a number of policies to which you must adhere in order to pass the course. And there are also many suggestions for achieving success in the course.