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Marine Geology



SYLLABUS:
MARINE GEOLOGY - CORE COURSE FOR NSU ONLINE EDUCATION

Instructor: Bernhard Riegl, (954)262-3671, "Distance Marine Geology" <de-margeology_1 barney mail fred ocean fred nova fred edu>
Office always open for online students
Objectives: To examine the structure, evolution and stratigraphy of the ocean basins and continental margins. To understand what dynamic processes shape the surface of the earth under the ocean surface.
Credit: 3 units
Prerequisites: Undergraduate degree
Required text: All links provided in class
Supplementary readings: All links provided in class
Nature of class: At least 3 contact hours per week, composed of coursework reading (provided by instructor) and informed comment by the student (mailed to instructor).
Attendance: Student must read all provided material. Attendance will be gauged by participation in online discussion and submission of research projects.
Assessment: One mid-term exam
Three submissions to online discussion
One final exam
Fieldtrips: Students are encouraged during the course to take the course material to the field. If enough participation can be secured, a formal field trip in Florida can be arranged.
Grading: All exercises, exams and submissions by email will be graded according to content, organization, personal insight, accuracy and quality of presentation. Late assignments will incur a 25% reduction in total possible points.
Grading scale:
A: 100-92% A-:91-90%
B+:89-88% B: 87-83% B-:82-80%
C+:79-78% C:77-73% C-:72-70%
D+:69-68% D:67-63% D-:62-60%
F:<60%

Mid-term and final exams: Multiple choice questions and essay questions that may require the student to integrate several concepts and to think beyond the material covered in the lectures. It is the aim to challenge the student's brain. Some math may be required.
Dropping the course: It is the instructor's policy that dropping a course after the second week of instruction is only possible for serious and compelling reasons. Loss of interest or unsatisfactory performance in course work is not a serious and compelling reason for requesting permission to drop the course. For details on dropping courses, please see the general information link at: http://www.nova.edu/ocean/disted.html.

COURSE CONTENTS

The course consists of 8 modules, which correspond to either a single, or up to three lectures. Each of these modules encompasses a particular field of study in marine geology.

MODULE 1 (1 LECTURE):
BIG BANG, THE SOLID AND THE LIQUID EARTH:

MODULE 2 (1 LECTURE):
GEOMORPHOLOGY OF THE OCEAN BASINS

  • terminology (shelf, slope, basin, trench, fault, etc.)
  • hypsometric curve
  • distribution of deep ocean basins, epicontinental seas, mid-ocean ridges
  • evidence for plate tectonics

MODULE 3 (2 LECTURES):
PLATE TECTONICS

  • lithosphere, elastic and plastic
  • mantle convection and tectonics (deep vs. shallow)
  • spreading processes at ridges
  • hydrothermal processes at ridges
  • subduction processes and vulcanism
  • absolute motion and forces on plates
  • active continental margins: trenches and subduction
  • back arc spreading, arc volcanics, accretionary wedges
  • passive margins
  • early and late rift phenomena

MODULE 4 (2 LECTURES):
MARINE SEDIMENTATION

  • terrestrial-lacustrine-shallow marine-deep sea
  • siliciclastic versus carbonate sedimentation
  • deep ocean silica burps
  • shelf-to-basin transport phenomena
  • turbidites and gravity flows
  • sedimentation rates and types overview

MODULE 5 (3 LECTURES):
SEA LEVEL AND CLIMATE

  • planetary forcing of sea-level cycles
  • Milankovich cyclicity
  • climatic forcing of sealevels
  • snowball earth
  • the modern climate system
  • sealevel and climatic forcing of sedimentation
  • the global historical sealevel record
  • ice-core record
  • tree-ring record
  • coral records
  • sea level and gas hydrates

MODULE 6 (1 LECTURE):
SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHY

  • basic concepts
  • applications in carbonate platforms

MODULE 7 (1 LECTURE):
PALEOCEANOGRAPHY

  • marine microfossils in sediments
  • indicator fossils
  • palinspastic and paleolatitude maps
  • different sedimentary processes in different types of ocean paleoceanography as integration of plate tectonics, climatology, physical oceanography, and paleontology

MODULE 8 (2 LECTURE):
INSTRUMENTS IN MARINE GEOLOGY

  • Seafloor imaging
    • shipborne seafloor imaging
      • multibeam bathymetry
      • sidescan sonars
      • direct incidence sonars (single beam)
      • GPS
    • airborne seafloor imaging
      • multi- and hyperspectral sensors
      • LIDAR
      • radar methods
    • spaceborne seafloor imaging
      • TOPEX Poseidon
      • SEAWIFFS
      • LANDSAT and Ikonos
      • other satellites
  • Studying the sedimentary record
    • seismics and subbottom profiling
    • core drilling
      • ODP