Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

Course Outline

The stratigraphic record – a time sequence of depositional surfaces – is our window to the long view of surface dynamics.

This course covers:

  • Sediments in the rock cycle
  • Production of sediments at the Earth's surface
  • Physics and chemistry of sedimentary materials
  • Scale and geometry of near-surface sedimentary bodies, including aquifers
  • Sediment transport and deposition in modern sedimentary environments
  • Burial and lithification
  • Survey of major sedimentary rock types
  • Stratigraphic relationships of sedimentary basins
  • Evolution of sedimentary processes through geologic time

Prerequisite

Introduction to Geology (12.001)

Primary Textbook

Buy at Amazon Leeder, M. Sedimentology and Sedimentary Basins. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Science Ltd., 1 October 1999, 592 pp. ISBN: 9780632049769.

Secondary Textbook

Buy at Amazon Boggs, S., Jr. Principles of Sedimentology and Stratigraphy. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 15 December 2000, 774 pp. ISBN: 9780130996961.

Grading

activities percentages
Midterm Exam 30%
Final Exam 30%
Labs 40%

Midterm Exam

Closed book. Will cover material presented in Lectures 2 through 12.

Final Exam

Closed book. Will cover material presented in Lectures 13 through 22.

Labs

Write-ups for all labs will be graded. Lab exam will be closed book.