California State University Long Beach
GEOL 300I; Earth Systems and Global Change
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Dr. Rick Behl
Phone: 562-985-5850
E-mail: behl@csulb.edu
Lectures: Tuesdays/Thursdays 9:30-10:45 AM, PH3-107
Office Hours: Mondays & Tuesdays 1:00-2:00 PM, or by appointment, PH3-104

Click here for lecture notes.

Course Overview

We will study the interactions between the hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere and lithosphere that together make up the Earth System.  This new interdisciplinary view of our planet highlights the manner in which all systems of the earth control or influence each other on time-scales from days to billions of years.  It is now clear that the state of the Earth has dramatically and abruptly changed many times in the past with tremendous environmental repercussions - Why did this happen?  As we humans transform the globe in many ways, we need to understand:  How do the Earth's physical, chemical and biological systems interact?  What were the causes and effects of past climatic changes and what can we learn from them about the future?  What issues of climatic change confront us as we enter the 21st century?  How do we predict the effects of our actions on the world ecosystem?  This class will explore past, present, and future climatic change, what is clearly known and what is speculated, and how we can attempt to accurately predict our future.

GEOL 300I is a Capstone General Education course with B.3, Global, and Interdisciplinary status.

Reading

This is an extremely current subject - no regular textbook will do.  Your reading will be from a collection of articles assembled from current scientific and popular literature.  This Course-Pac Class Reader is available for your purchase in the bookstore.  All articles are required reading for the class.  Included in the assigned reading are pertinent Web Sites.  Please note that other articles or web sites will be assigned in class. Reading/exploring these are also important.  It is best to read the assignments before or during the week of the class discussions.

Grading

Traditional grading (>90%=A, 80-89%=B, 70-79%=C, 60-69%=D, <60%=F). 
Final grades will be based on the total of the following:

Plagiarism and Cheating Policy

Your work in this class is expected to be the product of your own efforts, thoughts, and analysis. Plagiarism in writing (i.e., copying articles, books, internet papers, or other students's work without specifically crediting the source) or cheating on exams will not be tolerated and may lead to serious consequences, including failing the exam, assignment, or course, and possibly being expelled from CSULB. Suspected and/or admitted cases of such dishonesty will be treated following official CSULB guidelines (see CSULB Catalog).

Make-Up of Missed Exams Policy

You may change the date of an exam beforehand if you have a conflict with religious observance, but must notify the instructor the first week of school concerning this change in schedule.  In most cases, you will take the exam either the day before the regular schedule, or the day after.

Illness and personal emergencies that result in missing exams must have documentation to obtain a makeup.  You also should call me as soon as possible to let me know what happened to make you miss an exam.  Documentation is defined as a letter on letterhead from your physician if it is an illness, or written, signed testimony from you concerning the nature of the personal emergency.  If you miss an exam due to illness/emergency, you will be offered another exam date/time/place normally within the week after the scheduled exam.  You will not be given the same exam as the rest of the class, although it will be on the same material.

Usually, rescheduled exams are held in offices during office hours, in the department offices, or in various closets or cubbyholes attached to working laboratories.   These are noisy places, and most students find them difficult environments in which to concentrate.  Rarely can rescheduled exams be held in quiet classrooms, as classes are scheduled very tightly during the day.  

That being said, don't come in and take an exam when you are feeling really poorly.   You just won't do as well as in your healthy state.  Just remember that if you are ill enough to miss an exam, you are ill enough to seek a doctor's care, or visit the Student Health Center, resulting in the documentation you need to obtain a makeup.  No documentation = no makeup.

Late Paper/Project Policy

You will be deducted 10% (one letter grade) of the paper/project grade for every day late.   Again, papers that are late due to illness or personal emergency are accepted without deduction of points, but only when adequate documentation is provided.   In no event will papers/projects be accepted more than 7 days after the due date.

There are no make-ups offered for the in-class writing exercises, as they will be spontaneous, arising out of the discussions of the day.

Attendance

Attendance in this course is mandatory if you want to do well.  For one thing, there are those spontaneous, in-class writing assignments inserted at various junctures in the classroom experience.   There will be ten assignments throughout the semester, each worth ~1% of your grade, for a total of 10% of your grade.  If you aren't in class consistently, you will miss these assignments.  There's no way to make them up, as they are woven into the fabric of the specific class session.  

The other reason attendance is so important is that the key concepts and content are presented in an interactive lecture/discussion format, and you will find your understanding increase dramatically after a session dealing with the material.  

As you know, attendance doesn't mean simply sitting in the chair during class. It means minds-on, actively listening, actively engaging in asking questions.  It means coming to class prepared, through reading and thinking about the readings. I will learn all of your names and ask you questions.  Active learning means printing the outlines that I post on the web and filling in the details that you can use later in your studying for exams.  It means re-reading course pac readings after class, and comparing them with your notes.  It means relishing the opportunities to write during class, on the spontaneous essay topics that come up.  It means enjoying the material, and looking forward to class.  It means learning.

Withdrawal Policy

The schedule and requirements for withdrawal from this class is the official policy of the College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics. The schedule is different from the rest of the campus in that several of the cut-off dates are earlier. You are responsible for knowing and understanding the CNSM-specific withdrawal policies.

Topics and Reading for
Dr. Behl's Earth Systems & Global Change class
California State University Long Beach
On-Line Lecture Notes and hyperlinked graphics

Discussions are subject to some shifting, but papers & exam dates are fixed.
Lecture topics are linked to overhead notes and figures. Weekly reading is indicated by round bullets *and linked if a Web Site.
Note that due dates of papers and exams are noted in bold and with bullets.

Week 1:

TOPICS:

Overview of course
Introduction to Earth Systems Science

READINGS:

*A New Science of the Earth (Ch. 2), One Earth, One Future, Silver & Defries (1990)
*System Interactions: Atmosphere, Oceans, Land, and Humans (Ch. 4), One Earth, One Future, Silver & Defries (1990).

Week 2:

TOPICS:

Origin of the Solar System and Earth
Earth's Segregation and Structure
Plate Tectonics

READINGS:

*Cosmic Revelations, Science News magazine, Cowen (2003).
*Building a Planet (Ch. 1), of Understanding Earth, Press & Siever (1997).
*Life Begins!..., Earth magazine, Alper (1994).

Week 3:

TOPICS:

Earth History and Deep Time; Dating the Past
Origin of the Oceans and Atmosphere
The Atmosphere; Atmospheric Composition

READINGS:

*Chronology (Ch. 2), of Global Environmental Change: Past, Present, and Future, Turekian (1996).
* start reading The Evolution of the Atmosphere (Ch. 3), of Global Environmental Change: Past, Present, and Future, Turekian (1996).

Week 4:

TOPICS:

The Greenhouse Effect
Atmospheric circulation
The Hydrosphere; The Global Water Cycle

READINGS:

* finish reading The Evolution of the Atmosphere (Ch. 3), of Global Environmental Change: Past, Present, and Future, Turekian (1996).
* start reading Introduction to the Global Environment: The Water Cycle and Atmospheric
and Ocean Circulation (Ch. 1), of Global Environment: Water, Air, and Geochemical Cycles, Berner & Berner (1996).

Week 5:

TOPICS:

Oceanic Circulation; the Chemistry of the Ocean
The Biosphere
Major Evolutionary Steps; Mass Extinctions

READINGS:

* finish reading The Water Cycle and Atmospheric and Ocean Circulation, Berner & Berner (1996).
*Cold Start, The Sciences, Bada (1995).
*Marriage of Convenience, The Sciences, Margulis & McMenamin (1990).
*Scales of Destruction, The Sciences, Gould (1994).

*FIRST PAPER DUE Thursday, October 2 (from topics encountered in 1st 5 weeks)

Week 6:

*MID-TERM EXAMINATION Tuesday, October 7


TOPICS:

Systems Thinking
Modeling the Earth's System
The Gaia Hypothesis

READINGS:

*Glossary of Systems Terms, in Beyond the Limits: Confronting Global Collapse, Envisioning a Sustainable Future, Meadows, Meadows, & Randers (1992).
*Hands Up for the Gaia Hypothesis, Nature, Lovelock (1990).
Also:Biogenic Sediments, Geophysiology, and Earth's Environmental History, Palaios On-line, Grimm (1997).

Week 7:

TOPICS:

Global Biogeochemistry
Stable Isotopes
Sinks and Sources of the Carbon Cycle
Carbon Isotopes

READINGS:

*Modeling the Geochemical Carbon Cycle, Scientific American, Berner & Lasaga (1989).   
*The Greening of Global Climate Models, Earth magazine, Baskin (1994).

Week 8:

TOPICS:

Oxygen Isotopes
Major Steps in Climate Change
The Cretaceous Greenhouse
The Superplume Theory
Cenozoic Cooling and Uplift of the Himalayas

READINGS:

*Life's Closest Call, Science News, Monastersky (1997).
*The Mid-Cretaceous Superplume Episode, Scientific American, Larson (1995).

Week 9:

TOPICS:

Climatic Cycles
Milankovitch Orbital Cycles
Quaternary Ice Ages
Climatic Step Changes; The Younger Dryas

READINGS:

*The Earth's Orbit and the Ice Ages, Scientific American, Covey (1984).
*What Drives Glacial Cycles?, Scientific American, Broecker & Denton (1990).
*The Dust Ages, Earth magazine, Pendick (1996).

Week 10:

TOPICS:

Rapid Climate Change
Dansgaard-Oeschger Cycles
Heinrich Events
Environmental Change along the California Coast

READINGS:

*Staggering through the Ice Ages, Science News, Monastersky (1994).
*Will Our Ride Into the Greenhouse be a Smooth One?, GSA Today, Broecker (1997).
*Pacific Mud and Greenland Ice Show Climate Links, JOI/USSAC Newsletter, Behl (1996).
*Blame it on the Sun, Earth magazine, Penvenne (1996).

*SECOND PAPER Moved back 1 week to  Thursday, November 13, in class. (from topics covered in 2nd 5 weeks)

Week 11:

* MID-TERM EXAMINATION Moved back 1 week to  Tuesday, November 18


TOPICS:

Climate Change and Evolution
Climate Change and Human Civilization
El Nino; Teleconnections
Check out real-time El Nino data here!

READINGS:

*How Climate Changed our History, Earth magazine, Crenson (1996).
*Empires in the Dust, Discover, Wright (1998).
*Bridge to the Past, Earth magazine, Elias (1997).
*Drought and Decline, Nature, Sabloff (1995), comment on Mayan article.
*The Case of the Global Jitters, Science News, Monastersky (1996).
*Ancient Metal Mines Sullied Global Skies, Science News, Monastersky (1996).

Week 12:

TOPICS:

Global Environmental Change and Sea Level Rise
Deforestation & Biodiversity
Climate Change and Social Insurance

READINGS:

*Why is our Weather so Wild?, Discover, D'Agnese (2000).
*The Rising Seas, Scientific American, Schneider (1997).
*Threats to Biodiversity, Scientific American, Wilson (1989).
*Life on the Brink, Earth magazine, Schmidt (1997).

Week 13:

TOPICS:

Population Growth
Geologic Resources and Sustainability
Likely Future & Present Climatic Change
Climatic Change & Health

READINGS:

*Population Policy Options in the Developing World, Science, Bongaarts (1994).
*Phosphorites Feed People, personal communication, Grimm (1997).
*Doctors Watch the Forecast, Nature, Sprigg (1996).
*Health in the Hot Zone, Science News, Monastersky (1996).

Week 14:

TOPICS:

Likely Future & Present Climatic Change;
The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change
Climate Change and California

READINGS:

* Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ?? Climate Change 2001: Summary for Policy Makers (2001)
*National Research Council: Climate Change Science: Summary (2001)
* Union of Concerned Scientists: Confronting Climate Change in California: Executive Summary (1999)

Week 15:

TOPICS:

What Can We Do?;
Global Geoengineering
Alternative Energy Sources;
The Geritol Solution
What Should We Do?
Sustainable Development

READINGS:

*Focus Needed in Climate Debate, The Los Angeles Times, Anon. (1997).
*Editing Flap over EPA??s Report on Environment, The Los Angeles Times, Shogren (2003).
*The Iron Hypothesis, Earth magazine, Dopyera (1996).
*Carbon Cuts and Techno-Fixes, Discover, Kunzig & Zimmer (1998).
*Green is Good, Scientific American, Nemecek (1999).
*Cities Around the Globe.., EOS, Showstack (1998).

*CAPSTONE PROJECT DUE:  Tuesday, December 9

*FINAL EXAMINATION. Tuesday, December 16, 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM.

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Paper Grading Criteria

Four major components

1. Research

      *Outside references (at least 3 sources beyond assigned reading)
      *New data
      *New perspectives
      *Express understanding of the science
      *"Healthy," constructive criticism

2. Organization

      *Well organized
      *Coherent structure and progression
      *Distinct focus

3. Synthesis

      *Integrate data and/or different theories
      *Conclusions
      *Significance
      *Next step?

4. Writing

      *Clear
      *Concise
      *Proper grammar
      *Correct spelling

You need to do all 4 well to earn an "A." Good luck! You can do it!!

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written by R. Behl.
Last changes: 27 August 2003