ENVI 231
The River Spring 2015
Division III
Cross-listed GEOS 231
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

Rivers are everywhere. They fill our reservoirs, carry shipping, provide electrical power and feed millions of people. Rivers flush away our waste, potentially profoundly affecting the ocean. Rivers build land and destroy land: they transport the sediment and nutrients that construct agricultural land, and sometimes they flood that land. In this course we will consider a wide range of questions about rivers: How do they form? Where does the water come from? Where does the water go? How do rivers erode their banks and carve their channels? How do they move sediments? What is the chemistry of river water? How do our activities change river chemistry, and how does that affect the environment? When, how, and why do rivers flood? How can we predict and control flooding? What happens when rivers reach the ocean? How do rivers evolve over time, and how does that affect people and their livelihoods? Three lectures a week, and 4-6 local field trips. This course is linked to an all-expenses-paid seven-day Spring Break field trip to the Mississippi River (Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Cajun country, the delta swamps, and barrier islands), during which students will get first-hand experience with topics covered during the course. Participation in the Spring Break trip is not required for successful completion of the course, but course enrollment is necessary to attend the trip.
The Class: Format: lecture/lab
Limit: 10
Expected: 10
Class#: 3263
Grading: no pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: evaluation will be based on two exams, participation in local field trips, and writing assignments (daily during the spring break trip in addition to a 5-page final paper)
Extra Info: may not be taken on a pass/fail basis; not available for the Gaudino option
Extra Info 2: Trip is linked to a Spring Break field trip; No travel costs: Transportation, accommodation, and food covered by the College
Prerequisites: one Geosciences course or permission of instructor
Enrollment Preferences: students who commit to the Spring Break trip, and to sophomores and Geosciences majors
Distributions: Division III
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
GEOS 231 Division III ENVI 231 Division III
Attributes: ENVI Natural World Electives
ENVS Group EG-C Electives
GEOS Environmental Geosciences Courses
GEOS Earth Surface Processes + Life Courses

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