GEOS 217
Planetary Geology
Last Offered Fall 2007
Division III Writing Skills
Cross-listed ASTR 217
This course is not offered in the current catalog

Class Details

The diversity of our solar system is incredible. No two plants are exactly alike, and as we acquire more data and higher-resolution images, our sense of wonder grows. However, we can’t hike around and hammer rocks on Venus or Titan, so we have to infer composition, form, texture and process from remotely-captured images and sparse chemical and spectral data. This leaves plenty of room for interpretation and hypothesising about geological processes on other bodies. Through reading recent research papers we will examine a number of topics, including the possible Late Heavy Bombardment of the moon, tectonics on Venus, water on Mars, hidden oceans on Europa, and the methane weather cycle on Titan.
The Class: Format: tutorial; the class will meet weekly for a one-hour orientation to the topic, and students will meet in pairs for one hour each week with the instructor
Limit: 10
Expected: 10
Class#: 1945
Grading: no pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: evaluation will be based on six 2500-word papers, discussion, and critical analysis; there will be a strong focus on polished writing and argument, and papers will be thoroughly edited by the professor for style, grammar and syntax
Extra Info: students will improve their writing by integrating into successive papers the editorial comments they receive, and also by editing the writing of their tutorial partners
Prerequisites: one Geosciences course, or permission of instructor
Enrollment Preferences: sophomores
Distributions: Division III Writing Skills
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
ASTR 217 Division III GEOS 217 Division III

Class Grid

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