Lecture 1 - Introduction to the Geology of National Parks

Outline

I. Course Goals

II. Course Logistics

III. Lets Go Look at Some Geology

I. Course Goals

  1. To understand how the spectacular scenery of our National Parks formed.
  2. To understand how the natural world around us works, i.e., why do earthquakes and volcanoes occur where they do? Why are there mountains on both coasts of the US. but not in the middle? Why are the western mountains so much higher than those in the east? Why does UCSC sit above the city of Santa Cruz? and much much more.
    This knowledge will help you understand and plan for natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, landslides etc. It will also help you to appreciate the delicate balance between nature and humankind.
  3. To sharpen your skills of deductive reasoning. Since geology is a deductive science, every rock has a story to tell that geologists must try to figure out, studying geology will help exercise your deductive reasoning and thus serve to improve it. This skill is important in all fields that you might pursue.
  4. To have fun!

II. Logistics

Lecture M,W,F 11:00-12:10, Classroom Unit 1
Sections: T 6-7:30 pm, W 9-10:30 am, 12:30-2 pm, 2-3:30 pm, Th 6-7:30 pm and F 12:30-2 pm E&MS D250
Professor: Susan Schwartz
E&MS; A133, 459-3133
Office Hours: M 12:30-2:30 PM and by appointment
sschwartz@es.ucsc.edu

TA's: Samantha Hansen shansen@es.ucsc.edu, office: C548, hours: T,Th 2-3 pm

          Brooke Crowley bcrowley@es.ucsc.edu, office: D227, hours: W 9:30-10:30 am, F 2-3 pm

Requirements:

  1. Textbook- Geology of National Parks by Harris, Tuttle and Tuttle, 6th edition
  2. Attend class- there will be a daily quiz question at the beginning of class taken from the class notes and/or the book for that days assignment.
  3. Attend 11/2 hour section each week to hand out, work on and collect hands-on assignments, review material, review for exams, take short field trips to see geology around campus etc. Geology must be done not only read about!
  4. Three hour long exams and 4 exercises that will be worked on and nearly completed in your sections.

Grading:

Grades will be based on the total number of points earned during the quarter. Each hour long exam is worth 100 pts. for a maximum of 300 pts. earned through the 3 exams, each laboratory/exercise is worth 50 points for a maximum of 200 pts. earned on the 4 exercises, each daily quiz is worth 2 pts. for a total of ~44 pts. earned on the 22 quizzes. Extra credit points up to a maximum of 100 pts. can be earned throughout the quarter by participating in the activities described below.

Extra Credit Options:

  1. Fieldtrip to Natural Bridges on Saturday March 6 -15 pts.
  2. Analogies on geologic concepts that are to be lectured on in the following week. You must get these to me in advance of the lecture that its relevant to via email or office hours and 5 pt. are awarded for each analogy that I use in class.
  3. Song/Poem-Before each hour exam I will award 10 pts. to the best rap, song or poem that is less than two minutes long and conveys important geological concepts that we are learning. Runner ups will get 5 pts. each. You must perform your piece in class, or find someone else willing to do it. At the end of the quarter I will award prizes to the best submissions.
  4. In-class-demos- conduct a short in-class experiment that demonsrates some principle we are learning in class earns 10 pts. Demonstrations must be approved by me in advance and arrangements made to conduct it in class.
  5. Long weekend projects- The Friday before MLK Jr and President holiday weekends a short project will be announced that will earn participants 10 pts. each.
  6. Perfect attendance- will earn you 20 pts.
  7. Near perfect attendance - missing only 1 class will earn you 10 pts.
  8. Outstanding class participation- will earn you 10 pts.
  9. Serving as a Section Liason will earn you 20 pts. and requires about 45 minutes a week.

Help and Information Available to You:

  1. Professor and TA office hours
  2. EART3 World Wide Web Homepage at URL: http://ic.ucsc.edu/~susans/eart3

III. Field Trip- Rocks of the Upper Quarry

What story do the rocks in this quarry tell? Don't know? Well you will after taking this class. These rocks are marble, CaCO3 that was originally deposited as the shells of marine organisms that lived and died in a warm shallow ocean somewhere perhaps as far away as the southern Sierras. Due to tectonic forces in the Earth, the pile of shell deposits or a rock we call limestone, was buried deep in the Earth and the higher pressure and temperature there changed the rock into the marble. This region then traveled from its original position to its present one where we see it today. During that trip uplift of this region occurred and erosion stripped off the rock above, exposing the marble we now see. The alteration process due to high temperature and pressure is known as metamorphism. Limestone is therefore metamorphosed to marble. How do we know that this is the history of this rock? We know by examining the surrounding geology and seeing how it fits together. Here on campus, we see mostly metamorphic rocks. In addition to this marble there are metamorphosed mudstones that are called schist and metamorphosed sandstones that are called quartzite. These metamorphic rocks are more than 100Million Years old and make up the basement rock of much of coastal central California. Because they are bounded by faults on both sides and because they do not look like any of the rocks on the other sides of the faults, it is believed that they came from far away. They resemble rocks of similar age in the southern Sierras so that is why I suggested that they might have come from there. These "exotic rocks" are called the Salinian Block. In other locations the metamorphic basement rocks that we see on campus are overlain by younger sandstones and mudstones but these rocks have been eroded from the campus area.

As most of you may know, this marble was mined for the lime to make cement. Upon heating CaCO3 it breaks down to CaO (lime) and CO2.The lime industry is responsible for much of the early development of this area and the reason for the kilns and old buildings at the campus entrance. The marble is also responsible for much of the topography you see on campus. The fractures that you see in the quarry walls are called joints and they have a dominant north-south orientation. These joints allow water to easily percolate into the rock and because the water is slightly acidic due to interaction with organic matter, it dissolves the marble producing the dominant north-south canyons on campus. Also the sinkholes and caves on campus are also the result of dissolution and in the case of the sinkholes collapse of the marble. CaCO3 dissolves in dilute acid as we can demonstrate by putting some drops of dilute acid on the marble. This is a very diagnostic characteristic of CaCO3. Another characteristic is that it is relatively soft compared with other minerals so that we can scratch it with a pocket knife.

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This page was last reviewed on 12/31/03.